Benjamin Alcock

Benjamin Alcock (1801 – 1865) was an Irish anatomist. He is remembered for his description of the pudendal nerve sheath, which came to be known as Alcock's canal, later more usually called the pudendal canal, and an associated disease, Alcock canal syndrome, also known as pudendal nerve entrapment or pudendal neuralgia.

Born in Kilkenny, Ireland, he was the eldest of three sons and at least two daughters of Deborah Prim and Nathaniel Alcock (1770-1836), medical officer of the Kilkenny Dispensary. He became an accomplished anatomist working for some time under the leading Irish surgeon, Abraham Colles. After studying at Kilkenny College, he entered the University of Dublin, Trinity College in 1816, coming first in the College Entrance Examination and graduating B.A. in 1821. He arrived in New York on the City of Baltimore in April 1859 and successfully obtained United States citizenship some years later. In America he married another Irish emigrant (first name Sarah), who had had a daughter, Ellen, by an earlier marriage. They built a house on 3 acres in Hammondsport in Steuben County, New York State, which at that time was a growing wine producing town. As far as is known, he never practiced anatomy or medicine in Hammondsport. He died there in 1865, having made provision for his adoptive daughter Ellen in his will. She married the Revd. Daniel Loveridge in 1877 and the two provided a home for Sarah until her death in 1883. Sarah left an estate valued at $5,400 and is buried with her husband beside the family home in Hammondsport.