The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-10 00:00:00

SINGULAR CASE OF CONCEAL-
AIENT OP SEX.
(From the Macclesfield courier of Saturday.)
The pal ticulars of a very singular ens:, of conceal-
ment of sex, in this town, have come to during
Ithe past week. The facts, as far as we have been able
to gather them, are the following :—On Saturday, the
16th a ptember, Mr. Bland, one of the medical
off,
4.
Jeers of Macclesfied Union, received a certificate
from the relieving officer, requiring his attendance
upon a person described as John Smith, aged forty-
eight, by trade a cooper and tinker, belonging to
Macclesfied, and residing in Derby-street, as a'iodger,
at the house of one Mrs. M`Cann. Mr. Bland
attended the individual in the course of the day, and
found the complaint under which he was labouring to
be that of dysentery. On looking at the person and
hearing his voice, he was struck with their peculiarity ;
the face, lips, general expression, and the voice being
those of a woman. Mr. Bland asked the landlady of
the house whether it was a man or woman. Mrs.
M`Cann replied by saying, " I don't know, doctor ;
all I can tell you is, that he and his wife have lodged
here nine weeks, and he has always dressed as a man,
and followed his occupation as knife-grinderand spoon-
maker." Mr. Bland, en hearing that there was a wife,
requested to see her. In answer to his inquiries,
she stated that she had lived with him fourteen
years; that she met him first at New Mills, in Derby-
shire; that they were not married, although living
together; that she had eleven children; that he fol-
lowed the trade of knife-grinder and tinker, and
sometimes got as much as 10s. a day. The statements
thus made by the woman satisfied him for the time
that he was in error in supposing the individual call-
ing himself her husband to be a woman; but subse-
quent visits served to re-awaken his suspicions. In
the meantime the symptoms of the disease became
more aggravated, and the individual died on Saturday
morning.
On hearing of the death, Mr. Bland immediately
proceeded to the house and ascertained that the person
was beyond all doubt a female. He again questioned
the woman calling herself the wife, when she denied
having any knowledge of the sex of the deceased till
the day before the death, when deceased requested
that she would allow no one to assist her in laying
out the body, but sew it up in a sheet, which she did;
and it was in that state when Mr. Bland visited the
house almost immediately after the death. On being
further questioned, the woman stated that the eleven
children of which she had spoken were by another
husband, who was dead ; and the reason she gave for
living with the deceased was that she was promised
her maintenance, which promise seems to have been
faithfully kept by the deceased. Mr. Bland commu-
nicated the facts of the case to the police, in order that
an inquest might be held; hut as the case was that of
a concealment of sex, and not one of doubt as to the
cause of death, such a proceeding was not deemed
necessary.
The body was interred on Sunday last, at Christ
Church, as John Smith, and from the numbers at-
tending to witness the funeral, the case seemed to have
excited considerable interest. The surviving woman
has since, we understand, divulged to the registrar of
the district the real name of the deceased, which was
Sophia Locke.
Although the deceased was described in the certi-
ficate froin the relieving officer as 48, Mr. Bland is
convinced from her appearance that she could not
have been less than 60 years old. He has been con-
firmed in this by an old man who was in the town on
Wednesday, who is a native of Biddulph-moor, and
who stated to him that he had known the deceased
for about forty years, during which time she had
always dressed as a man. There are several people,
natives of Biddulph-moor, who live on the common,
and it is singular that all of them have known her for
years, and been acquainted with different parts of her
history. From the various statements w Lich they
nave made we have been able to get the following
particulars of her past life. Before giving them it
might be as well to observe that it is believed the
natives of Biddulph-moor are descendants of a gipsy
tribe, and if so, the fact may go to explain the intimacy
which seems to have existed between them and the
deceased.
The account given of her life is as follows :—She
was the daughter of a man named Locke, who was a
scissors-grinder and tinker. He had several children
besides the deceased, who appears to have been the
only daughter. He led the life of a gipsy, travelling
from place to place with his family, and carrying
with him his tent. The deceased was born in a cave
near Croker Wood, in Sutton, and a highly respect-
able lady of that neighbourhood is said to have been
present at the birth. At three years old she assumed
male attire, and used to accompany a brother to va-
rious towns, visiting the public-houses, and dancing
to a violin which he played. In this manner she
grew up to womanhood, and then commenced the
trade of her father. The family, it appears, used to
winter always on Biddulph-moor, and it was only
known as hearsay among the natives of that place that
she was a woman. Th. ..bovqUently
became well known among them from the following
circumstance taking place :—A quarrel took place
between her and a man, and a pitched battle between
them was the result, which took place on Bolton-
green, and in which the female came off the victor.
