Alphonse Leroy (physician)

Born Alphonse-Louis-Vincent Leroy in Rouen, he initially studied law and wished to become a lawyer, but the fame of the Rouen-born surgeon Claude-Nicolas Lecat gave him the idea of switching to medicine.

He specialised in children's and women's diseases and voiced several innovations in the teaching of midwifery.

He published several works - these and his skill in public speaking gained him an appointment as professor of midwifery in the Paris school of health.

He was the first to hold a chair in midwifery at the medical faculty in Paris beside Jean-Louis Baudelocque.

He was best known for symphysiotomy and exploited his celebrity as the second man to perform it after its inventor Jean-René Sigault.