Valerie Arkell-Smith - Life Prior To Crossdressing

Life Prior To Crossdressing

Arkell-Smith grew up in the Channel island Jersey. She expressed desire about being born a boy. Arkell-Smith had a love for horses and cars, and she enlisted, as a woman VAD, 1914 and later joined the fledgling WRAF. In 1918, she married Australian officer Lieutenant Harold Arkell-Smith. She suffered a series of problems during her first marriage, including domestic violence and psychological abuse. The marriage lasted a short period of time, and they divorced shortly after they married. Arkell-Smith soon met another man, Ernest Pearce-Crouch, also from Australia. The couple moved in together, and they had two children, a boy and a girl. Arkell-Smith and Pearce-Crouch moved to a farm in Sussex, and Arkell-Smith started to dress in a more masculine way.