Liverpool is renowned for its famous and ground-breaking names from The Beatles to Cilla Black and it seems centuries ago was no different.
In 1875, the city made the headlines of news publications up and down the country after it was discovered cabdriver, William Seymour, was arrested for stealing meat. However, as historian Dr Billie-Gina Thomason points out, although this may begin like a traditional tale of a lowly man struggling to provide for his family, there is more to the story than meets the eye.
William Seymour was remanded in custody and charged with stealing “22 lbs. of beef and 5 lbs. of veal” from a butcher’s on Leece Street, beside the Bombed Out Church. He was later charged with theft with the Liverpool Mercury, an English newspaper which stopped publishing in 1904, reporting that “upon the arm and breast of his coat were traces of suet which proved incontestably that he was guilty of the crime.”
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Despite this, when it was reported in the news at the time, the focus was diverted onto his personal life as WIlliam was a gender passing individual who was assigned female at birth but identified as male in stages throughout his life. Historian Dr Billie-Gina Thomason, who completed her PhD at Liverpool John Moores University by exploring the lives of working-class gender passing individuals, shared her findings with the ECHO.
The 29-year-old Liverpudlian told the ECHO: “William actively rejected their predetermined life as a biological female and being assigned female at birth in favour of committing to their preferred gender identity. They fulfilled the role of a provider and breadwinner for their family and were deemed as a hardworking man. They were resilient and continued to forge their own path. Not only did they escape from an abusive marriage at a young age but they also socially transitioned during a time when binary gender roles were the norm and were a hardworking and successful individual.”
William Seymour was a gender passing individual: a historic term for a person whose biology was contrary to their gender identity. He looked visibly masculine, worked as a cab driver, presented as male and was married to another biological female. As a result of this, William was dubbed as ‘The Female Cab Driver of Liverpool’ with newspapers focusing on his gender passing identity as opposed to the theft for which he was originally arrested for.
William was born ‘Mary’ and lived in Taunton, Somerset in 1850. At the age of 14, Mary married an army surgeon who was known by the name of ‘Honeywell’ and together the couple endured an unhappy marriage according to the Liverpool Mercury. Just over a decade later, Mary escaped their abusive marriage and began a new life in London where they established the alias of ‘William Seymore’ and remained presenting as a man for at least the next nine years.
Billie-Gina claims in the same space of time, William became a cab driver and drew men’s wages, fitting into the community as a man. She added that William's workmates claimed they were unaware of William’s biological identity but continued to support him regardless even when he was released from prison. However, newspapers reporting on William’s case at the time recognised he looked visible masculine. They read: “Her face being of a masculine type, her complexion florid and she having an impediment in her speech caused by a defective pallet, conspired to render the illusion perfect.”
After living in London for three years and working as a cab driver, William’s name appeared in the 1871 census and indicated he lived in Back Ashton Street, which is now part of the University of Liverpool. There, he was labelled as ‘head of the household’ despite living with his new wife, Agnes, and her brother.
While living in the city, Billie-Gina explained, William was amongst “professionals including teachers, a pianoforte maker, a pilot” and he rented rooms off a landlady known as Mrs Ellis. She added: “Perhaps living in plain sight offered him security in passing successfully as male. Mrs Ellis occupied 65 Back Ashton Street for at least three years and had a good repertoire of lodgers during that time. She remained landlady at the property even after William’s identity was publicly exposed, which suggests that this revelation did not affect her reputation.”
In February 1875, William was committed for trial for stealing meat from a butcher. In the detective office, suspicions aroused over the lack of William's facial hair despite almost being 30-years-old. William was persuaded to confess his original gender and was indicted under his male, female and married name.
After William’s arrest, he was held at what is known today as Her Majesty's Prison Liverpool. While studying the life of William, Billie-Gina learnt not only did the case make local news in Liverpool but national news, with the Pall Mall Gazette covering the story and a nod to his case in Punch magazine. Both of these focused on the fact that William was a biological female who was a cab driver.
The Pall Mall Gazette raised the question of whether women would feel safer knowing the ‘driver on the box of the vehicle they engage with was a “woman and a sister” instead of simply being a “man and a brother”. Billie-Gina said: “What is interesting about the Pall Mall Gazette running an article on William is that his criminal conviction was not discussed. Instead, the article focused on having a progressive conversation about the safety of women using public transport, and William’s gender passing identity sparked that conversation.”
Following a short hearing, William was found guilty of theft and sentenced to two months hard labour to be carried out HM Prison Liverpool, which at the time was known as Walton Gaol. Originally, the jail housed both male and female criminals but William was housed in the female wing. After completing his sentence, William disappeared from the record and Billie Gina has been unable to locate him further. She believes he may have returned home to his wife under a new name or continued to remain living as a female.
She added: “William Seymour was pioneering not only for identifying and living as a gender contrary to their biological identity but also in the employment that they undertook. Newspapers that first commented on Seymour’s story in 1875 were not interested in their gender identity nor that they had been arrested for theft, but that they were a ‘cab driver’. Nineteenth century women would not have been engaged in such demanding or dangerous work so the fact that Seymour, being assigned female at birth, was in such a public facing role and working with members of the community was quite something.”
