Extract from a document entitled ‘Memorandum of the Services of Dr James Barry Inspector General of Hospitals’. This was written by Dr Barry at the end of his career after serving in Canada when he returned to London in 1859, although the date stamp on the document is not clear. Catalogue ref: WO 138/1.
In this extract Dr James Barry refers to an important rebellion of the enslaved on the island of Jamaica 1831-32.
Extract from Dr James Barry’s personal army service record. This page shows his training at Edinburgh University in medicine. Catalogue ref: WO 25/3910.
James Barry, born in 1795 in Cork, Ireland, became a leading doctor with a glittering medical career who did much to raise standards of medical care in and outside the army. He chose to exclusively live and identify as a man, having been assigned female at birth. Sources in The National Archives show how his biological sex became a matter of discussion amongst some of his contemporaries after his death in 1865 and that it was publicly reported. Such an intrusion into a person’s personal life is completely unacceptable today.
Archives can reveal historical sources for LGBTQ+ lives that can help us to understand their stories and how they were treated in society. Sometimes, these histories appear to be ‘hiding in plain sight’, and other times are more difficult to find.
Our understanding of gender and sexuality has changed a lot since the times of James Barry. ‘Transgender’, meaning someone whose gender identity differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth, was not a term used in the 1800s. However, research has highlighted the significance of James Barry as a transgender man in the history of medicine as both a pioneer and reformer. The text here uses the pronouns he/him in accordance with how Dr James Barry identified himself throughout his life. In the first document shown here, which reveals his appointment as Inspector General of Hospitals in 1857, he signed as ‘Dr James Barry, M.D. Esquire.’
Use this lesson to explore archival sources relating to the life of Dr James Barry.
Click on the map above to explore the different places where Dr James Barry lived throughout his life. Read an accessible description of the map here.
According to EE Ottoman, after leaving Ireland, James Barry wrote in 1809 that he was ‘sailing to Edinburgh with his aunt’ who ‘wished to have a Gentleman to take care of her on Board Ship and to have one in a strange country’.
Dr James Barry’s professional service record for the army (WO 25/3910) gives us an outline of his career after qualifying as a doctor at Edinburgh University in 1812. He qualified as a surgeon in 1813 ‘before the College of Surgeons’ in London. He entered the army at the age of fourteen, was commissioned as an army hospital assistant and stationed at military hospitals in Chelsea and Plymouth, and later made Assistant Staff Surgeon in December 1815.
Barry was sent to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) in 1817 as a medical officer, and went with the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, to inspect the frontier settlements. He was then appointed physician to the Governor’s household in 1818. He became Assistant Staff Surgeon in 1822 and Surgeon of the Forces in 1827. During his time at the Cape, Barry did much to improve the sanitary conditions in army hospitals with better hygiene and diet for the patients and helped to reduce the spread of disease. He also attempted to improve the regulation of medicines sold. At this time, Dr Barry also performed an early successful caesarean section on a society woman, Wilhelmina Munnik, saving the life of both mother and baby. He was also accused of having a relationship with Lord Charles Somerset, which caused a scandal at the time.
He went on to serve in Mauritius from 1828 and was recalled owing to the illness of Sir Charles Somerset, who later died. Dr Barry was then posted to Jamaica in 1831/2 and returned on leave to England in 1835. As Principal Medical Officer, he was later ordered to St Helena (1836), and then to the Windward and Leeward Islands for 12 months. Later in Antigua, Barbados (1838) and Trinidad, he was in medical charge of the troops while the Inspector General was absent. He returned to England having contracted yellow fever in Trinidad. He resumed service in Malta as Principal Medical Officer, where according ‘A memorandum of the Services of Dr James Barry, Inspector General of Hospitals’, (WO 138/1): ‘I also had the thanks of the Duke of Wellington for my services during [which] that island (Malta) was visited by the cholera’.
