Edward de Lacy Evans - Finished

LADIES’ MAN
The Remarkable Story of Edward De Lacy Evans

LADIE’S MAN
It was not an uncommon occurrence to see
people dressing differently to societal norms
during late 19th century Australia1, especially
women. There were numerous reasons behind
women dressing masculine and living as men,
and most involved wanting to “earn more
money and have a freer life as a man, others to
escape an unhappy life as a woman”. 2 These
women were looked down upon, seen as
insane for trying to defy the gender and sex
they were born as. One person, however,
Edward De Lacy Evans, took this idea of the
‘man-woman’ to the extreme. Evans is perhaps Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans, 1879
the first thoroughly recorded case of a

with being a transgender man than a struggling
transgender man living in 19th century
lesbian4 as he was “'uncomfortable' living as a
Australia.
woman and generally much happier living as a
It is debated by scholars that Evans was a
man”.5 Evans’ life was filled with countless
lesbian rather than a transgender person,
scenarios and events that proved he was living
dealing with the internal struggle of gender
what would be called not only a ‘queer’ life
and sexuality dynamics. 3 However, I would
today, but a transgender life.
argue that Evan’s actions and recorded
feelings of presenting as a man resonates more
1
(Wo)man
Handsome of face with a muscular build 6, Ultimately, Evans had no choice but to
Evans was perceived as male for over resume living as a woman, regardless of
twenty years of his life by the Australian how he truly felt. Without Evans’
people. Regardless of the lack of facial accidental public exposure of his feminine
hair, the twenty years of labour and body, the world would have never known
arduous toil7 helped created the masculine that Evans was anything but an ordinary
physique that allowed Evans to pass as a cis-gendered man. Edward De Lacy Evans
man. Working the gold fields, marrying showcases the importance of queer lives
three women and even being believed that before the 21st century and giving voice to
he was a father — there was nothing that the forgotten aspects of history, especially
indicated Evans was anything but a man. in Australia. Although the terminology and
When Evans was finally outed to the world understanding of transgender people was
in 1876 by being “publicly exposed as virtually non-existent, it does not take
female after being admitted to the Kew away from the fact that they existed and
asylum”8, his ability to continue his life as tried to live in a world set against them.
a man ceased. Trying to survive in a world
where there was not even the prospect of
same sex attraction, let alone gender
fluidity, proved difficult.
2
Second Life, Second Chances
Although he boarded the immigration ship as luxurious, but he was happy, and claimed to
Ellen Tremayne and documented as female 9, have lived his life “grandly and splendidly”.10
Edward De Lacy Evans’ new life in Australia Evans worked on various goldfields as a
was as male as it could get from the moment miner11 for most of his life in Australia,
he stepped foot off the Ocean Monarch. working for companies such as Southern Cross
Evans’ new-found life in Australia was not Gold Mining Company, Sea Quartz Mining
3
Company and Great Southern Garden Gully a curious thing to see a ‘woman’ look so
Company.12 He also worked as a carter, masculine14. Those that knew him through
blacksmith and ploughman in the Blackwood, employment or housing claimed he was a
Bendigo and Stawell districts. 13 Through the chipper fellow, known for dancing Irish jigs,
constant hard manual labour, his body became singing and “continually in the habit of
muscular and his skin changed from the white, playing practical jokes”15; jokes such as
delicate complexion of a woman to tanned and dressing up as a woman and singing in a high
leathery; both of which helped persuade voice.16 This may have been a way to cement
people that he was a man. The way Evans his male identity, to make sure any feminine
looked was constantly remarked upon in aspects can be understood as a joke or act.
newspapers after he was discovered, as it was
Ellen Who?
It was not the manual employment that made it would never get undressed in the company of
hard for Evans to keep up the male identity, men, or any person for that matter.19 During
but the people he met. Those that could 1862, a woman recognised Edward as Ellen,
identify Evans from his previous life in and proceeded to call him ‘Nellie’. 20 Upon
Kilkenny, Ireland 17 and those aboard the hearing that, Evans showed distain for it,
Ocean Monarch proved to be problems for stating clearly that he “did not like the
him. Even before his public discovery, many name”.21 Another woman who knew him
claimed that ‘he’ was a ‘she’, and according to fondly noted that she would tease Evans,
Evans it was mostly women did so.18 Perhaps calling him ‘Polly’ and told him she thought
this was because it was women he spent most he was a woman. In turn Evans would become
of his time upon the immigrant ship, as he enraged22 by this and was so persistent in
4
being accepted as a man, that those who Evans not wanting to be found out for
claimed he was a woman would receive his financial purposes as many scholars seem to
anger, sometimes to the point of violence. conclude, there is no doubt that Evans was
Evans’ rage at being identified as a woman likely experiencing gender dysphoria – typical
heavily suggests that he was living as a of a transgender person.23
transgender man. Although it could also be
Happy Wife, Happy Life
The wives of Edward De Lacy Evans are what
baffled most Australians when he came into
the limelight, for marriage implied sexual
relations – something that fascinated the
public.24 Although it was not uncommon for a
woman to have married another woman, Evans
having “married three women, however,
attracted enormous public comment”. 25 Mary
Montague, Sarah Moore and Julia Marquand
each became Mrs. Evans during their
respective lifetimes. 26 The shock and intrigue
of these marriages even reached international
newspapers such as the New York Times 27.
The concept of a woman being attracted to
another woman was completely baffling
Edward De Lacy Evans and Julia Marquand, 1879 during Evans’ lifetime since the public saw
him as a woman in men’s clothing. Julia
5
Marquand as seen on the left was Evans’ third answer Evans gives of wanting a better life
and final wife. allows for the thought of him truly ‘being a
Whilst Montague had left Evans for another woman’ who was trying to find an easier life
man28 and Moore died of pulmonary as a man, it does not explain his actions and
tuberculosis in 186729, it was Marquand who hatred of his past as a woman. His need to
pass as a man and the emotional reaction to

