Fernando Mackenzie c. 1906 Spain
gouache on paper
11 x 7 inches
2022
Fernando was born in Paris around 1836 to an English father and a Spanish mother. After serving in the French military, he moved to Spain at the age of 35 and joined the police force in Madrid. He married and adopted his wife’s son as his own.
The family moved to Seville, where Fernando served on the police force and worked as a cook and orderly in the governor’s palace. He served seven successive governors, only losing his position after a fire destroyed the governor’s palace.
When his wife died, he spent everything he had on her funeral. Two years later he was involved in a street accident that badly fractured his leg and left him in the hospital. It was in the hospital that his sex was discovered resulting in his discharge from the police force without his pension.
A newspaper account from 1906 describes Fernando in dire straits with rent coming due sitting in his “miserable room” turning to a large image of Christ as his only remaining resource.
Sources:
Ellis, Havelock. Studies in the Psychology of Sex: Sexual inversion. United States: Davis, 1915.
“Woman Policeman.” The Columbia Herald 23 Nov. 1906: 9.
Zagria. “Fernando Mackenzie (1836 - ?) Policeman.” A Gender Variance Who’s Who: Essays on Trans, Intersex, Cis and Other Persons and Topics from a Trans Perspective. April 19, 2008.