After this, Dr James Barry was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector General in the Ionian Islands when he cared for sick soldiers sent to Corfu, wounded during the Crimean War. Barry went on to serve in Crimea for three months where he allegedly had a public spat with Florence Nightingale. After his exceptional work in Greece, which included supporting soldiers of his regiment in Piraeus with ‘medicines, comforts and supplies’, he was also praised by Admiral Lyons for ‘commanding the “Modeste” for my zeal and service having discovered the cause of the malignant fever on board that vessel and for my successful treatment of the sick and the purification of the ship’ (WO 138/1).
He was promoted to the highest rank in the army as Inspector General of Hospitals in the British colony of Canada in 1857. He continued to reform living conditions for soldiers and prisoners and those suffering from leprosy. He returned to London after contracting a severe case of bronchitis in 1859, arriving in March 1860 after a difficult sea voyage. He lived in London in retirement and died in 1865. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery following a military funeral.
In a letter from Dr McKinnon replying to George Graham on 24 August 1865 (WO 138/1), it is mentioned that a woman claimed that Dr James Barry ‘was a female’ and wanted money to keep the ‘great secret’. Dr Barry left instructions that his body was not to be examined after his death. In documents he consistently identified himself as male and uses male pronouns. He signs himself as ‘Dr James Barry’ and refers to himself as ‘gentleman’. In character, he appears to have had a reputation for being highly outspoken. The document (PRO 30/46/18) concerning a clash he had with church authorities in Canada gives us a little window into his personality but also highlights his constant concern for the soldiers of his regiment.
The documents reveal Dr James Barry not as woman living as a man choosing a medical career, but as a man living a man’s life within the society he found himself in.
Barry could not have used the term ‘transgender’ to describe himself in the nineteenth century. However, from today’s perspective, he would appear to be a significant figure in the context of trans history. According to Jack Doyle, in his article ‘“The Trans Take”: Towards a Transgender Public History’ (2019), ‘lives like James Barry’s are fascinating precisely because they reveal the ways in which trans and gender-nonconforming people have navigated, embodied, and survived gender across historical and cultural contexts.’
In some cases, we find out about stories like that of Dr James Barry because their privacy has been invaded, in this case after death. The history of some transgender people may remain untold without the legacy of personal records. Hopefully, the archival material held in The National Archives relating to Dr James Barry can serve to reveal the power of this history and its importance for identity.
ENDEAVOUR: official copy of journal kept by Captain James Cook. Voyage of discovery, South Indian Ocean. 1768 May 27-1771 July 10. Catalogue ref: ADM 55/40.
ENDEAVOUR: official copy of journal kept by Captain James Cook. Voyage of discovery, South Indian Ocean. 1768 May 27-1771 July 10. Catalogue ref: ADM 55/40.
ENDEAVOUR: official copy of journal kept by Captain James Cook. Voyage of discovery, South Indian Ocean. 1768 May 27-1771 July 10. Catalogue ref: ADM 55/40.
SECRET LETTERS. ADM 2/1332
Chart of New Zealand drawn by Cook during his first voyage, around 1770.
CO 700/NEWZEALAND1: New Zealand by Lt James Cook, Commander of the Endeavour c1770, Catalogue Ref: CO 700/NEWZEALAND1
The oldest known Māori map of New Zealand, drawn by Tooka-Titter-anue Wari-Ledo in 1793.
Chart of New Zealand drawn by Tooka-Titter-anue Wari-Ledo [Tuki Tahua], 1793. Catalogue Ref: MPG 1/532/5
[West is at the top of the map. North Island (right), where Tuki lived, is drawn larger than South Island, which he had never visited].
In June 1769, James Cook opened an envelope containing secret instructions from King George III. Cook was in Tahiti, having led the expedition to observe the transit of Venus across the sun by astronomer Charles Green and others.
These secret instructions revealed that there was a second mission: to find the mysterious alleged southern continent ‘Terra Australis’, and claim it for Britain.
