By . Louise Cheer For Daily Mail Australia . The story of Edward De Lacy Evans read like every other man's in the 19th century - he was a labourer, husband and father. But underneath the suit and tie was a body of a woman named Ellen Tremayne - also known as Ellen Tremaye - who could have been Australia's first transgender person. Mr De Lacy Evans arrived on Australian shores from Ireland in June 1856 as an assisted immigrant on-board the Ocean Monarch. It is speculated he was born between 1829 to 1841 due to a discrepancy in shipping lists, and birth, marriage and death certificates. Edward De Lacy Evans who could be Australia's first transgender person as a woman (left) and as a man (right) during his stint in Kew Asylum . A portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in male and female attire. The image is probably a fake cut-and-paste produced by a photographer after it was discovered De Lacy Evans was a man . According to ship records, he was a 26-year-old Roman Catholic from Kilkenny who could read and write, and was listed as a housemaid. When she arrived in Victoria, Mr De Lacy Evans was still known as Ellen Tremayne and caused quite a stir on the trip over. According to the State Library of Victoria's The La Trobe Journal, he wore a man's shirt and trousers underneath his dress and had formed sexual attachments to some of the other female passengers on the Ocean Monarch, including his soon-to-be first wife, Mary Delahunty - a 34-year-old governess who was also from Ireland. He travelled with a trunk labelled with the name 'Edward De Lacy Evans' on it who, according to De Lacy Evans' third wife, was his uncle. There was also speculation her husband or lover was named 'Edward De Lacy Evans' and he had somehow tricked the transsexual by placing his trunk on the Ocean Monarch and deserted the 26-year-old. Mr De Lacy Evans', who was still identified as a woman, first job in Australia was as a maidservant at a Melton public house but some time after he left his position and started dressing like a man, and ditched the name of Ellen Tremayne. Mr De Lacy Evans continued living as a man for 25 years after he left Kew Asylum in 1879 (left) and the right picture is of him and his third wife, Julia Marquand . Now as Edmund De Lacy, he went and sought out Ms Delahunty, marrying her at St Francis' Roman Catholic Church in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. But their marriage was not a happy one, with evidence suggesting they 'did not live comfortably together'. After Ms Delahunty opened a school in Blackwood, she left Mr De Lacy Evans and married an American mining surveyor Lyman Oatman Hart who lived in Daylesford - north-west of Melbourne. In the next 20 years, Mr De Lacy Evans married twice - his second wife was Sarah Moore who died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1867 and a Julia Marquand of Bendigo - north of Melbourne. Mr De Lacy Evans worked as a carter, miner, blacksmith and ploughman in the areas of Blackwood, Bendigo and Stawell. The breakdown of his third marriage came after March 1878 when Ms Marquand gave birth to a child fathered by her brother-in-law, Jean Baptiste Loridan. Despite Mr De Lacy Evans knowing it was not his child, he registered himself as the child's father but his resentment over the pregnancy started taking its toll on the marriage. In July 1879, he started violently acting out against Ms Marquand and his 15-month-old daughter, fell into a deep depression and then was admitted to Bendigo Hospital's lunacy ward for amentia - a mental disability. Another portrait done of Mr De Lacy Evans done by Aaron Flegeltaub who was active between 1882-1891 . For the first six weeks of his stint in the hospital, Mr De Lacy Evans refused to bathe until he was transferred to the Kew Asylum and forcibly stripped that his secret was discovered. He was handed over to female nurses and forced to dress as a woman . In an interview, Mr De Lacy Evans' recalled the moment he was outed as a female at Kew Asylum. 'I was sittin’ the carriage at the railway station, an’ the wife was cryin’ and the kid was squealin’, an’ I was laughin’ at ‘em,' he said during an interview. 'Well, when we got to Kew, the fellers there took hold o’ me to give me a bath, an’ they stripped me to put me in the water, an’ then they saw the mistake. 'One feller ran off as if he was frightened; the others looked thunderstruck an’ couldn't speak. 