Margaret Anne Bulkley was born ca. 1789 in Ireland. Since she was not allowed to study medicine as a woman, she pretended to be a man and studied medicine as James Barry in Edinburgh. She served in the British Army for over 40 years as a doctor and surgeon. Wherever she was stationed, she tried to improve the living conditions of the simple soldiers, the local population and the sanitary conditions, which met with little approval from her superiors.1