New painting of James Miranda Barry
© David Hutchison
Barry, born Margaret Anne Bulkley,changed their name and appearance to James Miranda Barry and gained a MD at Edinburgh University in 1812.
They then went on to study surgery in England, joined the army and served all around the British Empire, accompanied by trusted servant John Joseph Danson (AKA Danzer)
and dog Psyche. They performed one of the first successful caesarean sections
in which both mother and child survived. Only on Barry’s death it was found that they were female and had possibly given birth.
