William Guyer Hunter

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Sir William Guyer Hunter FRCP (1829 - 14 Mar 1902) was a surgeon-general in India, principal of medical colleges and Conservative politician.

Hunter was born at Calcutta and began his training at Charing Cross Hospital in 1844 at the same time as Thomas Henry Huxley and Joseph Fayrer.[1] He went to India and became Principal of Grant Medical College in 1866, a post he held for ten years.[2] He was also Vice Chancellor of Bombay University.[3] He returned to London and was a member of the Royal Commission on Vaccination which was initiated in 1879 and sat for seven years.[4] Hunter was surgeon to the Queen in 1881.[5] In 1883 there was an outbreak of cholera in Egypt which had fallen under British jurisdiction in the previous year. There was an international dispute as to whether the disease was brought from Calcutta and hence should be dealt with by quarantine or whether it was indigenous. Hunter was sent as a medical commissioner and concluded "Facts…lead to the conclusion that cholera, be it called by whatever name it may…has existed in Egypt for some time past…In order to obtain as much information as possible on the subject above referred to, instructions have been issued to the medical officers recently arrived from England to institute cautious and careful inquiry".[6]

In the 1885 general election, Hunter was elected MP for Hackney Central and held the seat until the 1892 general election.

References

  1. ↑  Sidney Lee, ed. (1912). "Fayrer, Joseph". Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement​ 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 
  2. ↑ Grant Medical College
  3. ↑ Mridula Ramanna Western Medicine and Public Health in Colonial Bombay, 1845-1895 2002
  4. ↑ Hansard House of Lords Debate 2 August 1898
  5. ↑ British Census 1881
  6. ↑ Further Reports By Surgeon-General Hunter on Cholera Epidemic in Egypt, C. 4904 (1883), 3-4

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency
 Member of Parliament for Hackney Central
1885 – 1892 		Succeeded by
Andrew Richard Scoble
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