Dr. James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time
This modern biography reclaims a historical figure by telling a fantastic tale of extraordinary deception and medical innovation. James Barry, the first doctor to perform a successful caesarean birth and a reformer of military medical practices, was also Margaret Bulkley, teenage mother and first British female doctor. This is the story of a proud and fiery Cork woman who transformed herself into one of the most famous male military physicians in the British Empire thanks to the influence of powerful patrons, the complicit silence of those who suspected her, and not least her own skill, tenacity and determination not to be constrained by her sex.
A new biography of James Barry explores the life story that caused a contemporary sensation on the famous doctor’s death, sensitively using letters from her unruly family, her own correspondence, extensive research into the mores of the age and the medical knowledge and procedures of the day. Delving deep into the background of Barry and her traumatic upbringing, the authors bring an authoritative knowledge when discussing medical matters and an understanding tenderness when discussing the extraordinary personal strain wrought on Barry by her constant attempts to keep the secret that would have ruined her.
