Thread by @irelandincolour, "If ever there was a story to offer a tantalising glimpse into [...]

Old Ireland in Colour

irelandincolour

"If ever there was a story to offer a tantalising glimpse into what women might have achieved throughout history had they been freed from expectations about gender, it’s the life of Margaret Ann Bulkley… who grew up to hold the second highest medical office in the British Army."

"But she first had to reinvent herself as Dr James Barry (1789-1865)."
- @jenoconnell @IrishTimes "25 fearless women who helped shape today’s Ireland"

b. 1789 Ireland
d. 1865 England
Known for medical reforms, first successful Caesarean section in Africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_(surgeon)

James Miranda St[e]uart Barry (left), with John, a servant, and Barry's dog "Psyche", c. 1862, Kingston, Jamaica

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Barry,_with_his_dog,_Psyche,_and_his_servant_Wellcome_L0020605.jpg @wikicommons

Before, in between, and after, some photo cracks and other marks removed

#DeOldify #AlternativeModel

James Miranda Steuart Barry (c. 1789 – 25 July 1865) was a military surgeon in the British Army, born in Cork, Ireland. 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 (equivalent to Brigadier 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 recorded caesarean section by a European in Africa 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 lived as a man in public/private life, at least in part in order to be accepted as a university student and pursue a career as a surgeon, with Barry's birth sex only becoming known to the public and to military colleagues after death

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