Scanty Particulars: The Scandalous Life and Astonishing Secret of James Barry, Queen Victoria's Most Eminent Military Doctor

by Rachel Holmes, James Barry

An explosive story of colonial life, nineteenth-century science, and the mysteries of sexuality, Rachel Holmes's Scanty Particulars transcends the genre of biography. Through prodigious research and vivid storytelling, Holmes brings to life one of the most enigmatic figures of his time.

In the 1820s, Dr. James Barry burst into the English establishment from nowhere. He landed in Cape Town and became the leading military doctor in the South African colony, working tirelessly to improve the conditions of free and enslaved women, lepers, and the indigent. Barry's further travels included postings to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and Canada. In his career, he collided with some of the leading figures of the age, and his exploits were regarded with fascination by Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.

Barry was a flamboyant bon vivant: fashionably dressed, flirtatious, and always accompanied by a poodle. Wherever he went, he sparked gossip, made enemies, and inspired relentless curiosity about his identity--curiosity that erupted into international scandal upon Barry's death, when his maidservant discovered the truth about this brilliant but mysterious icon of the Victorian age.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Queer, Biography Memoir, LGBT, Historical

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Rachel Holmes’ new book, Eleanor Marx: A Life is published by Bloomsbury on 8 May 2014, described by Golden PEN Award winner Gillian Slovo as “a dazzling account of a woman and her family, an age and a movement, that grips from the first page to the last.”

Holmes is also the author of The Hottentot Venus: The life and death of Saartjie Baartman (Bloomsbury) and The Secret Life of Dr James Barry (Viking & Tempus Books). Last year Rachel co-edited, with Lisa Appignanesi and Susie Orbach, the much-discussed Fifty Shades of Feminism (Virago). She was co-commissioning editor of Sixty Six Books: 21st Century Writers Speak to the King James Bible (Oberon, 2011) with Josie Rourke and Chris Haydon. Holmes is curator of the new Impossible Conversations talks series at the Donmar Warehouse in London.

In 2010 she received an Arts Council cultural leadership award as one of Britain’s Fifty Women to Watch. Rachel Holmes has worked with and for British Council literature festivals and international programmes since 2000.

Reviews

[Neil Cochrane · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mediocre tribute to a truly great man. While the author is fundamentally sympathetic and (mostly) respectful of Barry and his identification as a man, she attributes this to his being intersex; which theory, while fully possible, is no more likely or provable than that Barry was simply a trans man. However, the author never once uses the word transgender or allows that there are non-intersex people who are assigned the wrong gender at birth, or otherwise do not conform to the gender binary. 2002 is not so long ago that this omission is not glaring. The writing was also repetitive, the structure was at times confused, and the tone, especially as the author unfurled her theory of Barry's origins, was somehow both speculative and sure of its own correctness.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the beginning of the book (Barry's early years in medical school), and the end of the book (an in-depth discussion about Barry's sexual identity) very boring. I thoroughly enjoyed the middle of the book though - discussing Barry's life and career in Cape Town, St. Helena,the West Indies and Corfu.

He was an amazingly good doctor and administrator, with great humanitarian leanings. He cared for those at the bottom of society - prostitutes, prisoners and lepers, as well as for his more high ranking clients, and worked tirelessly to improve their access to better conditions and good medical treatment. He was also a great surgeon - performing a particular operation in Cape Town that was absolutely mind boggling, and his researches as a doctor were fascinating too.

I started this book because I was interested in the phenomenon of a 19th century woman masquerading as a man, and practicing as a doctor. By the end of the book I found his sexual identity almost irrelevant - swamped by the amazing stories of his achievements as a doctor.

I refer to Barry as a male here because having reached the end of the book, and in spite of all the conjecture, I feel his sexuality is still far from being proved - male, female, or in between.

Most of all it was a good read about a marvellous doctor.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "astonishing secret" in is that James Barry was a hermaphrodite, or perhaps a woman. This revelation comes at the end of a fairly standard biography of this pioneering Victorian surgeon. Barry was of interest beyond questions of his/her gender -- he tirelessly campaigned for important medical reforms and innovated new medical procedures. An advocate for the poor and neglected, Barry practiced in several colonies as well as in the military, rising to a position of prominence. Barry was a noted dandy of his time, given to wearing tight breeches, red high heels, and embroidered shirts and velvet jackets. His lifestyle gave rise to the swirl of rumors that surrounded his life and continued long after his death.

