Donald McGavin

Major General Sir Donald Johnstone McGavin (1876 to 1960) was a New Zealand surgeon, army health administrator and medical administrator. He was born in Chatham, Kent, in England on 19 August 1876, trained at Mason University College in Birmingham and at the London Hospital, and qualified with an MB in 1900 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1901. He served as a civilian surgeon with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Natal during the Boer War, then moved to New Zealand, registered in 1903 and began practice as a surgeon in Wellington in 1904. In the First World War he served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force from 1915 in Egypt, Greece and France, including Gallipoli and the Western Front. He was Director-General of Medical Services from 1919 to 1924 and later held many public medical posts. His knighthood in 1921 was the first awarded for medical services. He died in Wellington on 8 May 1960.