Guillermo Rawson (24 June 1821 – 20 January 1890) was a medical doctor and politician in nineteenth-century

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. In 1862, when he was the Interior Minister of Argentina, he met Captain Love Jones-Parry and Lewis Jones, who were on their way to Patagonia to investigate whether it was suitable for the creation of a Welsh settlement there. Rawson came to an agreement with them, and this resulted in the creation of a colony in the Chubut Valley in the following years. The city of

Rawson Rawson may refer to: Places * Rawson, Chubut, the capital of Chubut Province, Argentina * Rawson Department, Chubut, Argentina * Rawson Department, San Juan, Argentina ** Villa Krause, also named Rawson, the capital city of the department *Rawson, ...

, the capital of the province of

Chubut Chubut may refer to: * Chubut Province, Argentina * Chubut River in the Chubut Province * Chubut steamer duck The Chubut steamer duck or white-headed flightless steamer duck (''Tachyeres leucocephalus'') is a flightless duck endemic to Argenti ...

, was named after him.

Biography

Rawson's parents were

Amán Rawson Amán Rawson (born Haman Rawson; 1792 - January 1847) was an American physician and merchant based in San Juan, Argentina, who was well known during the first half of the nineteenth century. He was the father of the Argentine interior minister G ...

, a doctor who had emigrated from the United States to Argentina, and Justina Rojo, a daughter of a wealthy family in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

, where Guillermo was born. His elder brother was the artist Franklin Rawson. His half-brother was Lieutenant Colonel

Juan de Dios Rawson ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, grandfather of Arturo Rawson. After a Jesuit education in San Juan, Rawson graduated from the Medical Faculty of

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

in 1844. Rawson became interested in politics and democracy. In 1853, he was jailed for opposing Nazario Benavidez, the '' caudillo'' or ''de facto'' governor of San Juan. The following year he was a member of the

Paraná Congress Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city *Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province * Paraná, Buenos Aires, a settlement ...

, and from 1862, he was Interior Minister in the government of

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina. Mitre is known as the most versatile ...

. Apart from politics, Rawson was interested in medicine and hygiene. In 1876, he attended the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

to present his work on public health in Buenos Aires, the most developed body of work on the subject at the time. In 1879, he was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref> Rawson spent a year in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

in 1881 for medical treatment, before returning to Argentina. He returned to France for further treatment in 1885 and died in Paris in 1890. The building of the first medical school in Buenos Aires is named Escuela Dr Guillermo Rawson in his honour.

References

External links

*
The Escuela Dr Guillermo Rawson in Himetop - The History of Medicine Topographical database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawson, Guillermo 1821 births 1890 deaths Argentine activists Argentine physicians Argentine prisoners and detainees People from San Juan, Argentina Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Argentine people of American descent Members of the American Antiquarian Society Ministers of Internal Affairs of Argentina

Biography

Further reading

References

External links