Harriet Stokes
|
|
Harriet Stokes (????-1859) was a woman who took a role of a male bricklayer in 19th century England.
Harriet Stokes appeared in the village of Whitby, near Doncaster, in the early 19th century. She was about 8 years old at the time and said that she had run away from home. She went to see the local bricklayer and offered her services. The bricklayer took her as a boy and she gave her name as Harry.
Harry Stokes kept living as a man for years afterwards. He even married but his first wife left him after the wedding night with a comment that "he was not a man". So he lived with a widow that kept a pub.
Stokes became a master bricksetter and built chimneys and fire grates. During the Chartist riots he became a special constable and a captain of his company. However, in his later years his business faltered.
In October 1859 he was found dead in River Irwell, standing upright in the water, hat still on his head. His body was taken to a nearby pub where he was officially recognized. Coroner was ready to declare the death a simple suicide when one of the locals remembered the words of Stoke's first wife. He sent two women to confirm the fact that Harry Stokes physically a female.
The case was recorded in half a column in the Manchester Weekly Advertiser.