Ewan Forbes (1912-1991)

Ewan Forbes was a Scottish Doctor. He studied at the University of Aberdeen from 1939 and after graduating in 1944, became a Junior Casualty Officer then Senior Casualty Officer at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He became a Doctor in Alford, Aberdeenshire, in 1945, working as a doctor in the Scottish countryside.  Because he could speak German, he was also used as a medical officer for German prisoners of war in 1946.

Ewan Forbes was a trans man. Assigned female at birth, Ewan knew he was a boy from a young age. He was homeschooled as a child to avoid going to a girl’s boarding school and he dressed as a boy, except on special occasions. When he was a teenager, his mother took him to different European doctors to help him get the right medical treatment as a trans man. He received hormone therapy and he also had counselling.

After his parents’ death, he changed his name and birth certificate and then he married his wife, Isabella. The local sheriff changed his gender on his birth certificate, and he announced the name he wished to be known by in a local newspaper, which people accepted without question.

He was next in line to inherit the title of ‘Baronet’ following the death of his brother. His cousin, John Forbes-Sempill, took him to court to try to prevent this by trying to prove that Forbes’ re-registration of his gender was not legitimate and by doing so, argued that John should receive the inheritance instead. After a three-year-long legal battle, Ewan ended up winning.

Ewan Forbes’ story came to light in 2021 when the case files went public. The book The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes by Medical Professor Zoë Playdon is based on the court case. This has been adapted for television.