The Girl Who Became one of Britain’s Most Famous Male Surgeons

In the time before women were permitted to enroll in formal education, Margaret-Ann Bulkley conspired to dress like a man and take on the name James Barry, in order to attend medical school at The University of Edinburgh. Managed to maintain this secret until she died 56 years later, climbing to the position of Inspector General, the second highest ranking medical officer in the entire British Army.

Born Margaret-Ann Bulkley sometime during the last decade of the 18th century in an impoverished family with little opportunity, the plan was hatched out of necessity. The name James Barry comes from her uncle of the same name who was a famous Irish painter and intellectual. Through him, Margaret’s family knew Venezuelan general Francisco de Miranda. The original plan was for Margaret to go to school under the name James Barry and then to practice medicine as a woman in Venezuela. The General was a revolutionary and had plans for liberating Latin America from Spanish control, but when his plans failed, Margaret was stuck pretending to be James.

James Barry was almost not admitted to the school for appearing to be too young of a man to attend, but a recommendation from the Earl of Buchan, another friend of the painter James Barry, carried young James through medical school. It’s even likely that Barry’s young or prepubescent appearance aided in the impression that he was some sort of wunderkind.

James climbed the ranks from hospital assistant to medical officer in the British Army, serving in hospitals across the British empire, performing medical feats as well as medical firsts such as the first successful cesarean section by an Irish doctor in South Africa.

Barry’s main goal throughout all of this seemed to be to foster and demand better conditions not just for soldiers but for the subjects of the imperial occupancy. He also held many modern beliefs about health and sanitation, such as being a strict vegetarian, which was uncommon at the time.

Barry was made Inspector General in 1857 in Canada. In that position he continued to push for better sanitation, food, and treatment for soldiers and citizens. Also working to bring that care to prisoners and lepers.

Barry died in 1865 on the way back to England to be treated for dysentery. Upon a medical examination of her corpse it was discovered not only that she was a woman, but also a mother. Pregnancy stretch marks led examiners at the time to conclude that she had a child at a young age. Later investigators believe that she had a daughter when she was young, and who was passed off as her sister before she began her life as a man.

Even after his death, people who worked alongside Barry stated that they didn’t care if he was male or female, it didn’t matter if he was underdeveloped, hermaphroditic, or a woman. James Barry’s work speaks for itself. Surely the countless people who James Barry saved, operated on, cared for, comforted, wouldn’t have cared that he was born Margaret.