“They would tell me they didn’t need me, but then advertise for someone else”
“They would tell me they didn’t need me, but then advertise for someone else”
A trailblazing model not only paved the way for thousands in Liverpool but also for the global LGBTQ+ community. Many will already be familiar with the remarkable life of April Ashley – one of the first individuals globally to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
However, as we mark Transgender Day of Remembrance, the ECHO has revisited how this Liverpool-born activist became an icon for many. Every year on November 20, trans and gender-diverse individuals gather as a community to mourn and remember lost siblings.
Despite being in its 25th year, organisers say the issues facing trans people, including marginalisation and violence, have not lessened.
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The life of April Ashley
April was born in the Liverpool maternity hospital on Oxford Street in 1935. She spent her childhood on Pitt Street, L1, and then Teynham Crescent, L11, before joining the Merchant Navy and eventually living in London, Hay on Wye, Paris, and California.
April was only the ninth patient of Dr Georges Burou, a pioneer of gender reassignment surgery. She began living as April during her time in Paris when she saved up £3,000 – the equivalent of over £86,000 in 2024 – for Burou’s seven-hour surgery by working at a drag club called Le Carrousel.
Just as her career as an actor and Vogue model was taking off back in Britain after surgery, the Sunday People revealed April as transgender in 1961.
In a heart-wrenching interview with the ECHO, April reminisced about the painful period. She described her uphill struggle in the industry, claiming when others found out, her shifts would be changed and her hours reduced.
She said: “My career was destroyed, and apart from jobs where you were paid under the table, I never worked again. They would tell me they didn’t need me, but then advertise for someone else. It was heartbreaking because I would have been a movie star.
“”Every time I met directors they said they were going to make me a star. They’d say, ‘with that figure, that face, those legs and that body’, then they turned their backs on me.”
Despite relocating to the USA and working hard as a waitress or hostess, April found that her past invariably followed her, obliterating opportunities every time it caught up to her.
However, April’s life was still remarkable, remembered fondly by many friends at a special commemoration service held at St George’s Hall last year. The service began a campaign to repatriate an archive of April’s personal memorabilia to Liverpool—her city of origin.
This extensive collection featured items such as diaries, address books, communication with stars like Elizabeth Taylor and former partner Grayson Perry, and even fan letters, including one from an admirer vowing to whisk her away to Venus.
Moreover, this unique compilation included crucial legal papers concerning her annulment and trailblazing legal battles for recognition as a woman.
Part of April’s collection had already been gifted to Liverpool City Archives in 2014 after a year-long exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool, which drew in 900,000 visitors. During the event, the ECHO caught up with some of April’s dearest friends and relatives as they reminisced and honoured the remarkable life of the model, actress, and restaurateur.
Her companions shared tales of her encounters with icons like Einstein and Picasso and performances for stars such as Elvis, Salvador Dali, and Bob Hope at the renowned Le Carrousel club. They also remembered her days being snapped by David Bailey, when she was considered Vogue’s premier lingerie model in the 1960s.
Glyn Albarn Roberts from Wales recounted his first meeting with April in 1977 while he was a history student in London; their friendship blossomed during the Oxford boat races.
Over glasses of champagne salvaged from April’s home, Glyn said: “April was a very proud woman, especially of what she had achieved and one of the things she was most proud of was being embraced by the same city that treated her badly as a kid. She died happily knowing her city accepted her as a woman in every sense of the world.”
Vera Nielsen Taylor, originally from France, reminisced about meeting April back in 1975. She recalled: “Although April was an extravagant character, she was full of good old-fashioned advice and she told me once, when I confided a problem, that one should never bear grudges.”
Shedding light on April’s resilience despite societal pressures, Vera added: “During her life, she was often treated badly by the press and society as an individual. Her advice to me was to simply put this offence out of your mind and therefore it doesn’t exist and so cannot harm you. It is advice I remember.”
April passed away at 86 in London, just two days after Christmas Day in 2021. Her final wishes were honoured as she was laid to rest with her father and grandparents at Ford Cemetery in Litherland.