Arthur Corbett, 3rd Baron Rowallan

Who was Arthur Corbett, 3rd Baron Rowallan?

Captain Arthur Cameron Corbett, 3rd Baron Rowallan, was a British aristocrat most notable for successfully having his second marriage annulled in 1970 by a court on the grounds that his wife, April Ashley, a transsexual woman, was a man under then-current UK law. The argument was accepted, and the case served as a precedent for all such cases until the Gender Recognition Act 2004 was passed, which provided the needed legal framework for changing a person's legal gender.

With his first wife, Eleanor Mary Boyle, whom he married in 1945 and divorced in 1961, Lord Rowallan had four children:

John Polson Cameron Corbett, who became the 4th Baron on his father's death

Sarah Elizabeth Cameron Corbett

Anne Mary Cameron Corbett

Rosalind Eleanor Cameron Corbett

He succeeded Thomas Corbett as the 3rd Baron Rowallan on 30 November 1977.