Sir Patrick Heron Watson (5 January 1832 – 21 December 1907) was an eminent 19th-century Scottish surgeon and pioneer of anaesthetic development.

He was born in Edinburgh on 5 January 1832, the third of four sons of Rev Dr Charles Watson of Burntisland and Isabella Boog.

He graduated MD in 1853 with the thesis "On traumatic gangrene"[2] and was elected Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

In December 1854 he travelled south to Chatham Dockyard to enlist as an assistant surgeon in the Royal Artillery, specifically hoping to gain experience in military surgery, a standard requirement for Professorship.

On 11 April he reported his first bout of typhus, and moved to a hotel in Therapia to convalesce, returning to Koolalee in early May 1855.

As a strange coincidence, here he was able to share a room with his brother Robert who had also caught dysentery whilst serving as chaplain with the Highland Brigade.

Watson completed his military service at Woolwich and Aldershot, continuing in his role of Surgeon to the Royal Artillery.

He recovered and returned to Edinburgh to teach surgery at the university, that department then being based at High School Yards.

During this time, he was one of Arthur Conan Doyle's teachers along with Joseph Bell, who ultimately became the inspirations for Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes, respectively.

He stood alone in this role for sixteen years until his pupil, Sophia Jex-Blake, opened a college specifically for women.

In 1877 he stood for the chair of Clinical Surgery in Edinburgh University, but was beaten (alleged due to his opposition to specialisation) by Thomas Annandale.

However, as with many contemporaries he was not a follower of his former student companion, Joseph Lister's use of antiseptic, and as a result, many simple procedures ended in failure.

After a six-month illness, he died at his home at 16 Charlotte Square, on 21 December 1907 and was buried in Dean Cemetery on the west side of Edinburgh.