My talk tells the extraordinary story of Barry who, defying laws on women practising medicine,rose to prominence in the British Army- albeit in disguise . A slight figure, flamboyantly over-dressed, with stuffed uniform shoulders a sword and raised heeled boots, Barry was almost a caricature of a senior army officer. A squeaky voice, red hair with blue eyes- he was renowned for his temper and sharp tongue. Florence Nightingale reprimanded by him in Crimea for lack of cleanliness in her wards said ' He behaved like a brute… the most hardened creature I have ever met...'. Barry was posted world-wide rising to be a Surgeon-General. His ten years in Cape Town,South Africa proved his most volatile and dramatic, fighting duels and challenging anyone who questioned his methods and personal appearance or sexuality. Determined to improve public health and hygiene, he cleaned water supplies, cared for the conditions of lepers, prisoners and the poor- and performed a first successful Caesarean in Africa. Supposedly having an affair with the governor Lord Charles Somerset,Barry was relentless in his ambition and defended his lifelong friendship with Somerset. Dickens wrote about him, as did Mark Twain. Plays were written and performed about the infamous doctor because, on his death some 50 years later in 1865, it was found that Barry was a woman. She is buried in Kensal Green cemetery in London, her headstone still describes her as a man.