Herbert R. Spencer

Professor Herbert R. Spencer MD MRCS LSA FRCP
Born	16 January 1860 Atherstone
Died	28 August 1941
Nationality	British
Education	University College Hospital
Known for	External cephalic version History of medicine
Medical career
Profession	Obstetrician
Notable works	"The Dangers and Diagnosis of Breech Presentation, and its Treatment by External Version Towards the End of Pregnancy", 1901. Tumours Complicating Pregnancy, Labour, and the Puerperium: Being the Lettsomian Lectures &c, 1920.

Herbert Ritchie Spencer FRCP (16 January 1860 – 28 August 1941) was professor of obstetrics at University College London.

Spencer wrote numerous articles and books on gynaecological and obstetric topics, as well as on the history of midwifery and the English anatomist and physiologist William Harvey. In 1901, he published an article on breech birth, where he discussed its dangers and encouraged antenatal screening by examining the abdomen for difficult foetal positions, and advised on its management with particular reference to the external cephalic version.

He was active amongst various medical societies and was president of the Obstetric and Gynaecology section of the British Medical Association (BMA), president of the Obstetrical Society of London, president of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology section at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), and later president of the History of Medicine Society of the RSM. In addition, he was an examiner for both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons and the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London.