 Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray was born into an eminent French medical family in Clermont-Ferrand.In February 1740, at the age of twenty-five, Angélique du Coudray completed her three-year apprenticeship with Anne Bairsin, Dame Philibet Magin, and passed her qualifying examinations at the College of Surgery École de Chirurgie.Within the next few years, the school of surgery had barred female midwives from receiving instruction.