James How

James How, born Mary East (approx. 1716 – 8 June 1780), was an English tavern owner best known for living as a married man (despite being born female) from 1732 until 1766, when legal action against an extortionist forced a permanent return to female presentation.

How's story was the subject of contemporary newspaper articles, a section in Bram Stoker's ''Famous Imposters'', a song in R.M. Anderson's ''Songs From The Howling Sea'', and a painting in Ria Brodell's ''Butch Heroes'' series. Their gender identity and sexuality remain ambiguous, with early sources presenting How as a cross-dressing but fundamentally heteronormative cis-woman and later sources interpreting them as a trans man, gender-nonconforming, and/or sexually non-normative. Provided by Wikipedia