Roberta Elizabeth Marshall Cowell (8 April 1918
– 11 October 2011) was a British
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
and Second World War
fighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...
. She was the first known British
trans woman
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...
to undergo
gender-affirming surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
in 1948.
Early life
Roberta Cowell was born Robert Marshall Cowell, one of three children of Major-General Sir Ernest Marshall Cowell
KBE CB (1886–1971) and Dorothy Elizabeth Miller (1886–1962).
Roberta Cowell attended
Whitgift School
("He who perseveres, conquers")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent school
, religious_affiliation = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head Master
, head = Christopher Ramsey
, c ...
, a boys'
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and was an enthusiastic member of the school's Motor Club, along with
John Cunningham, who would later be famous as an RAF
night fighter
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
ace and test pilot.
[Her autobiography does not name her school, but states Cunningham was a fellow pupil. Whitgift was the school she attended.] Towards the end of her school days, she visited Belgium, Germany, and Austria with a school friend. At the time, one of her hobbies was photography and filmmaking, and she was briefly arrested in Germany for shooting a
cine film
Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer to ...
of a group of Nazis drilling. She secured her release by agreeing to destroy the film, but was able to substitute unused film stock, and keep the original footage.
Cowell left school at the age of 16 to join
General Aircraft Limited
General Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1931 to amalgamation with Blackburn Aircraft in 1949 to become Blackburn and General. Its main products were military gliders and light transport aircraft.
His ...
as an apprentice aircraft engineer, but soon left to join the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, becoming an
acting pilot officer
Acting pilot officer (A/Plt Off) is the lowest commissioned grade in the Royal Air Force. Acting pilot officer is not an actual military rank, therefore acting pilot officers are regraded to pilot officer instead of receiving a promotion. Unl ...
on probation on 4 August 1936; Cowell began training, but was discharged because of
airsickness
Airsickness is a specific form of motion sickness which is induced by air travel and is considered a normal response in healthy individuals. Airsickness occurs when the central nervous system receives conflicting messages from the body (including ...
.
In 1936, Cowell began studying engineering at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. Also in that year, she began motor-racing, winning her class at the Land's End Speed Trial in a
Riley Riley may refer to:
Names
* Riley (given name)
* Riley (surname)
Places
* Riley Park–Little Mountain, a neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
* Riley Creek (Ontario), a tributary of the Black River in Central Ontario, Canada
* Ri ...
.
She gained initial experience of the sport by sneaking into the area where cars were serviced at the
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
racing circuit, wearing mechanic's overalls, and offering help to any driver or mechanic who wanted it.
[Cowell (1952) Chapter 1] By 1939, she owned three cars and had competed in the 1939 Antwerp ''Grand Prix''.
Second World War
![HawkerTyphoonFR1b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/HawkerTyphoonFR1b.jpg)
On 28 December 1940, Cowell was commissioned into the
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...
as
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
,
and in June 1941, married Diana Margaret Zelma Carpenter
(1917–2006), who also had been an engineering student at UCL with an interest in motor racing.
[Diana Carpenter was the first woman to graduate from UCL with an engineering degree.] Cowell served in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
[Iceland was occupied by 25,000 British troops between May 1940 and May 1941, ''see Iceland during the Second World War''] before transferring from the Army to the RAF on 24 January 1942 with the rank of
pilot officer
Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...
(
temporary). She had obtained a private pilot's licence before the war
and completed RAF flying training at
RAF Ansty
Royal Air Force Ansty or RAF Ansty is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Coventry city centre, Warwickshire, England, north-west of Rugby, Warwickshire. The airfield was opened in 1936 and after training many pupils closed in 19 ...
.
[Cowell (1952) Chapter 2]
Cowell served a tour with a front–line Spitfire squadron
[Unnamed in her autobiography.] and then briefly as an instructor. By June 1944, she was flying with
No. 4 Squadron RAF
No. 4 Squadron, normally written as IV Squadron, of the Royal Air Force operates the BAE Hawk T2 in the training role from RAF Valley.
History
Formation and First World War
IV Squadron formed at Farnborough in 1912 as part of the Royal Fl ...
, a squadron assigned to the task of
aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of ima ...
. During the course of the war the squadron had flown a variety of aircraft types but by mid–1944 it was flying the Spitfire PR. XI,
an unarmed, camera-equipped version of the
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
. Shortly before the
D-Day landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, on 4 June 1944, she had a lucky escape when the oxygen system of her Spitfire malfunctioned at over
Fruges
Fruges (; vls, Frusje) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
Situated some 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Montreuil-sur-Mer on the D928 road, set in a valley not far from the hist ...
