Hannah Snell, Royal Marines Museum
Not heard of Hannah Snell? One of the most famous *trans/non binary soldiers of British history?
I’m not surprised. She doesn’t get half the recognition she should do really. So I’d like to recognise her this month! Because of her controversial story, Snell’s life has been subject to embellishments and legend - so please be aware - we are not entirely sure of what is true, and what is fabrication - in her life story!
Hannah Snell, born in 1723 in Worcester to a respectable middle class family, was a tomboy from an early age and often cosplayed as a soldier as a kid. She was thus dubbed by locals as ‘the young Amazon Snell’. She was clearly practising for what was to come!
At the age of 17, Snell, then orphaned, moved to London to live with her sister. There she met and married a Dutch seaman called James Summs - a roguish character who cheated on her with prostitutes and stole her money. They became very poor as a result, and eventually Summs abandoned Snell when she became pregnant with their daughter, who died in infancy.
But like so many, Snell, despite being treated extremely badly by her husband, was not ready to let him go and decided to go in search of him. Presumably to disguise herself and make this quest easier, she assumed her brother in law’s name (James Gray) and donned male clothing, presenting herself as a man. She had heard her husband had headed to Coventry, so that’s where she went.
It turned out, however, that bad egg James Summs had been executed for murder! This was probably a lucky escape for Snell, as God knows what he would’ve done to her had he discovered her ruse to find him…
Snell as depicted by H.J Ford in The Strange Story Book, 1913
But she wasn’t to dodge every bullet that came her way. Whilst masquerading as James Gray, she was so convincing that she was pressed into the British Army! And this was to change the course of her life forever. In some ways, I am not entirely convinced that she was pressed into the army, rather than enlisting voluntarily. it could have been a fantasy of hers, being a tomboy, or otherwise a way to deflect and distract her from the inevitable effects of trauma and grief that she must have been feeling; having been in an abusive, codependent relationship; and having lost her child and now her partner in such a dramatic way. As James Gray, she could masquerade and be someone else entirely, and not have to face up to her painful past.
Whatever the truth, in 1747 she said she started her military career at the age of 25 and joined General Guise’s regiment to serve in the Jacobite uprising in Scotland. She was, according to most accounts, a gifted soldier, and no one was any the wiser of her true sex. There were near misses though. She allegedly had a falling out with a sergeant because he’d asked her to help him seduce (i.e. rape) a local girl, which she’d refused to do. As a punishment, she was sentenced to ‘400 lashes’, which she received, and survived, without anyone realising her true gender.
This incident is recorded in her own accounts, but seems extremely unlikely. Firstly, 400 lashes were enough to permanently disable a man. Soldiers were also usually stripped to the waist before being flogged. The excuse usually given is that her breasts were small and her arms were tied in a way that didn’t reveal them, but I wonder if this is just another part of the legend around Snell started by her, and then embellished by 19th century writers to titillate readers and pique their imaginations.
If the account is to be believed though, Snell then deserted and joined the marines and her unit sailed to India to capture the French colony of Pondicherry. Snell fought alongside her male comrades in battles in India in 1747 and 1748. She was injured 11 times and famously took a shot in the groin. Because she didn’t want to be revealed as a woman, she removed the bullet herself with the help of a female nurse. Again, amazingly, she didn’t die of sepsis and three weeks later, was back on duty and enrolled as a deckhand with her crew.
Her shipmates must’ve been somewhat suspicious, as they did nickname her ‘Miss Molly Gray’ because she didn’t have to shave her face. To avoid further suspicion, she flirted with the local women. But she knew she would be found out eventually, and she decided to take control of matters herself.
When her ship sailed back to England in 1750, she revealed her true gender to her shipmates. She announced:
“Gentlemen, you will never see your friend and fellow soldier James Gray any more. Why, gentlemen, he will, before we part, cast his skin like a snake and become a new creature… I am as much a woman as ever my mother was, and my name is Hannah Snell.”
National Museum of The Royal Navy
There is no record of the crew’s reaction to this ‘big reveal' but Snell was no fool. She knew she had to take control of this story and gain the necessary protections. She was treading a very dangerous line with her deceit - at a time where not only were women of course not allowed in the military, but at constant threat of male violence (not much changes there, does it?) So she very prudently petitioned the Duke of Cumberland, commander in chief of the British Army, for a soldier’s pension. She also sold her story to publishers and quickly became the toast of London - appearing in theatres singing songs dressed in military uniform to packed out audiences!
She received a pension too - which was upped in 1785. By this point, she was in her sixties.
It’s fair to say that Snell thoroughly milked her fame as the ‘cross dressing’ soldier. She retired to Wapping with her soldier’s pension and became a Pub Landlady. She opened a pub she wittily named the The Widow in Masquerade and would appear at the bar in male attire for the entertainment of her clientele!
Eventually though she had exhausted her fame in London and moved to Berkshire, where her adventures continued! In 1759 she met and married her next husband, Richard Eyles and had two children. Then in 1772, at almost 50, she married her final husband and moved to the Midlands. By 1785 she was back in London.
Sadly, she ended her days in Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam) in 1791 and died the following year. She may have been suffering from dementia. A somehow unfitting end for such a heroic and unusual life.
She was buried with honours, however in the Old Chelsea Burial Ground - reserved only for soldiers.
Snell’s life was dramatised in the 19th century into plays and many journalists worldwide reported on the story, which may explain why it’s hard to separate truth from fiction and why parts of her life have descended into lore. And, as the 20th Century rolled in, she began to be slowly forgotten.
Whatever the truth of her story, her body lies, a decorated soldier, in the Old Soldiers Burial Ground in Chelsea for a reason! And her remarkable achievements remind us that women are, and have always been, capable of feats of strength alongside men.
Her story also reminds us of course that gender identity fluidity has been around for a long time too. What would Hannah Snell have thought of our modern world and increased freedoms of gender expression? I think she would have approved.
Hannah Snell, you were a true rebel and rule breaker and for that, we salute you!
*She always identified as a woman in life, but we are mindful that there was no acceptable language then to describe fluid gender identities as there are now, so she has been posthumously in various contemporary texts sometimes identified as trans, or queer, or non binary.
Royal Chelsea Hospital Old Soldiers Burial Ground - Open House Website
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