'I was handed over to the women, and they dressed me up in frocks and petticoats.' Mr De Lacy Evans' outing as a female caused a worldwide stir, with one photographer named Nicholas White sneaking into the hospital and taking photos of the transsexual dressed as a man and a woman as well as possibly a straitjacket. As a transgender person, Mr De Lacy Evans' faced brutal treatment inside the asylum including a report done up by The Australian Medical Journal that said he cried and screamed as he was probed during a gynaecological examination - which verified he was a physiologically a woman. A drawing done of Mr De Lacy Evans entitled The Sandhurst impersonator working as a man at the Victorian goldfields . With the news in circulation, Mr De Lacy Evans received offers to be 'publicly exhibited' and after his release from Kew Asylum he took up the opportunities. He was once offered three to five pounds per week for a tour. He appeared as 'The Wonderful Male Impersonator' at St Georges Hall on Bourke Street in Melbourne in January 1880 and another time alongside a trapeze artist and 'The Electric Boy' at Sydney's Egyptian Hall on George Street in September 1880. When the truth came out his wife, Ms Marquand denied knowing her husband was in fact a woman and accounted for her daughter's existence by telling reporters: 'Some strange man entered the house one night about the time her husband should have returned home'. Ms Marquand also stated her husband would never let her see him stripped or washing himself. Additionally, Mr De Lacy Evans could have fooled his wife into thinking he was a man by fashioning a homemade strap-on dildo. There was also evidence Mr De Lacy Evans' second wife, Sarah Moore, found out about her husband's cross-dressing about a year into their marriage . A witness reported seeing Ms Moore punching Mr De Lacy Evans in the breast - her 'weak place'. Mr De Lacy Evans lived as a man for another 25 years and found no success in show business. In February 1881, he was applying for relief at the Melbourne Police Court and wanted to be admission to the Benevolent Asylum. Mr De Lacy Evans died in August 1901 in the Melbourne Immigrants’ Home at St Kilda Road, where he had been since February 1881.
For about 20 years of his life, Edward De Lacy Evans lived as a man .
He was born in Ireland as Ellen Tremayne and died in 1901 in Melbourne .
Mr De Lacy Evans was married three times and was 'father' to one daughter .
He worked as a carter, miner, blacksmith and ploughman across Victoria .
By . Louise Cheer For Daily Mail Australia . The story of Edward De Lacy Evans read like every other man's in the 19th century - he was a labourer, husband and father. But underneath the suit and tie was a body of a woman named Ellen Tremayne - also known as Ellen Tremaye - who could have been Australia's first transgender person. Mr De Lacy Evans arrived on Australian shores from Ireland in June 1856 as an assisted immigrant on-board the Ocean Monarch. It is speculated he was born between 1829 to 1841 due to a discrepancy in shipping lists, and birth, marriage and death certificates. Edward De Lacy Evans who could be Australia's first transgender person as a woman (left) and as a man (right) during his stint in Kew Asylum . A portrait of Edward De Lacy Evans in male and female attire. The image is probably a fake cut-and-paste produced by a photographer after it was discovered De Lacy Evans was a man . According to ship records, he was a 26-year-old Roman Catholic from Kilkenny who could read and write, and was listed as a housemaid. When she arrived in Victoria, Mr De Lacy Evans was still known as Ellen Tremayne and caused quite a stir on the trip over. According to the State Library of Victoria's The La Trobe Journal, he wore a man's shirt and trousers underneath his dress and had formed sexual attachments to some of the other female passengers on the Ocean Monarch, including his soon-to-be first wife, Mary Delahunty - a 34-year-old governess who was also from Ireland. He travelled with a trunk labelled with the name 'Edward De Lacy Evans' on it who, according to De Lacy Evans' third wife, was his uncle. There was also speculation her husband or lover was named 'Edward De Lacy Evans' and he had somehow tricked the transsexual by placing his trunk on the Ocean Monarch and deserted the 26-year-old. Mr De Lacy Evans', who was still identified as a woman, first job in Australia was as a maidservant at a Melton public house but some time after he left his position and started dressing like a man, and ditched the name of Ellen Tremayne. Mr De Lacy Evans continued living as a man for 25 years after he left Kew Asylum in 1879 (left) and the right picture is of him and his third wife, Julia Marquand . Now as Edmund De Lacy, he went and sought out Ms Delahunty, marrying her