James Miranda Barry - The best man for the job is a woman

Traditionally women were the healers. They prepared the medicines and remedies. As men began to learn and discover more about medicine, they also sought to deprive women of their knowledge by branding many of them witches.

The first surgeons’ institution was set up in the 15 th century. However only men tended to be the recipients of the new medicine as it was considered indecent to look at women’s bodies. Edinburgh medical school was the first in Europe to teach in English (17 th cent). This encouraged students from the colonies and from England.

Women were not allowed to study medicine.

Miranda Barry was born in Dublin at the end of the 18 th century. She was raised by an uncle, who recognised how bright she was. From about eight or nine she was raised as a boy in order to get a good education. She went to medical school (The first woman to do so, albeit incognito). She was short, slightly built and had short reddish hair, large eyes and a long nose, yet no-one suspected she was female.

She served as a doctor in the armed forces for many years. After falling ill with yellow fever, her secret was kept. She rose to the rank of General and was sent to be an inspector of military hospitals in Canada. She died in 1865, her sex only discovered when her corpse was being prepared for burial. The woman preparing the body declared that “The corpse was a woman and one that had borne a child". No trace has been found of the child or who was the father.

Link to a Canadian take on her story.