Congress Paper Abstract

The Forbes-Sempill case

Dr Angus Campbell 

Email: law017@aberdeen.ac.uk

Elizabeth Forbes-Semphill was born in the N-E of Scotland in 1912 and registered a female. She graduated from the University of Aberdeen and practised as a G.P. In 1952 she successfully sought in a Scottish Sheriff Court re-registration as male, and change of first name to Ewan. He then married. Subsequently in 1967 the succession to the Baronetcy ofCraigievar arose. She would have succeeded if male. The succession was challenged, in effect, by a petition by Ewan’s cousin to a Scottish judge to find the cousin to be the heir male. The case was heard in private and for that reason alone caused interest. The papersappear not to have been published but became available in 1997. It was decided that Ewanwas a true hermaphrodite but male, on the basis of a large amount of medical evidence. Hence Evan succeeded to the Baronetcy amidst some publicity.An account of the (pre Corbett) case and possible implications will be provided.

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