Arthur Corbett, 3rd Baron Rowallan
{{Short description|British Baron (1919–1993)}}
{{redirect|Arthur Corbett|the public servant|Arthur Corbett (public servant)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image =
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = The Lord Rowallan
| honorific-suffix =
| birth_date = 17 December 1919
| birth_place =
| death_date = 24 June 1993
| death_place = Marbella, Spain
| resting_place =
| alma_mater = Eton College
| spouse = {{marriage|Eleanor Mary Boyle|1945|1961|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|April Ashley|1963|1970|end=annulled}}
| children = 4 (including 4th Lord Rowallan)
| parents = Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan
Gwyn Mervyn Grimond
| awards =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = British Army
| serviceyears =
| rank = Captain
| unit =
| commands =
| battles =
| mawards =
| relations =
}}
Captain Arthur Cameron Corbett, 3rd Baron Rowallan (17 December 1919 – 24 June 1993), was a British aristocrat most notable for successfully having his second marriage annulled in 1970 on the grounds that his wife April Ashley, a transgender woman, was legally male.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160305154457/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-identity-idUKTRE5AO2Y820091125 New show on identity asks why we are as we are | Reuters]{{Cite web|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/british-transsexuals-get-wedding-rights-back-98784|title=British transsexuals get wedding rights back|website=www.iol.co.za|accessdate=9 January 2023}} This case is known as Corbett v Corbett.
Early life
Arthur Cameron Corbett was born on 17 December 1919 to Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan (1895–1977), who was Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire and served as Governor of Tasmania from 1959 to 1963,{{cite web |url=http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/facts/pdfs/fs295307.pdf |title=Meet the Chiefs |accessdate=2007-12-08 |date=October 2004 |publisher=The Scout Information Centre |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031114258/http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/facts/pdfs/fs295307.pdf |archive-date=31 October 2007 |url-status=dead }} and Gwyn Melvyn Grimond, daughter of Joseph Bowman Grimond of St Andrews, Fife.{{cite book|last1=Rowallan K.T. |first1=Lord |title=Rowallan: The Autobiography of Lord Rowallan K.T.|date=1976|publisher=Paul Harris Publishing|location=Edinburgh |isbn=9781554882823 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRdnzyeVYKoC&pg=PA33|accessdate=28 November 2016}} His maternal uncle was Jo Grimond, Baron Grimond, the leader of the Liberal Party 1956–67.
He was one of six children born to his parents. One of his four brothers was killed in action in 1944. He was educated at Eton.
=Peerage=
He succeeded his father, Thomas Corbett, as the 3rd Baron Rowallan on 30 November 1977. Upon his death in 1993, his eldest son, John Corbett, 4th Baron Rowallan, succeeded to his title, Baron Rowallan.
Personal life
=First marriage and children=
In 1945, he married Eleanor Mary Boyle. They had four children:
- John Polson Cameron Corbett, 4th Baron Rowallan (born 8 March 1947)
- Hon Sarah Elizabeth Cameron Corbett (born 5 April 1949)
- Hon Anne Mary Cameron Corbett (born 3 September 1953)
- Hon Rosalind Eleanor Cameron Corbett (born 2 January 1958)
The couple divorced in 1961.
=Second marriage=
{{Main|Corbett v Corbett}}
In November 1960, Corbett met April Ashley, a successful fashion model, who appeared in Vogue (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|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|accessdate=28 March 2015}}) and in the film The Road to Hong Kong, which starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0039018|title=April Ashley|publisher=IMDB}} They married in 1963, but the marriage quickly broke down.
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, even though Corbett knew about her history when they married.{{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}}{{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}} The argument was accepted, and the case served as a precedent until the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
Later life and death
Corbett later moved to Marbella, Spain, where he died after undergoing surgery on his leg for gangrene on 24 June 1993, at the age of 73.{{cite news |title=Death notice |url=https://postimg.cc/KKJwXM67 |access-date=28 December 2021 |publisher=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=3 July 1993}}
Arms
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg File:Rowallan Escutcheon.png
|escutcheon = Quarterly 1st & 4th Argent a key fesseways wards downwards between two ravens Sable (Corbett) 2nd & 3rd Azure a chevron Or between two bears' heads couped Argent muzzled Gules in chief and in base a cross moline of the third (Polson).
|crest = A branch of oak thereon a raven Sable.
|supporters = Dexter a salmon Proper holding in its mouth a jewelled ring Or sinister a seal Proper.
|motto = Deus Pascit Corvos{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage |date=1959}}}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
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{{S-reg|uk}}
{{Succession box|title=Baron Rowallan|before=Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett|after=John Polson Cameron Corbett|years=1977–1993}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowallan, Arthur Cameron Corbett, 3rd Baron}}
Category:Nobility from East Ayrshire
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Royal Artillery officers
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
{{UK-baron-stub}}