Before retirement, Barry had risen to the rank of Inspector General (equivalent to Brigadier) in charge of military hospitals, the second-highest medical office in the British Army.

[10] Barry lived as a man in both public and private life, at least in part in order to be accepted as a university student, and to pursue a career as a surgeon.

[11] Mary Anne Bulkley was the sister of James Barry, a celebrated Irish artist and professor of painting at London's Royal Academy.

[30][c] Barry then moved to London, signing up for the Autumn Course 1812/1813 as a pupil of the United Hospitals of Guy's and St Thomas', whose teachers included Henry Cline and celebrated surgeon Astley Cooper.

[38] Following the successful, even spectacular, treatment of Lord Charles's sick daughter, Barry was welcomed into the family,[39] maintained a close friendship with the Governor, and became his personal physician.

Barry also gained enemies by criticising local officials and their handling of medical matters, but the advantage of a close relationship with the Governor meant that the repercussions of these outspoken views were usually smoothed over.

At St Helena, one clash with a fellow army surgeon resulted in Barry being arrested and court-martialled on a charge of "conduct unbecoming of the character of an Officer and a Gentleman".

Here Barry was severely reprimanded for inexplicably taking a seat in the local church that was reserved for the clergy, and had to deal with the threat – and eventual actuality – of a cholera epidemic, which broke out in 1850.

[45] The following posting was to Corfu in 1851, which brought with it a promotion to the rank of Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals on 16 May, equivalent to lieutenant colonel.

[48] In that position, Barry fought for better food, sanitation and proper medical care for prisoners and lepers, as well as soldiers and their families.

Barry held strict views about nutrition, being completely vegetarian and teetotal, and, while keeping most personal relationships distant, was very fond of pets, particularly a beloved poodle named Psyche.

[50] Playwright Jean Binnie's radio play Doctor Barry (BBC, 1982) identified him as John Joseph Danson.

[51] Despite protesting against the decision, Barry was forcefully retired by the army on 19 July 1859 because of ill health and old age, and was succeeded as inspector general of hospitals by David Dumbreck.

[59] Sir, It has been stated to me that Inspector General Dr James Barry, who died at 14 Margaret St on 25th July 1865, was after his death found to be a Female.

As you furnished the Certificate as to the cause of his death, I take the liberty of asking you whether what I have heard is true, and whether you yourself ascertained that he was a woman and apparently had been a Mother?

I attended him during his last illness, and for some months previously for bronchitis; the affection causing his death was diarrhoea produced apparently by errors in diet.

She wished to obtain some perquisites of her employment which the Lady who kept the lodging house in which Dr Barry died had refused to give her.

But whether Dr Barry was male, female, or hermaphrodite I do not know, nor had I any purpose in making the discovery as I could positively swear to the identity of the body as being that of a person whom I had been acquainted with as Inspector General of Hospitals for a period of eight or nine years.

I have the honour to be Sir Yours faithfully Signed, D R McKinnon[60] After the matter was made public, some people claimed to have known of it all along,[61] although many who had known Barry expressed surprise[62][63][64] or even disbelief.

"[69] Rachel Holmes notes in her biography of Barry that Mary Anne Bulkley, in all her complaints to her brother about her child's precarious future, never once raises the question of marriage – even though a good match was then quite vital for a woman's financial security.

[72] This identity was maintained through surgical training and recruitment into the British Army which, at officer rank level, did not then require a medical examination.

[4] Barry's temper and bravado led to a famous pistol duel with Captain Josias Cloete of the 21st Light Dragoons.

Barry's aim was better, the bullet striking Cloete's shako military cap and removing its peak, which dissipated its force.

[78][79][80]Barry would never allow anyone into the room while undressing, and repeated a standing instruction that "in the event of his death, strict precautions should be adopted to prevent any examination of his person"[45] and that the body should be "buried in [the] bed sheets without further inspection".

[87] The story of James Barry is briefly told in Zoya Voskresenskaya's novel Devochka v Burnom More (Girl in the Stormy Sea, 1969), whose action takes place during WWII.

[90] Barry was compared with Hannah Cullwick, who "was experimented on by Arhur Munby, who believed that women in servile labour could earn a nobility of the soul".

[93] In 2012, the UK folk duo Gilmore and Roberts included a song about Barry called Doctor James on their album The Innocent Left.

[100] The novel was published in June 2021, and it tells the story of a fictional woman named Margaret Brackley, who becomes Dr. Jonathan Perry, who is based on Barry.