The Manchester Mulan

In 1814, Sarah Roberts Taylor revealed to a charity officer in Manchester she had spent 21 years as a cavalryman in the British Army

It was a cold Friday morning in November 1814 and a queue was forming in Manchester’s Fountain Street.

Outside the churchwarden’s office, the town’s poor were gathering so they could plead for a few pence to survive another week.

When the door finally opened, a woman limped forward to the desk of the relieving officer and waited for the usual questions ab…