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QUEER HISTORY
Who was Dr. James "Miranda" Barry?
Liz Highleyman | July 26, 2005
Dr. James "Miranda" Barry
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Dr. James Barry was a celebrated military surgeon and medical reformer whose sex and gender identity were the subject of much speculation both during his life and after his death. To this day, it is not known whether Barry was a transgender man, a person with an intersex condition, or a woman who cross-dressed in order to follow her dreams.
Barry is thought to have been born around 1795, but little is known about the exact circumstances of his birth and early life. Even his original name is uncertain; some researchers believe it was Miranda Stuart or Margaret Bulkley. Barry is said to have been raised by a single mother and supported by a circle of bohemians and radicals who were friends of his uncle, the Irish painter James Barry. Among them were the Earl of Buchan (David Erskine), an early proponent of women's rights, and the Venezuelan revolutionary General Francisco de Miranda, who encouraged Barry to dress as a boy and enroll at the University of Edinburgh Medical School as a young teenager.
Barry graduated in 1812; today, he is regarded by many as the first woman ever to have received a university medical degree. Despite being barely five feet tall, Barry joined the British Army around 1813. He served in several overseas posts, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa (then a British colony), around 1816. Though he often bucked his superiors as he sought to improve local health conditions, he quickly rose through the ranks and was named medical inspector. He became known for his talent as a surgeon, and is credited with performing the first successful Cesarean section using modern Western techniques.
With his red-dyed hair, flamboyant outfits, and high-heeled shoes, Barry developed a reputation as a dandy. Among his peculiar habits, it was noted that Barry would only undress in complete privacy. He also became known for his short temper and lack of diplomacy.
Although flirtatious with the ladies, Barry was rumored to be homosexual. Around 1820, Barry entered into a close relationship – and quite likely a love affair – with Cape Town Governor Lord Charles Somerset. The two were accused of sodomy, after which the governor was recalled to London and the young doctor temporarily left the Cape for parts unknown – some say to conceal a pregnancy. Barry resurfaced in South Africa, where he remained until 1828. He then went on to serve in several island posts, including Mauritius, Jamaica, St. Helena, the West Indies, Malta, and Corfu.
In 1857, Barry – by now promoted to Inspector General of Army Hospitals – was posted to Canada. Two years later, after a bout of influenza, he was pressured into retirement and returned to London, accompanied as usual by his Jamaican manservant and a poodle named Psyche. He died in London during a dysentery epidemic in July 1865. A nurse or maid preparing the body for burial claimed Barry was a woman, but his doctor said he thought Barry might be "an imperfectly developed man."
More than a century later, Barry’s "real" sex remains a mystery. But, asks Harvard literature professor Marjorie Garber, "If a person lives his or her life consistently under a gender identity different from that revealed by anatomical inspection after death, what is the force of that 'reality'?"
Liz Highleyman is a freelance writer and editor who has written widely on health, sexuality, and politics.
Further Reading
Holmes, Rachel. 2003. Scanty Particulars: The Scandalous Life and Astonishing Secret of Queen Victoria's Most Eminent Military Doctor (Random House).
Rose, June. 1977. The Perfect Gentleman: The Remarkable Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry (Hutchinson).
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