most of his life - 46 years - she lived as a man.It was only after her death became known that she, Margaret Ann Bulkley and famous surgeon James Barry - it is one and the same person.
She left a very little information about her childhood and adolescence, we know almost nothing.Presumably, she was born in 1792-1795.
At birth, she was an Irish girl that Margaret Ann Bulkley.She was the daughter of a grocer's daughter Bulkley Jeremy and Anna-Maria Barry, sister of the renowned Irish painter.
When Margaret grew up in a family decided that she is too capable and smart to spend all my life as befits the young lady.Women in the eighteenth century were not allowed to receive a real education.
Mother Margaret conspired with a number of influential and liberal-minded friends of her uncle, who helped the girl to become a boy and entered the University of Edinburgh, at the Department of Medicine under the name of James Barry.
While James Barry learned, Margaret Ann Bulkley officially traveled with her mother on the sea.
After graduation, Barry returned to London and successfully passed the exams of the British Royal College of Surgeons.
After Barry joined the army and was soon sent to South Africa.In Cape Town he worked until his retirement.At the post of medical inspector of the colony did much to ensure that the conditions of life have been more comfortable.It was established through the efforts of water, improved urban governance.All this time, Barry continued to be a practicing surgeon.He held one of the first successful caesarean section than saving the lives of both mother and child.
The fact that the surgeon is something wrong, suspected during his lifetime.Growth was small, the voice was too high for a man, and his shoulders looked as if stuffed with cotton wool.
In addition, the doctor gained notoriety when his harsh judgments provoked a duel with pistols.Besides, he was in a relationship with the Governor - Lord Charles Somerset.Couple accused of homosexuality, and this was the reason for the libel case.
died Margaret Ann Bulkley 25 July 1865 during an epidemic of dysentery in London.The scandal, which shocked the army command Victorian England, broke already after Dr. Barry remains were buried in the cemetery of Kensal Green Cemetery.Sophia Bishop, servant, prepares the body for burial, for the first time said that in fact "he" was a woman.
Army bosses were terrified that if Bishop allegations are true, then, pretending to man, Barry became the first woman in the United Kingdom, received a medical education.She managed to deceive the army, where she was taken into the service, and for half a century to keep secret the truth about their belonging to the female sex.
Alarmed by such thoughts, the army command took away private affair of Dr. Barry under lock and key by almost a hundred years, hoping that this story will be forgotten.
Since the hypothesis is based only on the testimony of a maid, and his body after his death no one was examining, and it has generated endless speculation: some of his contemporaries claimed that always knew about the secret of the doctor, others said if Dr. Barry was a hermaphrodite.
In 1950 historian Isabelle Ray gained access to the archives of the army, and came to the conclusion that Dr. Barry - the niece of James Barrie, the famous Irish artist, professor of painting at the Royal Academy of London.
Dr. Michael Dupre, a urologist from South Africa, the first time I heard this story a boy, when he lived in Cape Town.He began to collect evidence that would reveal the secret of Dr. Barry once and for all.In a large collection of documents related to James Barry, he found a paper that left no doubt - the birth of Dr. Barry was a girl.
The documents became known that his mother Margaret conspired with a number of influential and liberal-minded friends of her uncle, who helped the girl to graduate from medical school.
become crucial evidence about twenty letters from Margaret and the young medical student from Barrie.
Alison Reboul, a specialist in the analysis of documents criminalistic services came to the conclusion that they wrote one and the same person.In addition, it was found the letter written by Barry family lawyer Daniel Reardon on arrival in Edinburgh to study in 1809.
Despite the fact that the letter was signed "James Barry" Reardon pointed at him - "Miss Bulkley 14 December.""Reardon was a meticulous man," - says Dupree.- All letters came he put the date and the name of the sender.More conclusive evidence simply can not be. "
Photo source: mysli.narod.ru
