Wynsley Michael Swan (? – 1949) Lieutenant-Colonel.

Wynifred Mary Swan was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Women’s Army Corps during the Great War.

He transitioned to Wynsley in 1923.

In 1927, Wynsley married a wife, Olive.

After his death, his estate was examined in court in that he had a residue in trust under the name of Wynifred. The court decided that Wynsley was the same person as Wynifred, and that his widow could inherit.

• Roberta Cowell. Roberta Cowell's Story. London: Heinemann. New York: British Book Centre, 208 pp Inc.1954: 170.

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Like the Ewan Forbes ruling this was a legal precedent to our advantage, but no later case ever used it. In particular, why were neither of these precedents mentioned at the Corbett v. Corbett divorce case in 1969, which did become case law in the UK and in Australia.

Indeed are we to take it that the Ewan Forbes and the Wynsley Swan rulings were intended as law for the aristocracy, and not to be used by the plebs.

Cleveland Standard 1951.10.5 p2