Unfortunately, this biography is not as fascinating as the title implies. Holmes' style is a bit academic, and her construction of the case that Barry was a hermaphrodite rather labored. Barry's gender is one of those issues that will exasperatingly probably never be settled, as others have argued that Barry was a woman.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this biography, it didn't really hold my attention. This is no reflection on the writing, which is very good, but rather that I'd already read 'The Perfect Gentleman' by June Rose, also a biography of Dr James Barry. Until three-quarters of the way through Holmes' biography, it is quite a straightforward account of Dr Barry's life and accomplishments; interesting, but not new to me. What this biography adds, and takes it up to four stars, is the last sixty pages. 'The Perfect Gentleman' treats Dr Barry as unequivocally female and expresses sorrow at the lonely life 'she' must have had as a consequence of this deception. By contrast, 'The Secret Life of Dr James Barry', written 25 years later, engages with the difficulty of assigning Dr James Barry a sex, a gender, and appropriate pronouns. I really appreciated this discussion, as the use of 'she' and 'her' in 'The Perfect Gentleman' troubled me (as I mentioned in my review). Holmes devotes time to views of gender, sex, and intersexuality at the time Dr James Barry lived, relating this to Barry's medical degree thesis on hernia. I found this section fascinating and felt that it struck the right note. These particular examples stood out:

'The telling of James Barry's story is a struggle with pronouns, just as Barry's life was a struggle with pronouns. How limited English seems in allowing us only a male 'he', a female 'she', or a dehumanising, debasing 'it'.'

'The view of men and women as divided by an uncrossable binary division is a very twentieth century conceit, inherited from the Victorians, who were great lovers of organising their culture- and other people- around binary divisions and rigid classifications.'

'What I quickly discovered was that Barry himself did not seem to think that his sex was the most important thing about his own life. James Barry was much more than the sum of his physical parts. His body conditioned his experiences, but it did not finally determine who he was or what he achieved.'

'The secret of Barry's success in presenting himself to the world as a man lay in his knowledge that gender was a matter of entitlement: Barry acted this entitlement in every gesture...'

In addition, the final pages comment on the obsession, even now, of reducing Barry's sex to male or female, as if this will reveal the essential truth about him. This part is too long to quote, but excellently articulated. Holmes correctly, to my mind, feels some discomfort with this rather prurient endeavour, which says much more about current prejudices around sex and gender than anything else.

Considering that the book concludes in this way, I find some ironic amusement in the jacket design. For a start, it is pink, which seems to imply a rather more binary view of Barry's sex. Moreover, one of the cover quotes (from the Daily Express) describes the book as, 'Thrillingly romantic'. I could have allowed capital-r Romantic, given that was a cultural tendency of the time that Barry to some extent reflected. But to call Barry's life 'romantic' seems extraordinary, given that the evidence strongly suggests he was single throughout his life. Perhaps I am being unduly sensitive, however that quote reminds me of the constant definition and description of feminine persons in relation to their romantic associations. Use of this word seems especially unfair in Barry's case, given the staggering achievements of his medical career. His life deserves to be described as inspiring, impressive, and ground-breaking, not romantic. The other blurb quotes strike the former note, making the Express one seem all the more jarring. After reading 'The Secret Life of Dr James Barry', I appreciate and sympathise with him more than ever. What a hero.

[Misty Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another book which I started to read several years ago and gave up on but have now completed. I have twice in the distant past researched 'James Barry' for other writers and have (to the best of my knowledge) never come close to unravelling exactly who they were, either in terms of birth identity or (having read this book) as to their gender. Like most earlier writers I have previously accepted that JB was tranvestite. Having read Holmes' Epilogue I now even doubt that to have been strictly accurate, although I am not totally convinced either that JB was hermaphrodite. The 'questions' of gender/sexuality are complicated for a large number of people and to explore the question to the extent present in the Epilogue raises as many further questions as it answers - nevertheless, it is fascinating.

I cannot now remember why I gave up on this first time round. It may just have been that it came at a bad time in my life when I needed something more lighthearted to read, or I may have been too busy with everything else to want to read another take on a subject I had researched professionally, in depth, twice over. This book is eminently readable and the material Holmes' has used was largely not available to me at the time that I carried out my research, using as she does a vast amount of material in South Africa and other archives elsewhere.

