Jean Boniface Textoris was a military surgeon, chief doctor of the French Navy, born on 24 February 1773 in Toulon and died on 3 September 1828 in Néoules in the Var.
Joining the Navy in 1787, at the age of 14, he rose through the ranks of Navy surgeon, operating during 16 years on most of the major ships of the Ancien Régime and of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Received doctor at the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine in 1803, he was appointed Chief Medical Officer of the squadron shortly after the advent of the First Empire under the command of Admiral de Latouche-Tréville, then on his death, under the command of Admiral de Villeneuve on the Bucentaure. In this capacity, he took part in the battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) where he was recognised for his devotion to wounded sailors.
For a few years, he still embarked on hospital ships, but, in 1811, weakened by his health, he applied for a position as an instructor and was appointed to the Army training ship, the Duquesne. As this service was abolished after the fall of Napoleon I, he was appointed to the direction of the Navy's health services in the port of Marseille, where he ended his career. He died in a small village in the Haut-Var.