How I found out. Chapter 1

After asking about Bobby for years and getting no response, I had almost given up when a gay man I knew said he had seen Bobby two years ago in Soho. That raised my hopes, and I endeavoured to seek out Bobby once again, and it was only by chance that when I was speaking to another friend on the telephone and I asked if he knew what had happened to Bobby, he told me that Bobby had died years ago. He told me that he thought it was suicide. I felt devastated and I cried on and off for a long time. I had convinced myself that Bobby would eventually turn up. What I didn’t realise was that I really loved her very much, and knowing Bobby in the 1970s had left a lasting impression on me.

To make sure that it was true I went first to Chelsea Town Hall, but their records only went back ten years. They directed me to the Family Records Centre, where after a search through many registers I found the entry for Bobby and obtained Bobby’s death certificate.

The Death Certificate

This said that she had died and was found at the rear of Treverton Towers in W10 on March 19th 1987 with multiple injuries, with an open verdict. People told me that an open verdict often meant likely suicide but no witnesses. I couldn’t understand it. Why? I asked. It just didn’t seem to be the person I knew back then. She was tough and resilient and independent. Didn’t she want to take me and my child away and look after us both? what had happened? One gay man I spoke to who knew her said: Oh, I expect he felt that he had tried everything and nothing worked, so he just said I’ve had enough and put an end to it. I wasn’t satisfied. Another gay man said: transsexuals are all fragile, their sexuality is mixed up, I’m not surprised. How I found out. 2

Pictures: Chelsea Town Hall; the Family Records Centre outside; and the registers inside the Family Records Centre.

Contents Bobby and I. 1 London W11 in the 70s. 1

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