Thomas(ine) Hall

Thomas Hall, born Thomasine Hall (c.1603 – after 1629), was an English servant in colonial Virginia whose wearing of female attire and, on subsequent investigation, a liaison with a maid provoked public controversy in 1629. Hall was subjected to a physical inspection, and the case reached the Quarter Court at Jamestown, which ruled that Hall was both a man and a woman and must dress in male and female clothing simultaneously.

Hall's given name is typically written as "Thomas(ine)" or "Thomas/ine" in scholarly literature on the case.

According to Hall's own account, Hall was born and christened Thomasine Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Hall was raised as a female and became skilled at traditional women's crafts, such as needlework. At the age of twelve, Hall was sent to London to live with an aunt. Hall lived there for ten years and observed the popularity among the aristocracy of crossover male and female fashion. These trends may have influenced Hall to break away from social norms.

As a young adult in the early 1620s, Hall decided to adopt a man's hairstyle and "changed into the fashion of a man" in order to follow Hall's brother into the all-male military service. Hall then served in the military in England and France. Hall returned home and returned, for a time, to needlework and other female social conventions, reverting to the lifestyle of Thomasine, before later moving to colonial Virginia.

Hearing of work opportunities in North America, Hall left England and settled in Jamestown. Hall supported themself by making bone lace and other needlework. Pursuing a different work opportunity, Hall relocated to the small settlement at Warrosquyoacke, Virginia, in an Indian village across from the James River, likely a village of fewer than 200 in the 1620s. Tobacco planters in need of workers preferred hiring men. Hall switched from Thomasine to Thomas to be hired as a male servant.

In early 1628, Hall appears to have been arrested on a charge of receiving stolen goods, though there is a slight doubt about whether this is the same Thomas Hall. Hall was living with a John and Jane Tyos. It was claimed that Hall and the Tyoses had encouraged a neighbor to commit theft and sell the stolen goods to them. The property was found in the Tyoses' house.

Hall was not strict about presenting consistently as male in this new environment. Hall occasionally wore female clothing, which confused neighbors, masters, and captains of plantations. When queried about wearing women's clothes, Hall replied: "I goe in womans apparel to get a bitt for my Catt", apparently meaning that it allowed Hall to have sexual relations with men. Sometimes, even when presenting as Thomasine, Hall was rumored to be having sexual relations with women. For example, stories spread that Hall had sexual relations with the maid nicknamed "Great Besse", who worked for the former governor of Virginia, Richard Bennett. This was an issue of criminal responsibility; as a male, Hall could be prosecuted for sexual misconduct with a servant. Hall accused a woman called Alice Long of spreading the rumor, but Long said that the story originated with Hall's previous employers the Tyoses.

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