Hector Gavin

Hector Gavin (29 August 1815, Edinburgh – 21 April 1855, Balaklava) was a Scottish physician and sanitarian.

He was educated at Edinburgh and won a prize in a government-sponsored contest for the best essay on feigned diseases. He was the author of several publications, including Sanitary Ramblings.

He was also the editor of the Journal of Public Health, and Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at Charing-cross Hospital. ... In 1849, during the cholera, he was employed as medical superintending inspector under the General Board of Health. ... During the epidemic of 1854, he was appointed by Lord Canning physician to the Post Office, which position he held until his last fatal mission.

At the request of Lord Palmerston and Lord Panmure, Gavin with Dr. John Sutherland and Robert Rawlinson headed a Sanitary Commission sent to the Crimean War to improve sanitation in the war hospitals. The Sanitary Commission members arrived in March 1855 but, not long after arrival, on 21 April Hector Gavin died in a shooting accident caused by his brother William, a veterinary surgeon, who shared his tent.