Edward Vaughan Bevan (3 November 1907 – 23 February 1988) was a British doctor and rower who won a gold medal at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Biography and career

Bevan was born at Chesterton,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. He was educated at

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

where he was in the rugby XV and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

,Trinity College Olympians
/ref> where he rowed with the First Trinity Boat Club. First Trinity represented Great Britain rowing at the 1928 Summer Olympics in

, where, at the age of 20, Bevan won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless four with John Lander, Michael Warriner and Richard Beesly. They recorded a time of 6:36.0 in the final to beat the U.S. crew by 1 second.Great Britain Olympic medallists
/ref> After university, Bevan was a doctor in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, and shared his practice with Rex Wood, who competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics.Cambridgeshire County Council Going for Gold
He maintained his link with rowing – on the wall of his consulting room was a blue oar.Student view of Cambridge philosophy
/ref> He was also senior treasurer of the Cambridge University Boat Club for many years, and was actively involved in coaching the crew,The David Owen archive - the ''Physician''
(

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

) as well as being President of Rob Roy Boat Club from 1946 until 1980.– present Rob Roy Boat Club Officers
/ref> He was a frequent correspondent to the '' British Medical Journal''. Bevan was doctor to the

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

whilst he was in Cambridge. After Bevan diagnosed Wittgenstein with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

, Wittgenstein moved in with Bevan in Storey's Way, Cambridge in February 1951, where he stayed until his death on 29 April 1951.Ludwig Wittgenstein: the final years
In Cambridge Bevan shared a medical practice with Rex Woods, the Olympic shot putter. Bevan died at the age of 80. His elder brother Llewelyn Bevan rowed for

in the Boat Race, but Edward himself did not.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan, Edward 1907 births 1988 deaths People educated at Bedford School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English male rowers English people of Welsh descent British male rowers Olympic rowers for Great Britain Rowers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain English Olympic competitors Olympic medalists in rowing 20th-century English medical doctors Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Cambridge People from Chesterton, Cambridge 20th-century English sportsmen