at St Francis' Roman Catholic Church in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. But their marriage was not a happy one, with evidence suggesting they 'did not live comfortably together'. After Ms Delahunty opened a school in Blackwood, she left Mr De Lacy Evans and married an American mining surveyor Lyman Oatman Hart who lived in Daylesford - north-west of Melbourne. In the next 20 years, Mr De Lacy Evans married twice - his second wife was Sarah Moore who died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1867 and a Julia Marquand of Bendigo - north of Melbourne. Mr De Lacy Evans worked as a carter, miner, blacksmith and ploughman in the areas of Blackwood, Bendigo and Stawell. The breakdown of his third marriage came after March 1878 when Ms Marquand gave birth to a child fathered by her brother-in-law, Jean Baptiste Loridan. Despite Mr De Lacy Evans knowing it was not his child, he registered himself as the child's father but his resentment over the pregnancy started taking its toll on the marriage. In July 1879, he started violently acting out against Ms Marquand and his 15-month-old daughter, fell into a deep depression and then was admitted to Bendigo Hospital's lunacy ward for amentia - a mental disability. Another portrait done of Mr De Lacy Evans done by Aaron Flegeltaub who was active between 1882-1891 . For the first six weeks of his stint in the hospital, Mr De Lacy Evans refused to bathe until he was transferred to the Kew Asylum and forcibly stripped that his secret was discovered. He was handed over to female nurses and forced to dress as a woman . In an interview, Mr De Lacy Evans' recalled the moment he was outed as a female at Kew Asylum. 'I was sittin’ the carriage at the railway station, an’ the wife was cryin’ and the kid was squealin’, an’ I was laughin’ at ‘em,' he said during an interview. 'Well, when we got to Kew, the fellers there took hold o’ me to give me a bath, an’ they stripped me to put me in the water, an’ then they saw the mistake. 'One feller ran off as if he was frightened; the others looked thunderstruck an’ couldn't speak. 'I was handed over to the women, and they dressed me up in frocks and petticoats.' Mr De Lacy Evans' outing as a female caused a worldwide stir, with one photographer named Nicholas White sneaking into the hospital and taking photos of the transsexual dressed as a man and a woman as well as possibly a straitjacket. As a transgender person, Mr De Lacy Evans' faced brutal treatment inside the asylum including a report done up by The Australian Medical Journal that said he cried and screamed as he was probed during a gynaecological examination - which verified he was a physiologically a woman. A drawing done of Mr De Lacy Evans entitled The Sandhurst impersonator working as a man at the Victorian goldfields . With the news in circulation, Mr De Lacy Evans received offers to be 'publicly exhibited' and after his release from Kew Asylum he took up the opportunities. He was once offered three to five pounds per week for a tour. He appeared as 'The Wonderful Male Impersonator' at St Georges Hall on Bourke Street in Melbourne in January 1880 and another time alongside a trapeze artist and 'The Electric Boy' at Sydney's Egyptian Hall on George Street in September 1880. When the truth came out his wife, Ms Marquand denied knowing her husband was in fact a woman and accounted for her daughter's existence by telling reporters: 'Some strange man entered the house one night about the time her husband should have returned home'. Ms Marquand also stated her husband would never let her see him stripped or washing himself. Additionally, Mr De Lacy Evans could have fooled his wife into thinking he was a man by fashioning a homemade strap-on dildo. There was also evidence Mr De Lacy Evans' second wife, Sarah Moore, found out about her husband's cross-dressing about a year into their marriage . A witness reported seeing Ms Moore punching Mr De Lacy Evans in the breast - her 'weak place'. Mr De Lacy Evans lived as a man for another 25 years and found no success in show business. In February 1881, he was applying for relief at the Melbourne Police Court and wanted to be admission to the Benevolent Asylum. Mr De Lacy Evans died in August 1901 in the Melbourne Immigrants’ Home at St Kilda Road, where he had been since February 1881.
discovered De Lacy Evans was a man . According to ditched the name of Ellen Tremayne. Mr De Lacy Melbourne. Mr De Lacy Evans worked as a carter, miner, blacksmith and ploughman in the areas of - her 'weak place'. Mr De Lacy Evans lived as a Mr De Lacy Evans died in August 1901 in the