Hannah Snell
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[[Image:HannahSnell.jpg|frame|right|Hannah Snell]]
'''Hannah Snell''' ([[1723]]–[[1792]]) was an [[England|Englishwoman]] who [[Crossdressing during wartime|took a man's role to become a soldier]].
Hannah Snell was born in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], England on [[April 23]] [[1723]]. Locals claim that she played a soldier even as a child. In [[1740]] she moved to [[London]] and later married James Summs on [[January 6]] [[1744]].
In [[1746]] she gave birth to a daughter, Susannah, who died a year later. When her husband deserted her, she borrowed a male suit from her brother-in-law James Gray, assumed his name and began to search for Summs (she was to learn later that her husband had been executed for murder). According to her account, she joined [[General Guise]]'s regiment in the army of [[Duke of Northumberland]] against [[Bonnie Prince Charlie]], and deserted when her sergeant gave her 500 lashes. However, the chronology of her life makes it very unlikely that she ever served in Guise's regiment and this part of the story is likely to have been a fabrication.
Following the death of her daughter, she moved to [[Portsmouth]] and joined the [[Royal Marines]]. She boarded the ship ''Swallow'' at Portsmouth on [[October 23]] [[1747]] the ship sailed to [[Lisbon]] on [[November 1]]. Her unit was about to invade [[Mauritius]] but the attack was aborted. Her unit then sailed to [[India]].
In August [[1748]] her unit was sent to an expedition to capture the [[France|French]] colony of [[Battle of Pondicherry|Pondicherry]] in India. Later she fought also in the battle in [[Devicotta]] in June [[1749]]. She was wounded eleven times to the legs and once to the groin. She either managed to treat her groin wound without revealing her sex or she may have used services of a sympathetic Indian nurse.
In [[1750]] her unit returned to England and traveled from Portsmouth to London, where she revealed her sex to her shipmates on [[June 2]]. She petitioned the Duke of Cumberland, the head of the army, for her pension. She also sold her story to London publisher Robert Walker who published her account, ''The Female Soldier,'' in two different editions. She also began to appear on stage in her uniform presenting military drills and singing songs. Three painters painted her portrait in her uniform and The [[Gentleman's Magazine]] reported her claims. She was honorably discharged and the [[Royal Hospital Chelsea|Royal Hospital, Chelsea]] officially recognized Snell's military service in the November and granted her a pension in [[1750]] (increased in [[1785]]) a rare thing in those days.
Hannah retired to [[Wapping]] and began to keep a pub named ''The Female Warrior'' (or ''The Widow in Masquerade'', accounts disagree) but it did not last long. By the mid-[[1750s]], she was living in [[Newbury, Berkshire|Newbury]] in [[Berkshire]]. In [[1759]] she married Richard Eyles there, with whom she had two children. In [[1772]] she married Richard Habgood of [[Welford, Berkshire|Welford]], also in Berkshire, and the two moved to the [[Midlands]]. In [[1785]] she was living with her son George Spence Eyles, a clerk, on Church Street, [[Stoke Newington]].
In [[1791]] her mental condition suddenly worsened. She was admitted to [[Bethlem Hospital]] on [[August 20]]. She died on [[February 8]] [[1792]].
==Further reading==
* '''Matthew Stephens''' - ''Hannah Snell: The Secret Life of a Female Marine, [[1723]]–[[1792]]''
==External links==
*[http://www.users.bigpond.com/ShipStreetPress/Snell/ Hannah Snell Homepage]
*[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0953056503&id=apHXlqxlcAcC&dq=isbn:0953056503/ Excerpts from ''Hannah Snell: The Secret Life of a Female Marine, 1723-1792'' by Matthew Stephens]
*[http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/hsnell.html Royal Berkshire History: Hannah Snell]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snell, Hannah}}
[[Category:1723 births]]
[[Category:1792 deaths]]
[[Category:Female wartime crossdressers]]
[[Category:Royal Marines ranks]]
[[Category:People from Newbury, Berkshire]]
[[Category:People from Worcester]]
[[es:Hannah Snell]]