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1 - The First Female Husband

from Part One - UK Husbands, 1740–1840

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2020

Jen Manion
Affiliation:
Amherst College, Massachusetts
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Summary

Charles Hamilton married Mary Price on July 16, 1746 in Wells, England. The ceremony was administered by Mr. Kingston, the curate of St. Cuthbert. Hamilton was born nearby in Somerset but lived most of their childhood in Scotland with their parents William and Mary Hamilton. At the age of fourteen and without a stated reason that has survived, Hamilton put on clothes belonging to their brother and presented themself as male. Hamilton secured apprenticeships with two different doctors over the years, gaining knowledge and confidence in both their gender expression and their trade, then set off on their own, traveling to southwest England and offering pills, ointments, and advice to anyone who would have them along the way. Hamilton rented a room in the house of Mary Creed, where Creed’s niece, Mary Price, also resided. The two became involved and were wed, traveling the country as husband and wife while Hamilton worked selling treatments for common ailments. Just shy of two months of marriage, Mary Price resolved that she was done with Charles. She reported her husband to the authorities and claimed that she had just figured out that Hamilton was not actually a man, triggering an investigation into the person who would become famously known as the “female husband.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Female Husbands
A Trans History
, pp. 17 - 43
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The First Female Husband
  • Jen Manion, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Female Husbands
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108652834.002
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The First Female Husband
  • Jen Manion, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Female Husbands
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108652834.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The First Female Husband
  • Jen Manion, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Female Husbands
  • Online publication: 28 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108652834.002
Available formats
×