Transgendered or Intersex in 1789

Born a Woman, She lived a Hidden Life

by Annie Hara from Pixabay

Imagine you are highly intelligent and extremely capable, with the drive and ability to become a brilliant doctor. What would it be like to know you could completely reform standards in your field of expertise, streamlining operations, and saving lives?

Consider what it would be like to be born in a time before women were considered capable of intelligence, in a time when they were considered to be property, not people.

Imagine being passionate about medicine, knowing you would never be allowed to study or practice in the profession.

Now imagine being told you can’t do what you are passionate about.

That was the story of Margaret's life.

Margaret Anne Bulkley was born in 1789.

It was a time when women weren’t allowed to study medicine. In Victorian society, they weren’t allowed to do much at all.

It would be another 76 years before Britain allowed women to be surgeons. (Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake (1865–1925) was the first.)

Margaret knew she would have to take some drastic measures if she wanted to live any kind of fulfilling life.

So she decided to become a man.