, France. She passed out but the aircraft continued flying on its own for around an hour over German-occupied France while being subjected to German anti-aircraft fire, she regained semi-consciousness at low altitude and was able to fly back to the squadron's base at
RAF Gatwick
Gatwick Airport was in Surrey until 1974, when it became part of West Sussex as a result of a county boundary change. The original, pre-World War II airport was built on the site of a manor in the parish of Charlwood. The land was first used as ...
.
[Yoxoll, p.262]
By October 1944, 4 Squadron was based at
Deurne, Belgium
Deurne () is the second largest district of the municipality of Antwerp, Belgium, (right after the Antwerp town district) and has 80.781 inhabitants (2021).
Deurne is best known for its green environment with the biggest park in Antwerp Rivieren ...
, on the outskirts of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, and its Spitfires were supplemented by an allocation of Hawker Typhoon FR IBs, a photo-reconnaissance version of the
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...
fighter-bomber
A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...
.
[Built in small numbers, the ''FR IB'' was intended for photo-reconnaissance at very low level and was intended to complement the Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft, which were operated at high altitude. Unlike the Spitfire, it was armed – one of the Typhoon's four ]cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
was removed and three F24 camera
The F24 camera is a 1920s British camera used for aerial reconnaissance by British and Allied armed forces into the mid-1950s. It is widely and erroneously referred to as F.24 or F-24.
Design and development
The outline design of the F24 camer ...
s were fitted in its place, one pointing forwards and two down. However, although the Typhoon was well regarded as a combat aircraft, the reconnaissance version was unpopular with pilots and unsatisfactory in this role – inherent engine and airframe vibrations invariably blurred the photographs. On 18 November 1944, Cowell was piloting one of a pair of Typhoons
[She was flying Typhoon number ''EK429'',''see: Franks (2000)''. The other aircraft was flown by Flt. Lt. Draper''.] on a low-level sortie near
Bocholt, Germany
Bocholt () is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, part of the district Borken. It is situated 4 km (2½ miles) south of the border with the Netherlands. Suderwick is part of Bocholt and is situated at the border an ...
.
[Franks, p.116] South east of Kessel, Cowell attacked targets on the ground, but her aircraft's engine was knocked out and its wing holed by German anti-aircraft fire. Cowell was flying too low to bail-out and instead jettisoned the cockpit canopy and glided her Typhoon to a successful
deadstick crash-landing. She was able to contact her companion by radio and confirm she was unhurt before being captured by German troops.
Cowell made two escape attempts, reasoning that the chances of success were greatest if the attempt was made quickly, while still close to the front–line.
[Cowell (1952) Chapter 4] However, the attempts failed and she was taken further into Germany, spending several weeks in solitary confinement at an interrogation centre for captured Allied aircrew,
before being moved to the prisoner–of–war camp
''Stalag Luft'' I.
Cowell remained a prisoner for around five months, occupying the time by teaching classes in automotive-engineering to fellow inmates.
In her biography, she describes the
situational sexual behaviour shown by some of the camp's Allied prisoners, and her discomfort at being propositioned by prisoners who assumed she also wanted to take part in this. She was offered the part of a woman in a camp theatrical production but turned it down, as she thought this would make her appear homosexual in the eyes of other prisoners.
Towards the end of the war, food became short at the camp; Cowell lost in weight, and later described killing the camp's cats and eating them raw because of hunger.
[Kennedy p.58]
By April 1945, the advancing
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
was approaching. The initial German intention was to evacuate the camp, but the prisoners refused to leave. After negotiations between the senior American officer and the ''Kommandant'', the Germans guarding ''Stalag Luft'' I abandoned it and evacuated towards the west, leaving the prisoners behind. The unguarded and undefended camp was reached by the Red Army on the night of 30 April 1945. Commonwealth personnel were flown back to the United Kingdom some two weeks later, between 12 and 14 May, by aircraft of the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
.
[Known as Operation Revival, the repatriation of prisoners used American transport aircraft for the sick and wounded, and ]Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
bombers for the healthy. Wooden floor–boards were installed in the B–17s' bomb-bays, to make an extemporized passenger compartment and as many as 30 men were crammed into each bomber. Commonwealth ex-prisoners were flown to the United Kingdom, American ex-prisoners were flown to Camp Lucky Strike near Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, France, for return to the United States by sea. The Western Allies were anxious to quickly remove their personnel from areas under Soviet control, for fear they might be used as hostages.
