The Surprising Adventures of a Female Husband!
Henry Fielding (1707–1754)
The Surprising Adventures of a Female Husband!
London: Printed by J. Bailey [between 1808 and 1822]
Charles Hamilton, assigned female at birth, was born in England in the first half of the 18th century. In 1746, as Charles, he legally married Mary Price. Two months later, Price reported Hamilton to the authorities, claiming she had been deceived into marrying a woman.
Hamilton, called “George” in Henry Fielding’s contemporary, fictionalized account of his life, became the first person known as a “female husband.” Though he had broken no existing laws in his marriage to Price, Hamilton was charged with vagrancy, sentenced to hard labor, and publicly whipped. This 19th century edition of Fielding’s story, with a frontispiece by George Cruikshank, aimed to titillate. Today it offers a compelling—if highly sensationalized—example of the life of a person who might be considered trans today.
Holding Division: The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
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The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries.
