The Blanche Family

A medical dynasty...

Antoine-Louis Blanche, founder of this dynasty, was born on December 23, 1752 in Courgeron, In the department of Orne. Introduced to the art of surgery in Argentan and then in Paris, he moved to Rouen in 1779 where he was admitted to the College of Surgery.

Committed supporter of the Jacobins during the French Revolution, he nevertheless continued his career as chief surgeon of the military hospital in Rouen and opened an anatomy course.

A respected surgeon, Antoine-Louis Blanche, a freemason and member of the Health Committee at the Rouen City Hall, gained notoriety and recognition from his compatriots thanks to his role as a contributor to the development of the smallpox vaccine in Rouen and the department of Seine-Inférieure.

He died on 3 March 1816 in his house in the Rue des Bons Enfants, leaving his family a sizeable fortune. Among his children, two sons will distinguish themselves in the medical career: Antoine-Emmanuel-Pascal in Rouen and Esprit-Silvestre (1796-1852) famous alienist, founder of the Passy clinic and doctor of Gérard de Nerval, whose son, Antoine-Emile Blanche (1820-1893), will take over, treating Guy de Maupassant and many other celebrities. Antoine-Emile Blanche is also the father of the famous painter Jacques-Emile Blanche (1861-1942).

Antoine-Emmanuel-Pascal Blanche was born in Rouen on December 9, 1785. After his first studies in Rouen, he left for the capital and enrolled as a student at the Ecole Pratique of the Medical school of Paris. In 1806, he defended his doctoral thesis and then returned to his home town where he obtained the position of assistant surgeon at the Bicêtre detention and correction centre, which included a service for the insane. There, he organized a complete medical education called "l'école Blanche". It was in this institution that he had a ward set up for the insane, where he implemented Pinel's recommendations, "practicing isolation and freedom with a view to curing madness. »

In 1814: he was appointed deputy of the assistant surgeons of the hospitals of Rouen and became chief surgeon of the Bicêtre detention centre where he had to face the terrible typhus epidemic.

In 1821, he succeeded Lamauve as chief surgeon of the Hospice-General and was appointed Vice-President of the newly founded Medical Society of Rouen. In the same year, when the Provisional School of Medicine of Rouen was created, he was given the responsibility of providing courses in outpatient clinics, medical subjects and therapeutics for the Hospice-Général. In 1828, when this school was transformed into the Secondary School of Medicine, he was appointed clinical Professor of the Hospice General and of the Forensic Medicine department.

In 1832, Antoine-Emmanuel Blanche joined the Rouen City Council. Two months later, Rouen was hit by a major cholera epidemic and the young surgeon spared no effort in trying to wrest as many victims as possible from death. In recognition of his efforts, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honour.

A freemason like his father, Antoine-Emmanuel Blanche actively participated in the intellectual life of Rouen. Member of the Academy of Rouen since 1818, he was its President for 1830-1831.

On January 24, 1849, he died in the middle of a town council meeting from a stroke. Three days later, the funeral ceremony took place at the Hospice-General and then in the Saint-Vivien church. On June 12, 1853, his bust was inaugurated at the Hospice-Général and placed near the front door. In 1867, the city of Rouen gave his name to the new street leading to the Hospice-Général, where he had been chief surgeon for twenty-eight years. His son, Emmanuel-Louis will be the last member of this medical dynasty of Rouen.

Emmanuel-Louis Blanche was born in Rouen on May 10, 1824. He began his medical studies in Rouen and in 1849 he was awarded the degree of doctor at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. Back in his native city, he obtained the position of assistant surgeon to Doctor Hélot at the Hospice-Général and then, in 1853, that of assistant doctor at the Hôtel-Dieu de Rouen, a position he held until 1867.

In 1855, during the reorganization of the preparatory medical school of Rouen, he was appointed substitute professor for the ancillary science chairs, in charge of teaching natural history. Initiated from childhood to herbalism by his father, he turned to botany at a very early age and, in 1867, he became director of the Jardin des Plantes of Rouen and held the chair of natural history at the School of Sciences. In 1865, he founded the Society of Friends of the Natural Sciences of Rouen and became its Honorary President in 1875.

He died without descendants on May 28, 1908 at his home in Blosseville-Bonsecours.