Dr Caitlin Dunne’s editorial in the May 2025 issue of the BCMJ about Dr Emily Stowe, the first woman in Canada to openly establish a medical practice, brought to mind Dr James Barry. Why think of Dr Barry, a British military surgeon from the 1830s who became the inspector general of military hospitals and also developed an excellent reputation as a surgeon—performing C-sections in 1826 in which both the mother and the child survived? Because after Dr Barry died it was discovered that the good doctor was a woman—Margaret Ann Bulkley, born in Cork, Ireland, in 1789. She graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1812, at age 17, from the University of Edinburgh while disguised as a man.[1]
Why Ms Bulkley decided to disguise herself (with the support of her family) is not clear. Did she want to live as a man? Was she driven by an ambition to practise medicine, a choice not available to women in those days?
As an MD, Dr Barry served as a surgeon’s assistant through the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, then was posted to Cape Town where she studied local plants for the symptoms of syphilis and performed surgery, including C-sections. In 1857, Dr Barry was sent to Canada to improve soldiers’ diets and living quarters. Dr Barry was a strong personality. At one of her visits to Corfu she met Florence Nightingale and scolded the famous nurse in public for being out in the sun wearing only a simple cap on her head. Ms Nightingale thought Dr Barry, sitting on a horse, was “the most hardened creature [she] ever met.”[1]
In 1859, in Canada’s cold climate, the doctor developed a severe respiratory illness and was discharged from the army. In 1865, Dr Barry developed dysentery and died in England. It was then that the chamber maid attending to the doctor’s body in preparation for the funeral discovered Dr Barry’s true sex.[1] The British Army denied the fact, and Dr Barry’s record was sealed for over 100 years, until in 1950 historians revealed the truth. Dr James Barry was a woman.
—George Szasz, CM, MD
Reference
1. du Perez M, Dronfield J. Dr James Barry – A woman ahead of her time. Oneworld Publications; 2016.
This post has not been peer reviewed by the BCMJ Editorial Board.
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