James Barry AKA Margaret Bulkey, Irish Military Surgeon

Barry with John, his servant, and Barry's dog Psyche, 1862, Jamaica. James Miranda Steuart Barry (1790s - July 25, 1865, born Margaret Ann Bulkley) was an Irish military surgeon in the British Army. Barry obtained a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, then served first in Cape Town, South Africa and subsequently in many parts of the British Empire. Before retirement, Barry had risen to the rank of Inspector General in charge of military hospitals, the second highest medical office in the British Army. Barry not only improved conditions for wounded soldiers, but also the conditions of the native inhabitants, and performed the first caesarean section in Africa by an Irish surgeon in which both the mother and child survived the operation. Although Barry's entire adult life was lived as a man, Barry was born Margaret Ann Bulkley and was known as female in childhood. Barry chose to live as a man in both public and private life at least in part in order to be accepted as a university student and pursue a career as a surgeon, the truth only becoming known to the public and to military colleagues after death. After the matter was made public, many people claimed to have known it all along'. The British Army, seeking to suppress the story, sealed all records of Barry for the next 100 years

Picture No

12698412

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48540285

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2936px x 4800px (3.5MB)

Credit

Wellcome Images/Science Source/Mary Evans