BRIGHTON, UK — Phoebe Smith was one of the first women to serve in the British army. But to her fellow soldiers and superiors, she was a man.
Smith disguised herself and managed to keep up the ruse for 17 years before eventually revealing herself as a woman.
The saga began back in the early 1700s, when a young Phoebe Smith fell in love with Samuel Goulding.
Goulding joined the British infantry at age 15 when she followed her lover into the service. In order to join, she dressed as man.
Smith joined up with the 5th regiment of the Foot. She ended up on the front lines of one of Europe’s biggest conflicts. In 1740s, the continent was embroiled in the War of Austrian Succession. It pitted the French against an allied force of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and Dutch. This lead to 1745, when Smith found herself on the battlefield at Fontenoy.
In a single day 17,000 soldiers on both sides were either wounded or killed.
Smith was bayoneted in the battle but survived. Not long after Fontenoy, her soldiering time came to an end.
There are two stories that tell how she was revealed as a woman to her superiors.
The first is that her lover, Goulding was wounded and sent home. Smith wanted to go with him so she revealed herself to her commanding officers to get discharged.
The second story is that she was to be whipped for an unknown reason. At the time of the punishment, she tore off her clothes and shouted, “Strike and be damned!”
The astonished soldiers allegedly left her alone.
History doesn’t seem to have recorded which one of these is true. But, it has recorded that she was discharged and paid equal of any male peer for her services.
She married Golding and they lived happily for several years. Then he died and she remarried a fisherman named Thomas Hessel. When he also died, she lived out her days supporting herself.
Phoebe resided in Brighton England, where Prince George heard tales of her and came to visit. He was so impressed that upon his coronation he brought to his parade and honored her. Then offered her a pension.
She would go on to live to the age of 108. In December 1821, she died leaving behind a legacy of bravery, service and a trail blazed for women everywhere.