American doctor and activist Mary Edwards Walker was BOTD in 1832. Born in Oswego, New York to a progressive middle-class family, she dressed in male clothing from an early age and was given equal education with her brothers. After completing her education, she worked as a teacher, earning enough money to study at Syracuse Medical College, graduating in 1855 at the top of her class. She married fellow student Albert Miller, wearing trousers to her wedding and retaining her last name. A fearless advocate for “rational dress” for women, she was frequently abused and once arrested for appearing in male clothing. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, she was refused a position as a surgeon for the Union Army, declining the offer of a nursing role and volunteering as an unpaid field surgeon. After serving on battle front lines, she was finally employed as an Army surgeon in 1863. She became assistant surgeon for the 52nd Ohio Infantry, frequently crossing battle lines and extending her remit to treat wounded civilians. In 1864, she was captured by Confederate troops and imprisoned in a military prison in Virginia, refusing to wear the female clothes assigned to her. After five months’ imprisonment, she was released as part of a prisoner exchange. After the war, she became the first (and to date, the only) woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the US armed force’s highest declaration, and was granted a military pension. In later life, she managed a women’s prison and an orphanage, continuing to campaign for dress reform, temperance and healthcare. She also supported women’s suffrage, frequently butting heads with conservative suffragettes who disapproved of her male attire. After divorcing her husband, she lived with the much younger suffragette Belva Lockwood, though biographers continue to debate whether they were lovers. Walker died in 1919, aged 86, less than a year before the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Amid several posthumous honours, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2000.