Holmes comes down on the side of JB having been the 'daughter' of Mary Ann Bulkley and makes a convincing case for this, but I can't help wondering how much research she did as to an alternate fate for that daughter (Margaret) or her younger sister. It may simply be that one or both dropped out of sight as so many ordinary people did, especially given the incompleteness of Irish records, but that is left unanswered.

Even for anyone uninterested in JB in isolation, this is a great read for anyone interested in early medical practitioners, the late 18th/early 19thC Army, early travel around the globe and the complexities of human nature

[Ami Beyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. It is however not without flaws.
There are multiple conclusions about Barry's gender (ALL OF WHICH ARE SPECULATIVE).

From a trans man to non binary, to intersex, to a societal choice for opportunity. Some are more likely than others but there is sufficient evidence to make them all at least plausible.

The book focuses on an intersex conclusion with little to no time spent on other scenarios.

The best part to me is that Dr James Barry doesn't want us to know which is also 💯 legit. I can find him a man of honor (use of masculine in the manner of his life) without having a label to his gender.

He doesn't have to be the first woman to graduate from medical school- that wasn't a distinction he wanted and is logical to conclude that assuming he did is perpetuating the "trans" experience as a "trickster".

For me what makes this book remarkable is the possibility that someone can leave such a mark on our society and we are still ambiguous to parts of their life we have been conditioned to believe are core to who we are.

[Aris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps because of my inexperience in reading biographies for fun, the book started out as somewhat dry, as it is written very academically. However, as the book went on, I began to start understanding the style and therefore learning more about James Barry, even finding myself laughing at how often he would dig himself bureaucratic holes when working for surprisingly progressive medical reform.
What I particularly enjoyed about this book was its respect for James Barry and its careful sourcing, regarding his postmortem sex discovery, since as soon as the story was out, the media was flooded with gossip regarding his true sex and misinformation was everywhere. Other sources I found with a google of James Barry are very quick to label him as a woman through and through, and while twenty-first century gender theory may not completely apply to someone who lived in the 1800s, this book gave him what I feel was the proper respect he deserved. He lived as a man and that was how he wanted to be seen, but also, it truly didn't matter what he may have been born as, because he was just as interesting in life as he was in death when his secret was revealed against his will. Furthermore, this book is of the belief that he was biologically intersex, which is historically, a rather common condition. I was intrigued by its discussion of intersex people throughout history and the treatment of a third sex juxtaposed to modern day gender theory as the term nonbinary is being fought to be recognized by society. This staunch rigidity regarding binarism, this book says, is most likely a remnant of Victorian society, and of course the incessant Western sexism. However, James Barry, an anomaly of sex in Victorian times, was able to successfully live his life physically passing within the society and despite everything was able to be one of the most progressive and caring doctors in British history.

[Luka · Rating 3 out of 5]

No proper review, just some thoughts,,, He was so fucking cool. My new goal for the remainder of my twenties is to express my inner dandy. Also if anyone tries to do some shit to me like Miss Sophia did to James after he died, I will figure out how to sh**t someone from the afterlife I'm so serious. All the misgendering was so genuinely upsetting to read like,,, when I die, just stop talking about me. Burn my body, put me in an urn in the ground and never think about me again idc. Anyways, I really respect the author for adding the new, second introduction; it's so interesting how language and concepts change over time and it actually goes perfectly in hand with how she ended the book, even though the second updated introduction obviously couldn't have been planned like that. You can be both, transgender and intersex though; not that the author claimed anything else, I just want to clarify. The cover is a bit of a weird choice though, but I've seen there's a new one, which is much better so that's nice. Detracting my rating to a 3.5 though because while this has been super interesting to read until chapter 10, idk why we needed to include the suspected deadname. It just felt disrespectful because after he was old enough to decide for himself he spent his entire life trying not to be connected to his family and that name so why would you include it,,,, I get that this is a biography but I feel like the dignity of the subject should be more important than the completionist approach but that's just my personal opinion ig

