Dr. James Miranda Barry
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James Miranda Barry was probably born between 1795 and 1799 as female, but spent the majority of his life living as male. Recently there have been debates about pronoun usage and identifying Barry as a lesbian or transgendered given his (or her) strong desire to live life as predominantly male.
James Barry or Margaret Bulkley was born in Cork, Ireland. She was around 17 when she and her family decided she would have a medical career. But to achieve that goal she changed her name and her appearance and used her brother’s identity papers to register for school. She was not only able to get in; she actually became a Dr. of Medicine some three years later. That made her/him the first female Dr. in Britain.
Not quite a year later, Barry joined the British Army. His first military appointment was as the Colonial Medical Inspector of South Africa where she/he was in charge of military hospitals. She/He was a huge advocate for improved sanitation and hygiene in order to improve the lives of patients and reduce the spread of infection and disease.
Barry used some highly innovative surgical techniques. While on duty she/he performed a successful Cesarean Section. That was a big deal at…
