Phoebe Hessel was born in Stepney in 1713. A colourful character in and around Brighton in her later life, she enthralled passers by with her tales of being a soldier in her youth. Phoebe disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the British army to be with her lover Samuel Golding according to the stories told about her. It is believed that she served as a soldier in the West Indies and Gibralter. She and her lover both fought and were wounded in the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. Eventually, she admitted to the Colonel's wife that she was indeed a woman, which led to their being discharged in order for them to marry. They moved to Plymouth where they had nine children, none of whom survived Phoebe. After Golding died, she moved to Brighton to marry Thomas Hessel, a fisherman. After he died, leaving her a widow at 80, she made a living by selling fish. Later Phoebe became something of a celebrity in Brighton amusing people with her tales as she sold oranges, toys and gingerbread on ...