Roberta Cowell was a pioneering figure in motorsports and a trailblazer in LGBTQIA+ history. She was born into a strict, religious family. Her father was a surgeon and a colonel interested in art, and her mother had an interest in music. She described them as “wonderful people.”
Roberta, or Betty as she was also known, showed an early interest in mechanics and racing. She developed her skills by sneaking into Brooklands racetrack in nearby Weybridge to assist mechanics, aiming to design and race cars.
At 17, she began driving and, in 1935, joined the RAF as a pupil pilot. Though she struggled with illness in the air and was later invalidated, her wartime experiences, including surviving a Nazi prison camp, shaped her resilience.
Post-war, Roberta resumed racing and took part in numerous events. Unfortunately, her marriage to Diana Carpenter, a fellow racing driver and engineer, was troubled, leading to their separation in 1948. Struggling with her gender identity, Roberta sought psychoanalysis and discovered she was female.
This revelation, along with a diagnosis of being intersex, gave her the confidence to pursue gender affirmation surgery.
In 1951, Roberta legally re-registered her birth certificate as female and became the first known British trans woman to undergo what is considered some of the first modern pioneering gender reassignment and facial feminisation surgeries, becoming a linchpin in British LGBTQIA+ history; she received treatment from Dr. Harold Gillies and Ralph Millard, both of whom risked their medical reputations to support gender transitions.
Her story gained significant media attention, and she used platforms like the Picture Post magazine to shape her narrative. Later, she published her autobiography, Roberta Cowell’s Story.
Her visibility as a record-breaking driver and a trans woman soared quickly until her last interview in 1972. After this, she retired from public life, facing some fi nancial difficulties and choosing to live a quiet life away from the public eye until her death in 2011 at her home in West London.
There is little to find out about what her last years looked like; however, it’s likely she was wearing her signature red lipstick and enjoying driving behind the wheel of a luxury car.
Roberta not only broke through a male-dominated sport, she broke through at a time when there was little knowledge and support for trans people.
The ways in which Roberta used the media to tell her story was unheard of at the time, but her publicly shared journey as a trans woman is reminiscent of how many Trans+ people now use social media to tell our own stories.
What can we learn from this history?
Trans+ people often get our stories told for us. But Roberta didn’t settle for that; she wrote an autobiography and worked with the press to get her story told word for word.
She is a reminder of how Trans+ people can take control of our narratives, as our transcestors have for decades, whether that be in print media or social media; Trans+ people will continue to tell our stories.
She also teaches us that, while positive trans representation matters, you don’t need to see yourself represented to know that you can live authentically, and be trans, happy and celebrated.
You also don’t need to leave behind one part of yourself to find the rest of you.
Time to do the workbook
The 2025 Trans+ History Week workbook is packed with stories, tips, and advice on how to create your own content, events, and activities during the week.
This year, QueerAF produced the workbook for Trans+ History Week. We mentored five Trans+ researchers and writers to put it together through over 80 hours of research.
That work was spearheaded by lead researcher Gray Burke-Stowe, who ensured the stories have accurate and rich historical sources.
Download it now to immerse yourself in stories of the Māhū people of Hawai’ian and Tahitian culture or the history of modern ballroom.
Or maybe you're intrigued by an early internet archive of Successful Trans Men? Or pilot, engineer and racer Roberta Cowell?
Get your copy now, to help us get the word out: We've always been here, we can't be erased, we're more than Trans+, and crucially, we're stronger together.