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not read non-fiction frequently, so that the dry, academic prose in this book bothered me initially. However, as I read further, I started to appreciate the author’s detailed research into her subject. Gradually the character of Dr. James Barry emerged - and what a character that was! Not only a medical graduate from Edinburgh University at an early age, but a pioneer in hernia research and that of sexually transmitted diseases; also the first surgeon to undertake a successful Caesarean section with the lives of both mother and son saved. This without any general anesthetics!
The Doctor was also a lifelong champion of female rights and the upliftment of disadvantaged poor communities. An able administrator, who fought with passion for the ideals in which he believed, he made many enemies in his zealous quest to improve the life of soldiers, prisoners, Leper’s and women.
As I reside in Cape Town, I found the section of the story set in the Cape and involving his relationship with Lord Somerset absolutely fascinating.
He left an indelible legacy; quite apart from the scandal of his contentious sexuality.
It is sad to think that he died poor and unappreciated generally, and that the sexual scandal centered around him is remembered more than his great efforts to improve conditions in the world of medicine.
Interesting, educational read.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating read! I decided to pick this up because of a Facebook post, one talking about James Barry and how he was really a woman. I almost thought I'd chosen the wrong item, as the majority of the work is all about "James" and "his" career, "his" reputation, etc - with nary a word about him being anyone else. There was quite a bit of talk about he was smaller of stature, that he had a "mincing" way about him, but still, nothing that would lead one to suspect he wasn't male. It's not until the last 2 chapters that anything is mentioned about a possible gender impersonation, and at first, I was frustrated by that. However, after finishing the book and musing on it for a few days, I think the author chose the right approach. The reader is immersed in Barry's work, his world, his personal life, his political battles. As a reader, I felt like I knew him by the time those last chapters rolled around.

And the "reveal" is much more intriguing than I first thought. No spoilers from me, but I will say it's not as cut-and-dried as the Facebook post leads one to believe.

And how little some things change. This line really says it all, and this was about a colonial outposting in the 1830s: "...the effectiveness of modern medicine lay in overcoming the diseases of poverty and social inequality."

[Megan Bowden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose to read this book as research for my own writing, and my goal was met: I left the book knowing more about the fascinating life of Dr James Barry than I began it. Rachel Holmes' scope is very thorough and complete in its timeline. We begin at what history knows of the beginning of his life and end at the end. And yet this book left me wanting much more than it delivered.

This was a dry read, which is a real shame given how complex, fantastical, and mysterious Barry's life was. I think this stems from the fact that the author wrote this from an academic point of view and often just presented the facts in a very cut and dry manner. I would love to see someone like Erik Larson write a book about Barry's life--his narrative non-fiction always reads like page-turning fiction and that is exactly what Barry deserves.

I think this book could have used a good editor to cut a lot of the repetition and restructure it. The middle ends up being a travel log of then her went here, and here, and here, and here. In that way, I think the chapters could have been grouped rather by topic than timeline. I do also think that the few times Holmes did try to insert her own conjectures about Barry's sex--whether he was a woman dressed as a man for love of career or because they identified as such versus them being an intersex individual--made her seem pushy and cocksure. The fact is history does not know why Barry chose to present as a man, and we likely never will.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a great dearth of writing about this amazing historical figure, and thus, if you want to know more about their life, you may just have to settle for something that is a lot more dull as a whole than all the exceptional and incredible traits, quirks, and accomplishments that is Barry individually.

[Shalini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another excellent offering from Victorian cultural historian Rachel Holmes. I immensely enjoyed her biography of Eleanor Marx and Saartjie Baartman. As usual, Holmes does not hesitate to present findings from her reading and offer a broadly feminist philosophical conclusion, rather than embellishing it to make a more interesting read. So was James Barry, the eminent Victorian surgeon, a man or a woman? Barry’s life is one among many that tell us it is time to change the ground of our thinking about sex and human difference.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating bio of an amazing historical figure. Holmes makes a convincing case that, rather than previous characterizations of Barry as a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to pursue a medical career, Barry was in fact a trans man and possibly intersex as well. Regardless of his gender, he lived an amazing life as a medical innovator and acquaintance of some of the leading figures of the day.

[Malcolm France · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful and well-written, this book focuses deservedly on Barry's exceptional career. Questions about Barry's identity are considered objectively. A powerful metaphor at the end when the author contemplates her location in Cape Town overlooking "where two oceans meet and mingle indistinguishably".

