James Barry

James Barry (born c. 1789 – 25 July 1865) was a military surgeon in the British Army. He is seen as a pioneer in hospital reform and hygiene.

Barry was originally from the city of Cork in Ireland. He received a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, then served in Cape Town (South Africa) and in many other parts of the British Empire. Before he retired, Barry had risen to the second-highest medical office in the British Army. Everywhere he served, improvements were made to sanitary conditions and to the diet and conditions of common soldiers as well as native inhabitants. This helped improve the rates of patient survival and pushed forward the field of surgery. He performed the first recorded caesarean section by a European in Africa in which both the mother and child survived the operation.

Although Barry lived his entire adult life as a man, it is now believed that he was known as female in childhood, and disguised his sex all his adult life. Barry's work, which saved, and helped thousands of lives by improving treatment of wounds to stop amputations, would not have been possible as a woman, because women could not attended medical school or enter the army. Barry's biological sex only became known to the public and to his military colleagues after his death, when his body was examined.

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Category:1789 births
Category:1865 deaths
Category:British Army officers
Category:British medical doctors