April Ashley

{{Infobox person

| name = April Ashley

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100%}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|4|29|df=y}}

| birth_place = Liverpool, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|12|27|1935|4|29|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| height = {{height|m=1.78}}{{cite web |title=April Ashley - Biography |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0039018/bio |website=IMDb |access-date=23 January 2023 |language=English}}

| image =An Evening With April Ashley at the Southbank Centre4.jpg

| caption = Ashley at the Southbank Centre, 2009

| other_names = Toni April
The Hon. April Corbett
April West

| website = {{url|http://www.aprilashley.org/}}

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|The Hon. Arthur Corbett{{pb}}|1963|1970|reason=annulled}}
{{marriage|Jeffrey West{{pb}}|1980s|1990s|reason=divorced}}}}

| occupation = Model, activist, author

}}

April Ashley {{postnominals|country=GBR|MBE}} (29 April 1935 – 27 December 2021), styled as The Honourable April Corbett from 1963 to 1980, was an English model, author, and LGBT rights activist. In the 1950s, upon being discharged from the Merchant Navy, she performed under the stage name Toni April at Le Carrousel de Paris in Paris. Ashley was outed as a transgender woman by The Sunday People newspaper in 1961 and was one of the earliest British people known to have had gender confirmation surgery. Her first marriage, to the future 3rd Baron Rowallan, was annulled in the High Court of Justice case of Corbett v Corbett. Ashley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to transgender equality.

Early life

Born at 126 Smithdown Road (then Sefton General Hospital) in Liverpool, Ashley was one of six surviving children of a Roman Catholic father, Frederick Jamieson, and Protestant mother, Ada Brown,{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Kay|title=Radical Objects: April Ashley's Birth Certificate & Birthday Card|url=http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/radical-objects-april-ashleys-birth-certificate-birthday-card/|website=History Workshop|date=February 2014|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-date=11 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411190028/http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/radical-objects-april-ashleys-birth-certificate-birthday-card/|url-status=live}} who had married two years before."Brown Ada & Jamieson Frederick" in Register of Marriages for Liverpool Registration District, vol. 8b (1933), p. 229 During her childhood in Liverpool, Ashley suffered from both calcium deficiency, requiring weekly calcium injections at the Alder Hey Children's Hospital, and bed-wetting, resulting in her being given her own box room, at the age of two, when the family moved house.{{cite book|last1=Fallowell|first1=Duncan|last2=Ashley|first2=April|title=April Ashley's Odyssey|year=1982|publisher=Jonathan Cape Ltd|access-date=20 December 2014|isbn=978-0224018494|url=http://www.antijen.org/Aprilv1/#Liverpool|archive-date=18 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118004812/http://www.antijen.org/Aprilv1/#Liverpool|url-status=live}}{{Page needed|date=March 2025}}

1950s to 1970s

Ashley joined the Merchant Navy in 1951 at the age of 16.{{cite court|url=http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/courses/LA306_Family_Law/Cases/Corbett_v_Corbett.html|litigants=Corbett v Corbett|court=EWHC|date=1970|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104170913/http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/courses/LA306_Family_Law/Cases/Corbett_v_Corbett.html|url-status=dead}} Following a suicide attempt, she was given dishonourable discharge,{{Page needed|date=March 2025}} and a second attempt resulted in her being sent to Ormskirk District General Hospital psychiatric unit at age 17.

In her book The First Lady, Ashley tells the story of the rape she endured before transitioning. A roommate raped her and she was severely injured.{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Douglas |last2=Ashley |first2=April |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1YpAAAACAAJ |title=The First Lady |year=2006 |publisher=Blake Publishing |isbn=1-84454-231-9 |access-date=30 December 2021 |archive-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106145930/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_First_Lady/t1YpAAAACAAJ?hl=en |url-status=live }}{{Page needed|date=March 2025}}

=Gender transition=

After leaving the hospital, Ashley moved to London, at one point claiming to have shared a boarding house with then ship's steward John Prescott, later deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom. Having started cross-dressing, she moved to Paris in the late 1950s, began using the name Toni April, and joined the entertainer Coccinelle in the cast of the drag cabaret at Le Carrousel de Paris.{{cite book|title=Landmark Cases in Family Law|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2011|first1=Stephen|last1=Gilmore|first2=Jonathan|last2=Herring|first3=Rebecca|last3=Probert|isbn=978-1849461016}}{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

At the age of 25, having saved £3,000, Ashley had a seven-hour-long sex reassignment surgery on 12 May 1960, performed in Casablanca, Morocco, by Georges Burou. All her hair fell out, and she endured significant pain, but the operation was successful.{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

