The mysteries of sex : women who posed as men and men who impersonated women / by C.J.S. Thompson.

  • Charles Thompson
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mysteries of sex : women who posed as men and men who impersonated women / by C.J.S. Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a shell (fired from a steeple on which before the battle they had placed mortars and cannon) burst close to her and she was struck by a fragment, which fractured her skull. She was carried to Meldret, a small town near Louvain, and taken to hospital, where it was found necessary to trepan her and it was ten weeks before she recovered. For some days she had been unconscious and during that time the surgeons who were attending her discovered her true sex. They at once informed Brigadier Preston, who was in charge of the British, that his 4 pretty dragoon 5 (as Christian was usually called) was in fact a woman. He was loath to believe it, and on seeing Christian told her he had always looked upon her as 4 the prettiest fellow and the best man he had.’ He sent for Richard Welsh and said : 44 I am sur¬ prised at a piece of news these gentlemen tell me. They say your brother is in reality a woman ! ” 44 Sir,” said Richard, 44 since she is discovered I cannot deny it. She is my wife and I have had three children by her.” Christian’s story soon spread throughout the camp, and among others who heard of it and came to see her, was Lord John Hayes. He asked her no questions, but spoke to a comrade who had formerly shared her tent, and he declared that he never knew or even suspected she was other than a man. Lord John then called Richard and asked him to explain the meaning of the disguise. He gave full and satisfactory answers and told him how he had first met Christian and married her, also how they came to be separated. Lord John was greatly interested in the story and ordered that Christian should want for nothing and her pay should be continued. He sent her a parcel of shirts and sheets to make clothes and Brigadier Preston made her a present of a handsome silk gown,