The Doctor Who Feigned Manhood

Barrymaniac
/ˈbɑːri meɪnɪak/
noun
person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal for Dr James Barry (1789-1865), a 19th century transgender army surgeon from Cork City, Ireland.

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You may have noticed that in many places Dr Barry is referred to as James Miranda Barry, or even James Miranda Steuart Barry. As far as I could find this originated from June Rose's 1977 biography - The Perfect Gentleman: The Remarkable Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry, the Woman who Served as an Officer in the British Army from 1813 to 1859. However I then found one earlier publication from 1964 that uses Miranda so my theory was incorrect. Vern Niven for The Ladder: Lesbian Review, the edition from March 1964, refers to Barry as James Miranda Barry. I would be delighted if anyone can find anything else pre-1977 that refers to Barry as Miranda and/or Steuart!


There is a document from Queen Victoria in 1857 appointing Barry as Inspector General. This refers to him simply as James Barry, Esquire M.D.. Everything else I've seen is from after his death, or a printed copy of a letter.
Dr McKinnon & George Graham in their letters on the 23rd/24th August 1865 use neither Miranda nor Steuart. Neither do Edward Bradford writing to the Medical Times on September 9th, 1865, Isobel Rae in her 1958 biography The Strange Story of Dr James Barry or Percival R. Kirby in the SA Medical Journal on the 25th April 1970. Someone known only as A.D.K. wrote a piece in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in September 1967 and they do not use Miranda either.
Brian Hurwitz & Ruth Richardson in the British Medical Journal on February 4, 1989 use neither as does A.K. Kubba in the The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2001. Ruairí Ó Bléine in his piece as Gaeilge for the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society in 2007/2008 doesn't use Miranda and neither does Hercules Michael du Preez in his 2012 article for the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh Journal. However he does in his 2008 article for the South African Medical Journal - in fact he uses both Miranda and Steuart there. And if you look closely at his sources for that choice he credits that name to "Russell MP. James Barry – (1792 (?) - 1865) Inspector General of Army Hospitals. Edinburgh Medical Journal 1943; 50, p. 560."