1750: Royal Marine stripped and flogged; nobody spots ‘his’ breasts

Hannah Snell (1723-1792) was a British woman who served in the Royal Marines as a man. Snell was born in Worcester, married in her late teens and gave birth to a daughter. When her daughter died and her husband absconded, Snell borrowed some men’s clothing and enlisted in the Marines using the name ‘James Gray’. In 1748 Snell was deployed to India where she saw heavy combat and:

“…received twelve wounds, six in her right arm and five in her left and the other in her groin, from the last of which she extracted the ball and herself perfected the cure, in order to prevent her sex being discovered…”

Snell’s gender concealment is even more remarkable considering that she was flogged twice during her three years in the Marines – and both times was stripped to the waist. In 1748 Snell was charged with dereliction of duty and publicly whipped in Carlisle. Snell later told biographers she avoided detection because her “breasts were but small” and:

“…her arms [were] drawn up, the protuberance of her breasts was inconsiderable and they were hid by her standing close to the gate.”

Snell received a second whipping onboard a Royal Navy ship, where she prevented the:

“…discovery of her sex by tying a handkerchief round her neck and spreading it over her breasts.”

During this second flogging Snell’s breasts were spotted by the ship’s bosun, who “said they were the most like a woman’s he ever saw” – however he was not concerned enough to raise the alarm. On her return to England in 1750 Snell confessed her true gender. She was given an honourable discharge and, later, a military pension. Snell later ran a pub until her mental health deteriorated. She spent her final months in the notorious Bedlam hospital.

Source: Various inc. Boston Weekly Newsletter, December 6th 1750. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.