*
Postwar life
After demobilization, Cowell was engaged in a number of business ventures until, in 1946, she founded a motor-racing team and competed in events across Europe, including the
Brighton Speed Trials
The Brighton Speed Trials, in full The Brighton National Speed Trials, is commonly held to be the oldest running motor race. The first race was held 19–22 July 1905 after Sir Harry Preston persuaded Brighton town council to tarmac the surface ...
and the ''Grand Prix'' at
Rouen-Les-Essarts
Rouen-Les-Essarts was a motor racing circuit in Orival, near Rouen, France.
From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator grandstands. The street ci ...
.
However her autobiography describes this as a time of great distress. She also experienced traumatic
flashback when watching the film ''
Mine Own Executioner
''Mine Own Executioner'' is a 1947 British psychological thriller drama film starring Burgess Meredith and directed by Anthony Kimmins, and based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin. It was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. ...
'', in which the hero is shot-down by anti-aircraft fire while flying a Spitfire.
[Cowell (1952) Chapter 5]
In 1948, Cowell separated from her wife and, suffering from depression, she sought out a leading Freudian psychiatrist of the time, but was unsatisfied by the help he offered.
Sessions with a second Freudian psychiatrist, described in her biography only as a Scottish man with a less orthodox approach to his profession, gradually revealed, in her own words, that her "unconscious mind was predominantly female" and "feminine side of my nature, which all my life I had known of and severely repressed, was very much more fundamental and deep-rooted than I had supposed."
Transition and surgery
By 1950, Cowell was taking large doses of
oestrogen
Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal activ ...
, but was still living as a man.
She had become acquainted with
Michael Dillon
Laurence Michael Dillon (born Laura Maud Dillon; 1 May 1915 – 15 May 1962) was a physician and the first trans man to undergo phalloplasty.
Early life and transition
Dillon was the second child of Robert Arthur Dillon (1865–1925), heir to ...
, a British physician who was the first
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...
to get a
phalloplasty
Phalloplasty is the construction or reconstruction of a penis or the artificial modification of the penis by surgery. The term is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement.
History
Russian surgeon Nikolaj Bogoraz performed the firs ...
, after reading his 1946 volume ''Self: A Study in Endocrinology and Ethics''. This work proposed that individuals should have the right to change gender, to have the kind of body they desired.
[Kennedy p.3] The two developed a close friendship. Dillon subsequently carried out an
inguinal orchiectomy
Inguinal orchiectomy (also named orchidectomy) is a specific method of orchiectomy whereby one or both testicles and the full spermatic cord are surgically removed through an incision in the lower lateral abdomen (the "inguinal region"). The pr ...
on Cowell. Secrecy was necessary for this as the procedure was then illegal in the United Kingdom under so-called
"mayhem" laws and no surgeon would agree to perform it openly.
Cowell then presented herself to a private
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...
gynaecologist and was able to obtain from him a document stating she was
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
. This allowed her to have a new birth certificate issued, with her recorded sex changed to female. She had a
vaginoplasty
Vaginoplasty is any surgical procedure that results in the construction or reconstruction of the vagina. It is a type of genitoplasty. Pelvic organ prolapse is often treated with one or more surgeries to repair the vagina. Sometimes a vaginoplas ...
on 15 May 1951. The operation was carried out by
Sir Harold Gillies, widely considered the father of
plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
,
with the assistance of American surgeon
Ralph Millard
David Ralph Millard, Jr. (June 4, 1919 – June 19, 2011) was a plastic surgeon who developed several techniques used in cleft lip and palate surgeries. He also popularized the double eyelid surgery or "Asian blepharoplasty" to “deorientalize ...
. Gillies had operated on Michael Dillon, but vaginoplasty was then an entirely novel procedure, which Gillies had only performed experimentally on a cadaver. The name on her birth certificate was changed on 17 May of that year.
Later life
By 1954, her two business ventures, a racing car engineering company (Leacroft of Egham) and a clothing company had both ceased trading and her change of legal gender had made it impossible for her to continue ''Grand Prix'' motor racing.
However, in March 1954, news of her gender reassignment broke, gaining public interest around the world. In the United Kingdom, her story was published in the magazine ''
Picture Post
''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. ...
'', and Cowell received a fee of around £8,000 from the magazine (equivalent to £ in , when adjusted for
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
). Cowell's biography was published soon after this, earning a further £1,500 (£ in ).