[Reina Callier · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought there was a bit too much detail and that the narrative was getting lost a bit in all of the information Holmes provided. However, the last few chapters were *excellent* and the depth of Holmes' research was staggeringly impressive. What a fascinating figure Dr. James Barry is!

[Gail Nyoka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched and highly readable history of the life and times of Dr. James Barry - a life that retains its mystery even now.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, if necessarily incomplete, history of an intriguing man who was very careful of his privacy - for good reason, if the theory that he was assigned female at birth is correct.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Those of you wanting to learn something about Dr. Barry in this book will be disappointed. We learn about his military career and not much more.

[Anne Makin]

An interesting and thoughtful look into the strange world of Dr James Barry

[Alex Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGH BUDGET BIOPIC. NOW

[Rebekah Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Rj · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I got 100pgs in. I found it heavy on irrelevant details. Coupled with a few spelling mistakes that suggested to me that the book wasn't well edited I simply gave up.

[November · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not frequently read nonfiction – in fact I think the only nonfiction I have read was for children (and the only biography Jackie Daydream, which was written almost exactly like one of Jacqueline Wilson’s novels apart from being true) – so I expected this to be a mixture between a dry academic paper and a newspaper article. I was wrong. It read more like an exciting novel with a sprinkling of academia. I found it easy to read other than a few medical heavy sections where I got a little lost. Rachel Holmes’ writing style was engaging, and Dr Barry’s life was certainly exciting enough to keep one entertained for the duration of the book. Holmes took her time to stop and expand on some cultural context when necessary which rather than drawing you out of the tale, made everything easier to understand. I found these parts fascinating and very useful in placing Barry in his world.Holmes was witty and included several humorous quotations from when Barry was alive, though she did note that the accuracy of these anecdotes was questionable.
Despite having read as much about Barry as I could online before procuring this book there was so much more to discover. As well as telling us about his work, achievements and downfalls it also gave me a feeling of familiarity with Barry’s character. By all accounts Barry was a hot-headed, stubborn, argumentative but caring and unflappably loyal man. He made himself many enemies due to his inability to back down and his passion for improving all people’s conditions. Barry particularly focused on care for prisoners and lepers which made him unpopular in Cape Town. However, he was also popular with the women which made him disliked by several men. He fought in at least one duel (and won).
I was bored by the very end (a whole chapter on hernias) and felt that there was too much time given to the speculation that Dr James Barry was intersex considering the lack of evidence (due to his body not being examined after death pretty much everything is speculation).

Very importantly, I must also make sure you’re all aware that Dr James Barry was a fashion icon.
���After the fashions of the time, Barry took the conventions of military dress and overstated them with a dandy’s embellishment. Barry’s boots were thigh height; his breeches were worn uncompromisingly tight on the thighs; his jackets were long bodied, high collared, and finely structured to encourage a striking deportment; and his dress sword was worn long enough to trip over.”

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book, but it did not deliver what was promised. I found Dr Barry's story fascinating - his many accomplishments make for an impressive tale even without the confusion surrounding his sexual identity. Unfortunately, I was left feeling this book was not very well written. Holmes makes many assertions without providing sufficient evidence for them. I first recognized this during the chapter about Barry's time on the Cape, which referenced a special relationship with Somerset and Barry's reforms and humanitarian work over and over without going into specifics. By the end of the book, I felt that I had seen enough specifics to support these things, but these examples unfolded slowly and often well after the initial assertions had been made. I found the section at the end, about Barry's sexual identity, equally sketchy. The author's argument that Barry was actually Margaret Buckley, whose hermaphrodism only presented itself upon puberty, is a compelling idea, but was hardly proven in the text. Holmes presents this, at first, as a mere postulation, but later in the chapter discusses it as if it were fact. As a historian, I found myself repeatedly looking for further and better evidence to support Holmes' claims. I understand that Barry did not leave clear evidence about many of these matters, but a more critical historical account would be more up front about what is speculative and what is not.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting topic, but sadly not a great book. I guess there's just not that much information about James Barry out there, too many questions that can't be answered, and too much speculation.

[Alice Chau-Ginguene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Very interesting and insightful read of the life of Dr James Barry. Very well research biography.

[Annette Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about a very enigmatic historical figure, who courted controversy during his life and even more so after his death. While the biography is scant on details of his early life, this is easily explained by the mystery of his death and the author attempts to discuss all the available evidence in the conclusion of the book.