Phoebe Hessel (1713 – 12 December 1821) was best known for disguising herself as a man to serve in the British Army, probably to be with her lover, Samuel Golding. Hessel was born Phoebe Smith, in Stepney, and was baptised at the local church, St Dunstan's, on 13 April 1713. She enlisted in the 5th Regiment of Foot to serve alongside her lover, and served as a soldier in the West Indies and Gibraltar. Both remained in the British Army, and fought and were wounded in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. Finally, she revealed her position to the wife of the Regiment's colonel, and they were both discharged and married. They lived in Plymouth, where they had nine children, of whom eight died in infancy, and the survivor died at sea. However, other sources indicate that her father was a soldier who