Scanty Particulars: The Life of Dr James Barry - Hardcover

Holmes, Rachel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670890995 ISBN 13: 9780670890996

Publisher: Viking, 2002

Synopsis

In 1826 a young military surgeon performed the first recorded successful caesarean section. This was one of many achievements by the radical - and outrageous - Dr James Miranda Barry. Feted by Dickens, deplored by Florence Nightingale, Barry earnedinternational fame for his medical innovations, infamy for his battles with the establishment, and notoriety for the sexual scandals that followed him around the world's most exotic locations. The controversy Barry courted throughout his life was made all the more remarkable by the questions raised by a witness to his death; questions of gender, sexuality and of identity, public and private. For it seems that Dr James Miranda Barry had spent his whole life protecting one most important secret.

About this title

Review:

James Miranda Barry, the subject of Rachel Holmes's biography Scanty Particulars, was one of the great, forgotten pioneers of medicine and surgery in the 19th-century British empire. Posted to a series of far-flung corners of colonialism--from the Cape Colony to St Helena, the Caribbean to Canada--Barry was a consistent and charismatic evangelist for a saner and more scientific treatment of the sick and wounded. Argumentative and opinionated, Barry also gained enemies and attracted controversy. During his time at the Cape he fought for decent treatment of lepers and performed what was one of the first successful Caesarean operations in Western medical history. He also became embroiled in political in-fighting and melodrama when his close relationship with the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, was turned into a sexual scandal. After his death in London in 1865, Barry caused even more uproar. The woman who laid him out for burial had a strange story to tell. Doubts were raised about Barry's gender. Was "he" in fact a "she"? At a time when the medical profession was exclusively male, had a woman, for decades, played a role that contemporaries thought was only suitable for a man?

Holmes's life of Barry is undeniably fascinating but she struggles throughout her book with two difficulties, one of which is suggested by her title. There are indeed "scanty particulars" available about Barry's life and many important questions about him/her will always remain unanswered. The other difficulty is related to the first. Does Barry have an importance beyond the startling fact that "he" may have been a "she"? It is a tribute to Holmes's skill and depth of research that the answer most readers will reach is "Yes". Holmes has rescued from near-oblivion someone who, whatever their gender, was a genuine medical pioneer and highlights a person whose life raises interesting questions about fixed categories of gender. --Nick Rennison

Review:

'Holmes has written a deeply compelling biography, which teases out the complex historical and philosophical issues of Barry's story with consummate skill and great empathy.' -- Literary Review

'Holmes' wonderfully argued postmortem has many twists and turns...(a) meticulously researched and fantastically discursive book.' -- Independent

'It is an extraordinary story and Rachel Holmes puts it to good use.' -- Sunday Telegraph

'Just like her namesake, Holmes loves a good bit of detective work...(a) vivid, intelligent biography.' -- Observer

'Like all the best biographies, it is written by someone fascinated with her subject...and her enthusiasm for the doctor is (no pun intended) infectious...Rachel Holmes has done him proud.' -- Wendy Holden, Daily Express

'Rachel Holmes' study of this pioneering surgeon with an astonishing secret is serious, sympathetic and absolutely fascinating.' -- Mail on Sunday

'This clever and engaging book tells a fascinating story.' -- Jeanette Winterson, The Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0670890995
• ISBN 13: 9780670890996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352