Cook set sail southward. From 1769 to 1770, he would reach and chart what are now New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. While he never found ‘Terra Australis’ – which was thought to cover the entire southern hemisphere – his voyage had long-lasting consequences for the places he visited and led to the formation of the modern countries Australia and New Zealand. Although they were inhabited, Cook charted and claimed the places he visited in the name of his country, which led to their occupation and colonisation by Great Britain. The first penal colony in Australia was established in 1788 in Botany Bay, a place originally named and described by Cook. Today, Australia and New Zealand are still part of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Use this lesson to explore extracts from Cook’s original journal with other documents to find out what happened. What was the impact of his voyage on Britain and on the Indigenous peoples of the places he arrived at?
Click on this map to trace Cook’s voyage and see the location of each source in this lesson. Read an accessible description of the map here.
In 1768, Captain James Cook set out on a voyage from England to the South Pacific Ocean, a joint initiative between the Admiralty and the Royal Society, which was commissioned by King George III. Cook and his men travelled on the HMS Endeavour from 1768 to 1771.
The official reason for the voyage was to observe the transit of Venus in 1769 from Tahiti. The transit of Venus takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a bigger planet. The hope was that by observing it, astronomers would be able to measure the size of the solar system.
However, this was not the government’s only aim. Cook had received a second set of instructions marked ‘Secret’, which he was to open after observing the transit. These instructions told him to travel southward to search for a large, undiscovered continent that might lie in the South Pacific.
This continent, called ‘Terra Australis’ (Latin for ‘South Land’), had been theorised to exist for many centuries, even appearing on world maps. It was theorised to be very, very large – much larger than the lands that Cook would eventually come to.
If Cook were to find this Southern continent, the secret instructions told him to chart its coasts, build an alliance with its people, get as much information as he could about them, and claim any useful land for Great Britain.
These instructions were kept secret to avoid other European powers finding out about his search. European countries were competing with each other for dominance by claiming and colonising land all over the globe to build their empires. In fact, the Netherlands had already claimed the western coast of Australia (‘New Holland’) in 1664, although without the knowledge of what lay beyond and without settling in the region.
After opening his secret instructions in Tahiti, Cook set out southward, not knowing what he would find. He eventually reached the coast of what is now New Zealand and charted its entire outline. After that, he reached and charted the eastern coast of what is now Australia. Despite meeting many of the inhabitants, he claimed both New Zealand and eastern Australia in the name of King George III.
Cook travelled with many different men. One of the most notable people on the journey was Joseph Banks, a wealthy British botanist and President of the Royal Society. He accompanied Cook to collect botanical specimens, bringing around 30,000 specimens home. Banks would eventually advocate directly for British colonisation of Australia, and would advise the government on Australian matters.
Some of the most significant, yet unnamed people that feature in Cook’s journals are the Indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, Cook encountered many Māori groups, including people who were killed by his men such as Ngāti Oneone leader Te Maro and Rongowhakaata leader Te Rakau. In Australia, Cook and his men first landed on Gweagal country in Dharawal land, shooting at the Gweagal men they encountered. They encountered many other Australian Aboriginal peoples throughout the rest of the voyage.
Partly as a result of Cook’s charts and claims to the land, and the knowledge gained from the voyage, both New Zealand and eastern Australia (later the entire country) would become part of the British Empire. Australia became a penal colony in 1788, just 17 years after Cook’s voyage ended. Over the next 80 years, 158,702 convicts arrived in Australia from England and Ireland, as well as 1,321 from other parts of the Empire. New Zealand did not become a formal British colony until 1840. In the centuries since colonisation, Indigenous peoples in both countries have faced loss of land, cultural dispossession, discrimination, legal barriers, and a sharp decline in population.
Australia became nominally independent in 1901 and New Zealand in 1907. Both countries still have the British Monarch as their Head of State.