Isobel (or Isobella) Gunn (1 August 1781 – 7 November 1861), also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC), noted for having passed herself off as a man, thereby becoming the first European woman to travel to

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

, now part of

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

. Gunn's ruse was not caught until 1807 when she gave birth to a baby boy while working for the HBC.

Early life

Gunn was born in Orphir on the

Orkney Islands Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...

off the north coast of Scotland, near the town of

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

. She was the daughter of John Gunn and Girzal Allan Little is known of her early life until the summer of 1806, when, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

John Fubbister, she entered into a contract with the HBC as a labourer for three years at per year. Although her motivations for doing so are uncertain, tradition holds that she may have been following a lover who had cast her aside. Her brother George was also employed by the HBC, and it is also possible that she was enticed to join by his stories of adventure and the opportunity to earn an income. Other than the enticement of her brothers’ adventure stories, Gunn may have seen this as an opportunity to make an income. As someone whose face was marked by smallpox scars, her chances of marriage would have been low which would result in the need to provide for herself. Modern commentators point out that the modest HBC salary was nevertheless more than Gunn could have earned as a woman in Orkney at that time. Official HBC policy forbade employment of European women, although First Nation women were employed as

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

s and domestic servants in company outposts.

Discovery and return to Scotland

In the Autumn of 1807 Gunn was assigned to a brigade tasked with provisioning more distant outposts, and travelled with them to Martin Falls and then on to the HBC outpost on the Red River at Pembina in modern

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, a distance of more than . Once again, Gunn worked unsuspectedly alongside the men. The pretence was maintained until the morning of 29 December 1807, when to general astonishment, Gunn gave birth to a baby boy at the home of Alexander Henry the younger, the chief of the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

's Pembina post, after having fallen ill and begging Alexander Henry for shelter. According to Henry's journal: The father of the baby was reportedly John Scarth, an HBC employee who had been in frequent contact with Gunn during her postings in Rupert's Land. It is believed that Scarth sexually assaulted or seduced Gunn during one of their postings after finding out her gender and threatening to expose her ruse. After the birth, Gunn became known as Mary Fubbister, and in early 1808 was ordered to return to Albany, and upon her arrival was no longer allowed to work with the men, but rather offered work as a washerwoman; a job that would be more suitable for women. Against her wishes, Gunn and her child were returned to Scotland on the ''Prince of Wales,'' the same boat that had brought her to Rupert's Land three years earlier, on 20 September 1809. Gunn and Baby James would have been returning to a town that would have shunned the young family due to the sin of sex without the sanctity of marriage. There, she lived in poverty, working as a stocking and mitten maker until her death in 1861 at the age of 81.

Legacy

Isobel Gunn's life has subsequently become the basis for a work of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

by author Audrey Thomas, a documentary

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

entitled ''The Ballad of Isabel Gunn'' by

Stephen Scobie Stephen Scobie (born 31 December 1943) is a Canadian poet, critic, and scholar. Born in Carnoustie, Scotland, Scobie relocated to Canada in 1965. He earned a PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver after which he taught at the Un ...

, and the subject of a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

entitled ''The Orkney Lad: The Story of Isabel Gunn'', directed by filmmaker Anne Wheeler. Canadian folk singer Eileen McGann also paid tribute with her ballad 'Isabella Gunn'.

References

External links

at "Undiscovered Scotland"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunn, Isobel Canadian fur traders 1781 births 1861 deaths People from Orkney Female-to-male cross-dressers 19th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Scottish expatriates in Canada 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesswomen People from Rupert's Land

Early life

Discovery and return to Scotland

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links