In the United States, the widespread sensation caused by the news stories about
Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was an American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. She had a career as a successful actress, singer and rec ...
in 1952 had introduced the American public to the concept of changing sex, and the press had continued to print a steady stream of stories about others who had done so, mostly
trans women
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...
. Such reports tended to conflate the unrelated concepts of
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
and
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
, so transsexuality had become closely associated in the public mind with male homosexuality (during this period, highly taboo) and effeminacy amongst men. Cowell's story consequently appeared confusing as it disrupted this narrative. Her marriage, her parenting of children, her wartime combat service and her association with motor racing were, during this period, perceived as strong markers of heterosexual masculinity; these aspects of her life were described repeatedly in press reports.
She continued to be active in motor racing and attracted some publicity for winning the 1957
Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb
The Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb is a hillclimb in Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire, England, organised by the Midland Automobile Club (MAC). It is one of the oldest motorsport events in the world, and is the oldest to have been staged contin ...
. In November 1958, she acquired an ex-RAF
de Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...
(number ''TK-655'', civil registration ''G-AOSS''). Her intention was to use the aircraft for a record-breaking flight over the South Atlantic.
However, the project fell through due to a lack of suitable engines
and in 1958 she became bankrupt with debts totaling £12,580 (approximately £ in ).
By 1959, ''G-AOSS'' was a derelict hulk and its remains were scrapped in 1960.
[Thirsk, p.381]
Her financial difficulties continued, as she found it difficult to get employment.
In later years, she largely dropped out of the public eye. However she was still an active figure in British motor racing in the 1970s.
[Bouzanquet, p.99] She also continued flying and by this time had logged over 1,600 hours as a pilot.
A brief interview with ''
Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' journalist Michael Bateman appeared in March 1972, when she was working on an (unpublished) second biography.
In the interview, she stated she was an
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
individual with the chromosomal abnormality
XX male syndrome
XX male syndrome, also known as de la Chapelle syndrome, is a rare congenital intersex condition in which an individual with a 46, XX karyotype (otherwise associated with females) has phenotypically male characteristics that can vary among case ...
, and that the condition justified her transition.
[XX-male syndrome is sometimes known as ''de la Chapelle syndrome'', for the Finnish researcher who characterized it in, 1972; . Those with this condition have a female genotype, but are usually typical boys or men. However, Roberta Cowell stated in her biography she had two children, in July 1942 and August 1944 (''see Cowell (1952), chapter 4''), and individuals with XX-male syndrome are sterile, due to ]Azoospermia
Azoospermia is the medical condition of a man whose semen contains no sperm. It is associated with male infertility, but many forms are amenable to medical treatment. In humans, azoospermia affects about 1% of the male population and may be seen ...
. Often, they only become aware of their condition when being evaluated for infertility. She also spoke in derogatory terms of those individuals with XY chromosomes who also underwent male to female gender reassignment, saying "The people who have followed me have often been those with male chromosomes, XY. So they've been normal people who've turned themselves into freaks by means of the operation."
In the 1990s, Cowell moved into sheltered accommodation in
Hampton, London
Hampton is a suburban area on the north bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, and historically in the County of Middlesex. which includes Hampton Court Palace. Hampton is served by two railway stations, ...
although she continued to own and drive large, powerful cars. She died on 11 October 2011. Her funeral was attended by only six people and (on her instructions) was unpublicised; her death was not publicly reported until two years later, when a profile of her was printed in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' newspaper in October 2013.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published Cowell's obituary on 5 June 2020.
See also
*
List of transgender people
This list consists of many notable people who are transgender. The individual listings note the subject's nationality and main occupation.
In some non-Western, ancient or medieval societies, transgender people may be seen as a different gend ...
*
List of transgender-related topics
The following outline offers an overview and guide to transgender topics.
The term "transgender" is multi-faceted and complex, especially where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. While often the best way to find out ho ...
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General and cited references
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Newsreel reportof Cowell's motor-racing success in 1957 (
British Pathe
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowell, Roberta
1918 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English people
20th-century English women
Alumni of University College London
American LGBT sportspeople
British Army personnel of World War II
British World War II fighter pilots
British World War II prisoners of war
English female racing drivers
English LGBT people
English racing drivers
Intersex military personnel
Intersex women
LGBT nobility
LGBT racing drivers
Military personnel from London
People educated at Whitgift School
Royal Air Force officers
Royal Air Force pilots of World War II
Royal Army Service Corps officers
Shot-down aviators
Transgender military personnel
Transgender sportswomen
Transgender women
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany