Roberta Cowell

Roberta Elizabeth Marshall Cowell (8 April 1918 – 11 October 2011) was a British racing driver and World War II fighter pilot. She was born in Croydon, Surrey. She was also the first known British transsexual woman to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
She died on 11 October 2011 in Hampton, London. Her funeral was attended by only six people and (on her instructions) was unpublicised - her death was not publicly reported until two years later, when a profile of her was printed in "The Independent" newspaper in October 2013.