Angelique du Coudray was born in 1715 into an eminent French medical family in Clermont-Ferrand.
Around this time, a conflict between male practitioners, who called themselves surgeons, and midwives arose.
Soon after Coudrays graduation, schools began to bar women from gaining instruction in midwifery.
Coudray was among those who supported female midwives.
Moreover, she declared that without training, there would be shortage of midwives.
The medical community listened and female midwives once again began receiving instructions in birthing techniques.
Between 1760 and 1783, she traveled all over rural France, sharing her extensive knowledge with poor women.
To aid in her teaching of rural midwives, Coudray created a life-sized obstetrical manikin she called the machine.
Du Coudray died in Bordeaux on April 17, 1794.
Others believe that du Coudray simply died because of old age.
She was 82 years old at the time of her death.
Madame du Coudray’s machine exhibited at the Flaubert Museum and History of Medicine in Rouen.
