The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes cover art

The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes

The Transgender Trial That Threatened to Upend the British Establishment

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The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes

By: Zoë Playdon
Narrated by: Rebecca Root, Zoë Playdon
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About this listen

The life story of an aristocratic Scottish trans man - whose secret 1968 legal case had a profound impact on trans rights for decades.

Ewan Forbes was born Elizabeth to a wealthy landowning family in 1912. As young as six, it was clear that the gender assigned to him at birth was incorrect. With the financial means of seeing specialist doctors in Europe and procuring synthetic hormones, Ewan was able to live as a boy and then as a man, even correcting the gender on his birth certificate in order to marry.

Then, in 1965, Ewan found himself in line to inherit the family baronetcy. But when a cousin contested the claim on the grounds that the inheritance could only be passed on to a male heir, Ewan was forced to defend his gender in an extraordinary court case, testing the legal system of the time to the limits of its understanding.

A never-before-told story based on years of archival research, The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes draws on the fields of law, medicine, psychology and biology to reveal a remarkable hidden history, uncovering records that were considered so threatening that they were removed from view for decades.

©2021 Zoë Playdon (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Biographies & Memoirs LGBTQ+ Studies Law

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All stars
Most relevant  
A very important book that tells us that trans issues are nothing new. I now feel able to challenge some of the arguments against trans equality with context and evidence. Narrator’s voice was clear. Voices and accents were very off-putting but it is still an essential read for people who want to move beyond the issues of who uses what toilet.

Essential reading

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I found this factual story extremely compelling and one that should be shouted from the rooftops today so people can see how “public debate” harms trans people. I will say though that the narrator’s accents in this are so poorly judged. It’s as if they’re playing every part in a primary school play. The imitation of the French person in particular was excruciating!

Incredible story that everyo r should know about

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It’s rare I am so effusive about a book. To have a story of a person as the vehicle for conveying complex information of the history of trans experience in the UK sand how it has been subverted away from the rights of individuals makes it so accessible. I learnt so much and will be recommending it far and wide. Thank you Zoe Playdon and the team for this story and education

Excellent sorry telling that brings the history, the law and the medicine along with tale

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Excellent detailed account of a singular case, shedding light on an otherwise hidden corner of British jurisprudence. Reads well and in great detail about one man's quiet transition in an age when it was highly unusual but before the legal and social difficulties which pervade the modern world. If Ewan Forbes had been born upper class's but untitled, his case would have been unusual but the unhappy fact of his being a peer threw the implications of female to male transition into the firing line of those concerned with male primogeniture, spelling decades of problems for trans people who followed him.
The authors have done a magnificent job of detailing how Ewans story influenced those around him and the legal and social pathways to follow, as well as other cases, and paints a vivid picture of the situation which followed.
An excellent read or listen for anyone with an interest in British legal, social or trans history, nicely balanced and informative. Will be rereading as soon as I have posted this review

A beam of light into British Socail History

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This is a great book. Well researched and shocking in many ways. The story of Ewan Forbes deserves to be much better known.

The narrator however is so badly mis-judged. Strange accents, the French accents in particular, the use of a tone to delineate gender seem misjudged, especially given the subject matter.

Shocking this seemed like a good approach to take.

Wonderful book and well researched.

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I was very interested in the story told by this book which was clearly well researched BUT I found it almost unbelievable that the narrator and author failed to pronounce the title character name’s correctly throughout the book and the author interview. Also, the UTTERLY ridiculous voices adopted by the narrator throughout the book to depict certain female and Scottish characters were frankly, in my opinion as a Scottish person, insulting to Scottish people and, given the book was about a subject often misunderstood and treated with intolerance, I would have expected a little sensitivity might have been demonstrated. The book was virtually ruined by the ignorant, stereotypical characterisations.

Narration almost completely ruined the story

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Some of the LGBXTUVs got away from themselves but the worst of everything was a reader who thought she could imitate some of the people involved. She could not ……. That was the excruciating bit

Excruciating

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