Editing James Barry (surgeon) (section)

==Early life==
<!--NOTE: This article refers to Barry as "Barry" wherever possible, avoiding specifically male or female third person pronouns.-->
Other than some personal correspondence, there are few sources of information about the non-military parts of Barry's life. The scant available evidence provides a skeleton onto which a great deal of myth and speculation has been added by various commentators. In his detailed research into Barry's early life,{{sfn|du Preez|2008}} Michael du Preez states that Barry was born in Cork in 1789, a birth date based on Mrs Bulkley's description of her child being fifteen years old in a letter dated 14 January 1805.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|p=5}} Various other sources give birth dates of 1792,{{sfn|Kubba|Young|2001|pp=352–356}}<ref name=leitch /> 1795,<ref name=canada /> and 1799,<ref name=ondb/> but these dates are almost certainly the result of Barry later lying on official documents to aid passing as a man.{{sfn|du Preez|2008}}

Barry was the second child born to Jeremiah and Mary Anne Bulkley, and was given the name Margaret Anne.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|p=5}} Mary Anne Bulkley was the sister of [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]], a celebrated Irish artist and professor of painting at London's Royal Academy. Jeremiah Bulkley ran the weigh house in Merchant's Quay, Cork. However, [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic sentiment]] led to his dismissal from this post. This and subsequent financial mismanagement left Mary Anne and Barry without the support of either Jeremiah Bulkley (whose debts led to him spending time in [[City Marshalsea, Dublin|the Marshalsea]] [[debtors' prison]] in Dublin) or later the Bulkleys' married son John.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|p=7}} 

A third child appeared in the Bulkley family and was named Juliana.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=7-8}}  Although presented as being Barry's sister, it has been speculated that Juliana Bulkley was Barry's daughter as a result of childhood sexual assault, as after Barry's death the charwoman who discovered Barry's sex when [[Last offices|laying out]] the body reported that [[Stretch marks|pregnancy stretch marks]] were present.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=7,8}} However, there is no tangible historical evidence to support this theory of childhood sexual assault, and a number of circumstances – such as Barry's father ejecting his wife and child from their home around the period in question,<ref>Margaret Ann Bukley to James Barry, 14 January 1805.</ref> and a later letter informing his wife that he had "made up [his] mind to forgive"<ref>Jeremiah Bulkley to Margaret Anne Bulkley, 27 November 1809.</ref>{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|p=57 }} – make this appear unlikely. Given these circumstances, it has been suggested that, if anything, Juliana may have been the result of an affair on the part of Barry's mother.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heilmann |first=Ann |title=Neo-/Victorian Biographilia and James Miranda Barry: A Study in Transgender and Transgenre |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-319-71386-1 |location=London |pages=289–290 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Obermayer |first=D. |date=5 July 2019 |title=Marks on the Body: Dr. James Barry, stretch marks and politics creating a pregnancy |url=https://notesonagentleman.substack.com/p/marks-on-the-body?s=r }}</ref>

Mother and child left Ireland for London in 1804, when Barry would have been about fifteen years old, to apply to Mary Anne Bulkley's brother, James Barry RA, for help.<ref>Mary Anne Bulkley to James Barry, 11 April 1804.</ref><ref name=":1">Mary Anne Bulkley to James Barry, 14 January 1805.</ref><ref name=":0" /> Professor Barry rejected them, having been estranged from his sister for more than thirty years.<ref name=":1" /> However, his death in 1806 and the resulting inheritance, as well as assistance from some of the artist's former friends, allowed Mrs Bulkley and her teenager a degree of comfort.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=31–50}}

The teenage Barry was educated with the prospect of becoming a [[governess|tutor]], but given a lack of evidence of any work history, the Bulkleys appear to have struggled to find Barry any suitable tutoring positions.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=43–45}} A plan appears to have developed between Barry, Mary Anne Bulkley, and her late brother's influential, liberal-minded friends (General [[Francisco de Miranda]], [[Edward Fryer]], who had become young Barry's personal tutor, and Daniel Reardon, the family's solicitor) to enable Barry to enter medical school.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|p=56}} The [[University of Edinburgh]] was chosen and Mary Anne and Barry boarded a [[Leith]] [[Smack (ship)|smack]] on 30 November 1809.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|loc=pp. 62–63 reproducing a letter dated 14 December 1809 from Mary Anne Bulkley to Daniel Reardon}} <ref>[http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742008000100025 Dr James Barry: The early years revealed], South African Medial Journal, 2008.</ref> 

Margaret Anne Bulkley then became James Barry, nephew of the late James Barry RA, and remained known as such for the next 56 years.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=58–60}} In a letter to Daniel Reardon, sent on 14 December, Barry asked for any letters addressed to Margaret Bulkley to be forwarded to Mary Anne Bulkley (whom Barry now refers to as "my aunt"), and mentions that "it was very usefull {{sic}} for Mrs Bulkley (my aunt) to have a Gentleman to take care of her on Board Ship and to have one in a strange country." Although the letter was signed "James Barry", the solicitor indiscreetly wrote on the back of the envelope "Miss Bulkley, 14 December"; this crucial piece of evidence was the one which enabled researchers to finally confirm that Margaret Bulkley and James Barry were one and the same.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=407}}

Arriving in Edinburgh in November 1809, Barry began studies at the Medical School as a 'literary and medical student'. Barry's short stature, unbroken voice, delicate features and smooth skin led many to suspect that Barry was a young boy not past puberty, and the University Senate initially attempted to block Barry's application for the final examinations due to this apparent youth.{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=75–77}} However, the [[David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan|Earl of Buchan]], a friend of Fryer and Barry's late namesake, persuaded the Senate to relent and Barry qualified [[Doctor of Medicine|''Medicinae Doctor (MD)'']] in 1812.{{sfn|Barry|1812|p=}}{{efn|Barry's thesis was about [[Femoral hernia]], a condition that is much more common in women than men}} Barry then moved to London, signing up for the Autumn Course 1812/1813 as a pupil of the United Hospitals of [[Guy's Hospital|Guy's]] and [[St Thomas' Hospital|St Thomas']], whose teachers included [[Henry Cline]] and celebrated surgeon [[Astley Cooper]].{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=82–93}} On 2 July 1813, Barry successfully passed the examination of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of England]].{{sfn|du Preez|Dronfield|2016|pp=97–100}}