=Modelling career and public outing=

After returning to Britain, she began using the name April Ashley and became a successful fashion model, appearing in British Vogue,{{Cite web|url=https://www.out.com/fashion/2021/8/05/ariel-nicholson-first-out-trans-woman-cover-us-vogue|title=Ariel Nicholson Is the First Out Trans Woman On the Cover of US Vogue|date=5 August 2021|website=www.out.com|access-date=28 December 2021|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228183403/https://www.out.com/fashion/2021/8/05/ariel-nicholson-first-out-trans-woman-cover-us-vogue|url-status=live}} for which she was photographed by David Bailey,{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/People/Sex-and-the-single-grande-dame/2005/06/03/1117568360972.html|title=Sex and the single grande dame|date=4 June 2005|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=30 August 2010|archive-date=14 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114213315/http://www.smh.com.au/news/People/Sex-and-the-single-grande-dame/2005/06/03/1117568360972.html|url-status=live}} and winning a small role in the 1962 film The Road to Hong Kong, which starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

A friend sold her story to the media in 1961 and The Sunday People outed Ashley as a trans woman.{{cite news|url=https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/famous-who-modeled-for-vogue-slept-with-famous-men-and-married-an-aristocrat.405450/|title='Her' secret is out|newspaper=The Sunday People|date=19 November 1961|format=jpg|access-date=11 May 2020|archive-date=15 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115161946/https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/famous-who-modeled-for-vogue-slept-with-famous-men-and-married-an-aristocrat.405450/|url-status=live}} She became a centre of attention and some scandal and her film credit was dropped.

In November 1960, Ashley met Hon. Arthur Corbett (later 3rd Baron Rowallan), the Eton-educated son and heir of Lord Rowallan. They married in 1963 but the marriage soon deteriorated, at which point Ashley claimed to have a romance with Íñigo de Arteaga y Martín, the heir to the Dukedom of the Infantado. Ashley's lawyers wrote to Corbett in 1966 demanding maintenance payments and in 1967 Corbett responded by filing suit to have the marriage annulled. The annulment was granted in 1970 on the grounds that Ashley was male, but Corbett had known about her history when they married. This is the case known as Corbett v Corbett.{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

Later life and death

After a heart attack in London, Ashley retired for some years to the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye. In her book April Ashley's Odyssey she stated that Amanda Lear was assigned male at birth and that they had worked together at Le Carousel where Lear had used the drag name Peki d'Oslo.{{Page needed|date=March 2025}} Ashley had once been great friends with Lear{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/dec/24/focus.news |title=At the court of Queen Lear |date=24 December 2000 |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928181235/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/dec/24/focus.news |url-status=live}} but according to Ashley's book The First Lady they had had a major falling out and had not spoken for years.{{cn|date=December 2021}}

In the 1980s, Ashley married Jeffrey West on the cruise ship RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, US.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/28/april-ashley-model-actress-became-one-first-transwomen-undergo/|title=April Ashley, model and actress who became one of Britain's first transwomen to undergo reassignment surgery – obituary|first=Telegraph|last=Obituaries|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=28 December 2021|via=www.telegraph.co.uk|access-date=28 December 2021|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228164710/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/28/april-ashley-model-actress-became-one-first-transwomen-undergo/|url-status=live}} They subsequently divorced but maintained friendly relations. In the 1990s, Ashley was employed by the environmental lobby group, Greenpeace and later by an art gallery.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/british-pioneer-transwoman-who-dated-michael-hutchence-20211229-p59koz.html|title=British pioneer transwoman who dated Michael Hutchence|date=29 December 2021|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=30 December 2021|archive-date=30 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230145036/https://www.smh.com.au/national/british-pioneer-transwoman-who-dated-michael-hutchence-20211229-p59koz.html|url-status=live}}

She talked about her life at St George's Hall, Liverpool as part of the city's Homotopia Festival on 15 November 2008,{{cite web|url=http://www.homotopia.net/2008/2008-April%20Ashley.html |title=An Audience with April Ashley |publisher=Homotopia |access-date=28 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822164818/http://www.homotopia.net/2008/2008-April%20Ashley.html |archive-date=22 August 2009 }} and on 18 February 2009 at the Southbank Centre.{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/blahflowers/3293013691/|title=An Evening With April Ashley at the Southbank Centre|date=19 February 2009|publisher=flickr|access-date=28 March 2015|archive-date=29 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729151331/https://www.flickr.com/photos/blahflowers/3293013691/|url-status=live}}

Ashley latterly lived in Fulham, southwest London.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/7947945/April-Ashley-interview-Britains-first-transsexual.html|last=Durrant|first=Sabine|title=April Ashley interview: Britain's first transsexual|date=22 August 2010|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|url-status=live|access-date=2 April 2018|archive-date=22 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922125307/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/7947945/April-Ashley-interview-Britains-first-transsexual.html}} She died at home on 27 December 2021, at the age of 86.{{Cite news|last=Risen|first=Clay|date=3 January 2022|title=April Ashley, London Socialite and Transgender Pioneer, Dies at 86|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/europe/april-ashley-dead.html|access-date=6 January 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=5 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105171731/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/europe/april-ashley-dead.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=April Ashley, model and actress who became one of the first transwomen to undergo reassignment surgery – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/28/april-ashley-model-actress-became-one-first-transwomen-undergo/ |access-date=28 December 2021 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=28 December 2021 |archive-date=28 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228164710/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/28/april-ashley-model-actress-became-one-first-transwomen-undergo/ |url-status=live }}