was the unknowing catalyst for Evans’
discovery in 1879. It appears that it was being called feminine terms is a major
difficult for Evans to have stable indicator that Evans showed signs of being
relationships with all three of his wives. He transgender.
tended to live apart from them30 and became
irritable whenever would suggest he may be

The Sandhurst Impersonator, 1879
a woman. Many articles and interviews from
both Evans and Marquand contradict
themselves, with some claiming that
Marquand did know and others that she did
not. Although in one interview Evans states
that he married women “in order to conceal
[his] sex”31 and that his wives knew of his
‘true’ gender32, it contradicts with many
other factors. For one, Marquand heavily
disputed any knowledge of Evans being a
woman, She claimed to be taken completely
by surprise “insisting that she wasn’t aware
of the fact”33 even though many find this
hard to believe when they had lived as “man
and wife for eleven years”.34 Although the
6
Kew Asylum, 1885/1887
Gender Surrendered
The unravelling of Evans came from two for him to be the father, no matter how much
major incidences that caused him both Evans would claim it to be true. It was
mental and emotional stress; becoming speculated that Marquand had been duped in
injured at work from a piece of quartz falling the night by Evans, letting in a different man
upon his head,35 and his wife Marquand to copulate with her37, or that Marquand had
birthing a child. Although he “welcomed the been involved with her brother in law from
child as his own, he was deeply disturbed by another marriage.38 Violence and outbursts
the circumstances”36 since it was impossible transpired after the birth of the child Julia
7
Mary39 and worsened due to Evans’ injury.
Eventually the violence and anger became
too much for Evans’ family, and Marquand Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in an Asylum
hospital gown, 1879
requested for him to be taken away and
admitted to Kew Asylum. Interestingly, it is
stated that there still seemed to be affection
and loyalty between Evans and Marquand
even after Evans was outed. Although little
passed between them during Marquand’s
visits to Evans, he was noted to say, “you
keep my secret, and I keep yours".40
Whatever happened between the couple,
nothing can be said for sure, as neither party
divulged any information about their private
lives. Most was speculated by fascinated Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in an Asylum
hospital gown, 1879
people that could not understand the idea of
either two women loving each other, or a
man who was born in the body of a woman.
8
Ellen and/or Edward
The admittance of Evans to Kew Asylum on
the 1st of September 1879 was how his story
came into the world. Without being forcibly
bathed and undressed by the Asylum’s
protocol41 the body he was born in would
have never been uncovered, and he most
likely would have continued his life as an
ordinary working-class man. The nature of
Evans’ discovery was explosive and within
days, newspaper articles from all over
Australia were being furiously written, with
“The Bendigo Advertiser claimed that there
had been nearly 1000 orders for the first
issue covering the events”.42 Even an
anonymous writer from Bendigo wrote up a

Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in male and female attire, 1879
poem about how he knew all along that
Evans was in fact a ‘woman’.43 A

cover the fact he was really a woman, and
photograph showing Evans in both men and
that it was all a scheme to help him make
women’s clothing side by side emphasises
more money.44 The quote that comes from
the fascination with him by the public
The Bendigo Advertiser however, shows
(Fig.?) Evans was depicted differently
Evans deflecting many questions. When
throughout each interview and article. Some
asked for the reasons why he chose to dress
stated that he married the women to further
9
and live his life as a man Evans
responded simply “Oh, it doesn't matter,
and the sooner they put me out of the
way and get done with me the better.”45
Evans’ reluctance to share his reasoning
suggests that he knew the public would
not understand, nor could he explain it
himself. How could Evans explain to
the public that although he was born a
woman, he felt like a man?
Most articles in the end called Evans
sick, preferring the term lunatic or
insane46 for how he lived his life. Even
expressing his preference for woman if
he did identify as female would have
been detrimental.
10
Poetry from a suspecting Bendigo Citizen about Edward De Lacy Evans,
1879
11
Edward De Lacy Evans
There is no real way of knowing what was It is impossible to know Evans true
going on in Edward De Lacy Evans’ life or emotions and how he identified, or why he
how he felt, whether it really was a way to depicted himself as a ‘real man’ for so long.
earn a better living for himself, if he was His emotional state when appearing in the
trying to figure out how to deal with sideshows was deemed “hopeless apathy50,
attraction to women or if he truly felt like which gives some insight to his mental state
he was a man. From how he presented after the discovery only one year later. It
physically to his emotional reaction to cannot be dismissed however, that there are
being called a ‘woman’, Evans seemed to major aspects of Edward De Lacy Evans’
fit the description of a transgender person life that resonate with that of a transgender
well. By the end of his life, Evans had been man. His existence in the 19th century is
forced into wearing women’s clothing and imperative to transgender history today, to
even put himself into a curiosity sideshows prove that transgender people and the
for some to make a living.47 Everything breaking of gender binary have existed long
about Evans’ life comes from speculation before the 21st century.
and stories told from other people that had
known Evans.48 Evans died within an
immigration home in St Kilda at the age of
sixty-three49, identifying as a woman,

18934817 Toby Fulton, 2018
perhaps because of the pressure of society.
12
Images
Image 1: Ellen Tremayne, Alias Edward De Lacy Evans, the female Impersonator [image], (27 Sept.
1879), < http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
pool/view_image?record_key=3377339> accessed 15 Oct. 2018
Image 2: White, Nicholas, Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans [Image], (1879),
<http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
Image 3: Rudd, Charles, View of Goldmine, Sandhurst shewing underground workings [image],
(1889/1891), <http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
Image 4: Flegeltaub, Aaron, Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans and his wife [image], (1879),
<http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
pool/view_image?record_key=356678 > accessed 15 Oct. 2018
Image 5: Curtis, James Waltham, The Sandhurst Impersonator – Mrs Edward De Lacy Evans [image], (1
Oct. 1879), < http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
Image 6: White, Nicholas, Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans [image], (1879),

< http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/search-discover/explore-our-digital-image-
Image 7: Nettelton, Charles, Kew Lunatic Asylum Australia [image], (1885/1887),
pool/view_image?record_key=2238779 >
Image 8: White, Nicholas, Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans [image], (1879),

Image 9: White, Nicholas, Portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in male and female attire [image], (1879),
Image 10: The History and Confession of Ellen Tremayne, alias Edward De Lacy Evans the Man Woman
[image], (1880), < http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-39854570/view?partId=nla.obj-39854581#page/n0/mode/1up >
accessed 15 Oct. 2018
Image 11: The Man Woman or the DeLacy Evan Swindle [image], (1879),
< https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=690478 >, accessed 15
Oct. 2018.
13
Secondary Sources
Barlow, Damian, ‘Un/Making Sexuality: Such is Life and the Observant Queer Reader’, Australian
Literary Studies, 21/2, (2003), 166-177
Chesser, Lucy, ‘"A Woman Who Married Three Wives": Management of Disruptive Knowledge in the
1879 Australian Case of Edward De Lacy Evans’, Journal of Women's History, 9/4, (1998), 53-7
Chesser, Lucy, Parting with my Sex: Crossdressing, Inversion and Sexuality in Australian Cultural Life,
(Sydney, Sydney University Library, 2008),
Chesser, Lucy, ‘Transgender-Approximate, Lesbian-Like, and Genderqueer: Writing about Edward De
Lacy Evans’, Journal of Lesbian Studies, 13/4, (2009), 373-394
Colligan, Mimi, ‘De Lacy Evans Revealed Aaron Flegletaub and Nicholas White’, History of
Photography, 23/2, (1999), 171-173
Colligan, Mimi, ‘The Mysterious Edward/Ellen De Lacy Evans, The Picaresque in Real Life’, The La
Trobe Journal, 69, (2002), 59-68
Primary
Anon., The History and confession of Ellen Tremayne, alias, De Lacy Evans, the man-woman,
(Melbourne? 1880) 1-28
‘A Woman who Married Three Wives’, New York Times, 25 Dec. 1879, in New York Times [Online
Database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
‘Death of De Lacy Evans’, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 30 Aug. 1901, in Trove [online
database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
‘Ellen Tremayne, Alias Edward De Lacy Evans, the Female Impersonator’, Australian Town and Country
Journal, 11 Oct. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
‘Extraordinary Case of Concealment of Sex’, Bendigo Adviser, 4 Sep. 1879, in Trove [online database],
accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
‘Interviewing the De Lacy Evans’, Melbourne Punch, 11 Sept. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed
11 Oct. 2018.
‘The Man Woman’ Border Watch, 18 Oct. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
14
‘The Man Woman at the Egyptian Hall’, The Bulletin (Sydney), 25 Sep. 1880, in Trove [Online Database],
‘Mrs Edward De Lacy Evans’ The Herald, 16 Dec. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct.
2018.
National Archives of Australia, Department of Communications and the Arts, The Man - Woman or the
DeLacey Evans Swindle, 1879 – 1879.
‘The Sandhurst Impersonator – Edward De Lacy Evans’, Illustrated Australian News, 1 Oct. 1879, in
Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. Microfiche VPRS 14. Public Record Office
Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria.
END NOTES
1
Mimi Colligan, ‘De Lacy Evans Revealed Aaron Flegletaub and Nicholas White’, History of Photography,
23/2, (1999), 171-173
2
Ibed
3
Lucy Chesser, ‘Transgender-Approximate, Lesbian-Like, and Genderqueer: Writing about Edward De Lacy
Evans’, Journal of Lesbian Studies, 13/4, (2009), 374
4
Ibed
5
Aaron Flegletaub and Nicholas White, ‘De Lacy Evans Revealed’, History of Photography, 23/2, (1999), 171
6
7
Ibed
8
Damian Barlow, ‘Un/Making Sexuality: Such is Life and the Observant Queer Reader’, Australian Literary
Studies, 21/2, (2003), 169
9
Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. Microfiche VPRS 14. Public Record Office
Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria.
‘Interviewing the De Lacy Evans’, Melbourne Punch, 11 Sept. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11
10
Oct. 2018.
11
‘The Sandhurst Impersonator – Edward De Lacy Evans’, Illustrated Australian News, 1 Oct. 1879, in Trove
[online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
12
The History and confession of Ellen Tremaye, alias, De Lacy Evans, the man-woman, (Melbourne? 1880), 12
13
Mimi Colligan, ‘The Mysterious Edward/Ellen De Lacy Evans, The Picaresque in Real Life’, The La Trobe
Journal, 69, (2002), 62
15
14
Remarks on Evans’ androgynous appearance.
‘The Man Woman’ Border Watch, 18 Oct. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
‘Interviewing the De Lacy Evans’, Melbourne Punch, 11 Sept. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11
Oct. 2018.
15
16
Ibed.
17
‘Ellen Tremayne, Alias Edward De Lacy Evans, the Female Impersonator’, Australian Town and Country
Journal, 11 Oct. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
18
‘Mrs Edward De Lacy Evans’ The Herald, 16 Dec. 1879, in Trove [online database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.
19
20
Ibed. 11
21
Ibed. 11
22
Ibed. 8
23
The condition of feeling one's emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's
biological sex.
24
Lucy Chesser, Parting with my Sex: Crossdressing, Inversion and Sexuality in Australian Cultural Life, (Sydney,
Sydney University Library, 2008), 13
Lucy Chesser, ‘"A Woman Who Married Three Wives": Management of Disruptive Knowledge in the 1879
25
Australian Case of Edward De Lacy Evans’, Journal of Women's History, 9/4, (1998), 54
‘A Woman who Married Three Wives’, New York Times, 25 Dec. 1879, in New York Times [Online
26
Database], accessed 11 Oct. 2018.

27
Ibed.
28
29
Mimi Colligan, ‘The Mysterious Edward/Ellen De Lacy Evans, The Picaresque in Real Life’, The La Trobe
Journal, 69, (2002), 62
30
31
32
Ibed
33
34
Ibed. 7
35
36
37
16
38
39
40
41
42
43
NAA: A1188, 835B
44
45
46
Extraordinary
47
48
49
‘Death of De Lacy Evans’, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 30 Aug. 1901, in Trove [online database],
50
17

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LADIES’ MAN

The Remarkable Story of Edward De Lacy Evans

It was not an uncommon occurrence to see

people dressing differently to societal norms

during late 19th century Australia1, especially

women. There were numerous reasons behind

women dressing masculine and living as men,

and most involved wanting to “earn more

money and have a freer life as a man, others to

escape an unhappy life as a woman”. 2 These

women were looked down upon, seen as

insane for trying to defy the gender and sex

they were born as. One person, however,

Edward De Lacy Evans, took this idea of the

the first thoroughly recorded case of a

feelings of presenting as a man resonates more

in 1876 by being “publicly exposed as virtually non-existent, it does not take

a man ceased. Trying to survive in a world

where there was not even the prospect of

same sex attraction, let alone gender

fluidity, proved difficult.

blacksmith and ploughman in the Blackwood, employment or housing claimed he was a

newspapers after he was discovered, as it was

heavily suggests that he was living as a of a transgender person.23

transgender man. Although it could also be

Happy Wife, Happy Life

The wives of Edward De Lacy Evans are what

baffled most Australians when he came into

the limelight, for marriage implied sexual

relations – something that fascinated the

public.24 Although it was not uncommon for a

woman to have married another woman, Evans

having “married three women, however,

attracted enormous public comment”. 25 Mary

Montague, Sarah Moore and Julia Marquand

each became Mrs. Evans during their

respective lifetimes. 26 The shock and intrigue

of these marriages even reached international

newspapers such as the New York Times 27.

The concept of a woman being attracted to

another woman was completely baffling

him as a woman in men’s clothing. Julia

pass as a man and the emotional reaction to

relationships with all three of his wives. He transgender.

tended to live apart from them30 and became

irritable whenever would suggest he may be

a woman. Many articles and interviews from

both Evans and Marquand contradict

themselves, with some claiming that

Marquand did know and others that she did

not. Although in one interview Evans states

that he married women “in order to conceal

[his] sex”31 and that his wives knew of his

‘true’ gender32, it contradicts with many

other factors. For one, Marquand heavily

disputed any knowledge of Evans being a

woman, She claimed to be taken completely

by surprise “insisting that she wasn’t aware

of the fact”33 even though many find this

hard to believe when they had lived as “man

and wife for eleven years”.34 Although the

Eventually the violence and anger became

requested for him to be taken away and