Margaret Anne (Bulkley) Barry (abt. 1789 - 1865)

Born about 1789 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 25 Jul 1865 at about age 76 in London, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

James (Bulkley) Barry was born in Ireland.

James (Bulkley) Barry is Notable.

James Barry was born as "Margaret Anne Bulkley", the second child of Jeremiah Bulkley and Mary Anne Barry, about 1789 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland.^{[1][2] [3]}

There is very little non-military source documentation regarding Barry's life and a tremendous amount of speculation.

The Bulkleys ran a grocery business at Merchants Quay, Cork. In 1803 the family went bankrupt, and Jeremiah went to debtors' prison.

The mother, Mary Anne was a sister of James Barry, a successful Irish painter. When he died in 1806 the family inherited not only money but his circle of friends, General Francisco de Miranda, Dr Edward Fryer, who had become Barry's personal tutor, and Daniel Reardon, the family's solicitor.

It was this circle of friends who came up with the idea that Margaret should take on a male identity and enter medical school at Edinburgh.

In 1809 Margaret entered the Edinburgh School of Medicine as James Barry.

The name assumed by Margaret Bulkley starting with application and entry to medical school represents the following benefactors:

• James Barry - uncle, artist and professor.
• Francisco de Miranda - uncle's friend, Venezuelan General, bibliophile (whose extensive library was often frequented by the studious Margaret)
• David Steuart Erskine - uncle's friend, 11th Earl of Buchan, patron of the arts.

Barry qualified for an MD in 1812. He then studied at United Hospitals of Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London. In 1813 he successfully passed the examination for the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

James Barry, about 1813

Others who figured prominently in Barry's early life include Edward Fryer (uncle's friend, physician) and Daniel Reardon (mother's friend and family lawyer) ^[4]

James joined the army and was commissioned as a Hospital Assistant, posted in Chelsea and then the Royal Military Hospital in Plymouth, where he was promoted to Assistant Staff Surgeon. He was then briefly stationed in India before arriving in Cape Town South Africa in 1816 or 1817.

He eventually rose to the rank of Inspector General in charge of all military hospitals. He was often involved in scandals and disputes. His demand for better treatment of the poor and marginalized often put him at odds with those in power. He was known for being a skilled physician and his gentle and respectful treatment of his patients. He advocated for better treatment of soldiers and their families. He improved sanitary conditions in hospitals and recruited women nurses for women’s hospitals.

James lived his life as a man. He never allowed anyone in his room when dressing. He left instructions that upon his death there should be no examination of his body and that his body should be "buried in bed sheets without further inspection”.

When he died in 1865 the woman employed to lay out his body observed he had a female body and made it public.

He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery under the name James Barry and full military rank.

Research Notes

Gender at birth

Dr James (Miranda Steuart) Barry, born Margaret Anne Bulkley and known as a female in childhood, lived his entire adult life as a man in both public and private life. Per the guidelines at Help:Sex and Gender, Barry's profile has been set as his Sex at Birth, female, with the qualifier of "other/do not display."

The "talk" page for the Wikipedia article on Dr James Barry touches on several of the controversial issues that pose challenges in Barry's biography.

Last Name, Middle Name at Birth

It is possible that the family name at birth and in any primary source documents that may exist is Bulkley (as used in this profile) or Buckley.

Michael du Preez (who extensively researched Barry's life for over a decade) uses the middle name Anne (as opposed to Ann) for each of Margaret and her mother Mary in his 2016 book, so Anne is used in this profile as well.

Sources

1. ↑ While the FindAGrave memorial suggests a birth year of 1795, the headstone image does not provide a birth year. du Preez's research uses a birth year of 1789, an estimate based on a letter written by Barry's mother in January 1805 that mentions Margaret's age as "but 15 years old".
2. ↑ du Preez, Michael; Dronfield, Jeremy. Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time. London: Oneworld Publications, 2016.
3. ↑ While du Preez's 2016 book includes a footnote explaining no record has been found of the births of either child, John or Margaret, du Preez's 2008 article mentions that Margaret's brother was probably born about 1783 and that Jeremiah and Mary had a third child, another daughter, after Margaret. As of the writing of the 2016 book, du Preez's thinking was that this younger sister was actually a child birthed by Margaret in or prior to 1803 and was the result of a rape.
4. ↑ According to du Preez 2016, Daniel Reardon (Riordan) was a friend of Mary Anne's before he was her lawyer and appears to have not known Mary Anne's brother James. It is not clear from this account if Daniel Reardon was related to Mary Anne, whose mother's maiden name was Reardon (Riordan, Roerden). The only genealogical information located so far for Daniel Reardon is from du Preez 2008, footnote 89 where reference is made to Daniel's brother Michael.

• "A Female Medical Combatant." Timaru Herald, Vol. II, Issue 80, 25 November 1865.
• "A Strange Story." The Guardian, 21 August 1865, p. 3.
• du Preez, H M. "Dr James Barry (1789-1865): the Edinburgh years." The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 2012, Vol. 42, pp. 258-65.
• du Preez, Hercules Michael. "Dr James Barry: The early years revealed." South African Medical Journal, January 2008, Vol. 98, No. 1, pp. 52–54.
• du Preez, Michael; Dronfield, Jeremy. Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time. London: Oneworld Publications, 2016.

See also:

• Barry, James. Disputatio Medica Inaugralis, de Merocele, vel Hernia Crurali. Edinburgh Research Archive. Accessed 02 March 2019. [Dr James Barry's medical dissertation on femoral hernia.]
• James Barry free space page on WikiTree
• Turner, Neil. James Barry. Edinburgh Electronic Medical Curriculum (EEMeC). Accessed 02 March 2019.
• Wikidata: Item Q1294046, en:Wikipedia
• Find A Grave: Memorial #2613 Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 16 February 2019), memorial page for Dr James Barry (1795–26 Jul 1865), Find A Grave Memorial no. 2613, citing Kensal Green Cemetery, Kensal Green, London Borough of Brent, Greater London, England ; Maintained by Find A Grave.
• E.E. Ottoman, Dr James Barry and the Spector of Trans and Queer History.
• Directory of National Biography.
• Dr James Miranda Barry.
• James Barry A Woman Ahead of her Time.
• Hourican, Bridget; Clarke, Frances. Barry, James. Dictionary of Irish Biography (2009). https://www.dib.ie/biography/barry-james-a0442.