Biographies

April Ashley's Odyssey, a biography by Duncan Fallowell, was published in 1982.{{Page needed|date=March 2025}} In 2006, Ashley released her autobiography, The First Lady,{{Page needed|date=March 2025}} and made TV appearances on Channel Five News, This Morning and BBC News. In one interview she said, "This is the real story and contains a lot of things I just couldn't say in 1982", including alleged affairs with Michael Hutchence, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Turner Prize sculptor Grayson Perry and others.{{Page needed|date=March 2025}} The book was pulled from the market, however, after it was discovered that it heavily plagiarized the 1982 book written by Fallowell.{{cite news |title=Discriminating Beauty |publisher=Out Northwest |url=http://issuu.com/outnorthwest/docs/issue86/23?mode=embed&documentId=081024154705-ebb5a1dbd41242b3b3aa0f4e69652515&layout=grey |page=23 |access-date=30 August 2010 |archive-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008060859/http://issuu.com/outnorthwest/docs/issue86/23?mode=embed&documentId=081024154705-ebb5a1dbd41242b3b3aa0f4e69652515&layout=grey |url-status=live}}

The 1983 biography of Peter O'Toole by Michael Freedland rejects the claim of an affair with Ashley. It states that he was acquainted with her in Spain while filming, but his then-wife Siân Phillips was with him at the time and knew the relationship to be platonic.{{Cite book |last=Freedland |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Freedland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUk3AAAACAAJ |title=Peter O'Toole: A Biography |date=1983 |publisher=W. H. Allen |isbn=978-0-86379-016-4 |access-date=3 September 2021 |archive-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106145919/https://books.google.com/books?id=bUk3AAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}{{Page needed|date=September 2021}}

In 2012, Pacific Films and Limey Yank Productions announced a project to create a film about Ashley's life.{{cite news|title=Pioneering Trans Model April Ashley Gets Movie Deal, Honor From Queen Elizabeth|publisher=Queerty|url=http://www.queerty.com/pioneering-trans-model-april-ashley-gets-honor-from-queen-elizabeth-movie-deal-20120727|access-date=27 July 2012|archive-date=29 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729000910/http://www.queerty.com/pioneering-trans-model-april-ashley-gets-honor-from-queen-elizabeth-movie-deal-20120727/|url-status=live}}

Awards and honours

Ashley was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to transgender equality.{{London Gazette|issue=60173|supp=y|page=13|date=16 June 2012}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18461536|title=Kenneth Branagh knighted in Queen's Birthday Honours|date=16 June 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=21 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421125017/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18461536|url-status=live}}
The exhibition ‘April Ashley: portrait of a lady’ was held at the Museum of Liverpool from 27 September 2013 to 1 March 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/exhibitions/april-ashley/|title=Museum of Liverpool|access-date=6 July 2015|archive-date=6 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706175430/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/exhibitions/april-ashley/|url-status=live}}
Ashley was awarded a Lifetime Achievement honour at the European Diversity Awards 2014.{{cite web|url=http://eqview.com/2014/10/03/evan-davis-april-ashley-triumph-european-diversity-awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108010448/http://eqview.com/2014/10/03/evan-davis-april-ashley-triumph-european-diversity-awards/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 January 2016 |title=Evan Davis and April Ashley Triumph at European Diversity Awards |publisher=www.EQView.com |access-date=28 March 2015 }}
In December 2016, Ashley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Liverpool.{{cite web |title=April Ashley awarded honorary degree |url=https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/lgbt-history/media/april-ashley-honorary-degree/ |website=www.liverpool.ac.uk |publisher=University of Liverpool |access-date=29 December 2021 |archive-date=29 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229013648/https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/lgbt-history/media/april-ashley-honorary-degree/ |url-status=live }}

References

External links

{{IMDb name|39018}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060208030208/http://www.briannaaustin.com/photogalleries/divas/aprilashley/april.html April Ashley Photo Gallery Tribute]
[https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/col/x920fx05z April Ashley Collection] (Digital Transgender Archive)
[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/28/april-ashley-model-actor-and-transgender-activist-dies-aged-86 "April Ashley, model, actor and transgender activist, dies aged 86"] at The Guardian
[https://www.thetimes.com/article/april-ashley-obituary-8ndrq5tzc "April Ashley obituary"] at The Times
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