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, th ...

. 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, Vic ...

, the capital of the province of Chubut, was named after him.

Biography

Rawson's parents were Amán Rawson, a doctor who had emigrated from the United States to Argentina, and Justina Rojo, a daughter of a wealthy family in San Juan, where Guillermo was born. His elder brother was the artist

Franklin Rawson Benjamin Franklin Rawson (29 March 1819 or 1820 – 14 March 1871) was an Argentine painter who belonged to the first generation of Argentine painters called the "precursors". His best known works are the ''Assassination of Manuel Vicen ...

. His half-brother was Lieutenant Colonel Juan de Dios Rawson, grandfather of

Arturo Rawson Arturo Rawson (June 4, 1885 – October 8, 1952) was an Argentine politician, military officer, and the provisional President of the Republic from June 4, 1943, to June 6, 1943. His coup started a series which culminated in the accession to po ...

. After a

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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 university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

in 1844. Rawson became interested in politics and democracy. In 1853, he was jailed for opposing

Nazario Benavidez Nazario may refer to * Ronaldo Nazario (born 1976), Brazilian former footballer * Nazario (given name) * Nazario (surname) * Nazário, a municipality in Brazil * Nazario Collection, a cache of carved stones at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico *San Nazario, V ...

, the ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

'' or ''de facto'' governor of San Juan. The following year he was a member of the Paraná Congress, 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. S ...

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