In the contest her bosom accidentally became ex-
posed, and then it was that her sex became known
as a fact. The old man above alluded to saw the
battle, and he says he was to have fought her brother
at the same time. Several living on the com-
mon recollect its taking place, and their statements all
agree in fixing the time about forty years ago. The
fact, although known to the Biddulph people, appears
to have been kept by them a profound secret ; and if
in her wanderings she chanced ever to meet any of
them, she would take them on one side and say,
"Keep my secret." On one occasion it appears to
have been divulged by a Biddulph man with whom
she had quarrelled at Glossop. He communicated the
fact to the people of the house where she was in the
habit of calling at, and the next time she visited it
she was subjected to insult. She, consequently,
never went there again. It appears that, when win-
tering on Biddulph-moor, some sheep were missed,
and the family in question were suspected of stealing
them. From that time the family never visited Bid-
dulph, but divided themselves, each going into dif-
ferent parts of the country. Occasionally, however,
the subject of this narrative used to meet Biddulph
people, and always the same injunction as to keeping
her secret was repeated.
About twenty-five years ago a singular circum-
stance connected with her history occurred. Sbe was
in the habit of visiting Winster, in Derbyshire,
practising her vocation as scissor- grinder, &c.: and
while there she became acquainted with a married
gentlemen, who, unaware of her sex, offered her 51. to
marry a servant girl who was ehciente by him. The
offer was accepted, and the marriage took place in
Winster Church. The female soon after gave birth
to a child, and from the accounts given of the manner
in which it was brought up and treated by the
deceased, whom it was taught to call "father," there is
little doubt they received considerable support and
assistance from its parent. They lived together for
about seven years, when, from some cause which does
not appear, they separated. She afterwards lived with
several women ; one man says he has known her to
have six or seven. Some would live with her a
wosth others two months, and seine perhaps a year.
About fourteen years ago she became acquainted with
the woman with whom she was living when she died,
and they lived together uninterruptedly during that
length of time. They had travelled all over England.
Last year they were in Worcestershire picking hops.
They lived very happily together, and the deceased,
who could earn half-a- guinea a day sometimes, used
the woman very well.
One peculiarity of her character is well-remern-
hered. She was very fond of picking quarrels in
public-houses. On such occasions she would chal-
lenge the men out to fight, threaten to clear the
room, &c. One man says, " And she could fight very
well, too." If in these freaks, however, she chanced
to see a Biddulph man, she would not say another
word, and would sneak out of the room as soon as
possible. On one occasion she was making a noise
at a public-house in Bosley, when a hawker of pots,
from Biddulph, came into the room. At that time
she was defying the whole room, daring them out
to fight, and threatening to give them all a good
thrashing. Immediately on seeing the hawker she
dropped her fighting attitude, exchanged compliments
with him, and, as soon as she could, left the room
unobservedly.
The deceased was of slender make, and had some
years ago a profusion of black glossy hair, which was
carefully curled and dressed, so as in some measure
to take off its feminine appearance. This, with a
total absence of beard, and a very swarthy corn--
plexion, produced a tout ensemble which would arrest
the attention of any admirer of the gipsy picturesque.
It appears that one of the clergy of the town being
called upon to visit her last week, recognised in her
person and the soi-disant wife a pair whose appearance
had, nearly seven years ago, excited his curiosity and.
that of another clergyman, who then officiated at the
old church. It appears, however, that they then soon
left the town ; and the circumstance was forgotten
till the recollection of it was revived jrJ the way we
have described. The reason of he *leading such a
strange mode of life can only be accounted for by her
partiality for the calling she pract;.sed ; and she could
have had no object in living With women as she had
Bona unless it was to keep ,idown suspicion. The
promises she made of keeping them were, perhaps, an
inducement for them to live. with her.

TREASONABLE DOCUMY.NTS FOUND AT LIVER-
POOL.—We learn that sevei:al of the Liverpool police-
force are at Clonmel, in w ailing to give evidence on the
state trials there. They Tnave to produce, we believe,
several letters from the rebel chiefs, and other docu-,
mints of a treasonable. character, seized on a starch in.
the Confederate club-rl)orns here. It was Javatt, police-
constable 112, who foltowtd Al'ltanus from Liverpool to
Dublin.