Stephanie Anne Booth (25 May 1946 – 18 September 2016), also known as Stephanie Anne Lloyd, was a British
transsexual
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignm ...
business owner and hotelier, based in
Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Bea ...
.
She starred in the reality television series about her businesses ''Hotel Stephanie'' for BBC Wales in 2008 and 2009.
Early life
Born on 25 May 1946 as Keith Michael Hull, in
St Albans, Hertfordshire
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...
. Her parents later became
Jehovah Witness
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian
Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after whi ...
es.
[
]
Adult life
After finishing secondary school Keith worked as laboratory technician, cinema manager, costing clerk and retail chain manager. In 1968 he got married and fathered three kids - twin boys and girl. In early 1980's, while living in northwest England, he separated from the family and began gender reassignment
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...
through a specialist psychologist at Wythenshawe Hospital
Wythenshawe Hospital (previously University Hospital of South Manchester) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Wythenshawe, South Manchester, England. It provides general medical services to the local and regional area as well as being a national ...
, Manchester, followed by September 1983 surgery at Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central Lond ...
, London.[ Since then she used female name, ''Stephanie Anne Lloyd''. Divorce followed. Due to publicity by tabloid newspapers Lloyd lost her managerial job and was unable find new one.
In 1984 Lloyd decided to create ''Transformation'', a business catering to the transgender and transvestite community. She was persuaded that a massage service that offered prostitution services was both legal, and could quickly solve her financial difficulties. Year later was arrested for running a ]bawdy house
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
and pleaded guilty. In 1985 she started to live with David Booth, her business partner. They married in February 1986 in Sri Lanka, but British law at this time didn't recognize such marriages.
Later business ventures included a transgender mail order
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
* Sending an order form in the mail
* Placing a telephone call
* Placing ...
catalogue, and a contact magazine. This was followed by a transgender hotel in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, and a second shop in London opposite Euston railway station
Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city ra ...
.Scottish law
Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland l ...
, the company opened a site in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...
. They also expanded their mail order business to cover both Germany and mainland Europe, and the United States.[ In 1992 Booth founded the ''Albany Gender Identity Clinic'' as a centre for transsexuals to seek specialist medical advice and guidance on their condition.
]
Hotel Stephanie
In 2008, Mentorn Cymru began production of reality television series ''Hotel Stephanie'' for BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...
.Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...
.
On 7 July 2011, Booth's hotels went into financial administration. Administrators closed the Wynnstay Arms, The Anchor in Ruthin
Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas an ...
and The Bridge Hotel, Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
with immediate effect and the funhouses in Mold
A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...
, Wrexham and Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Boroug ...
, as these premises were rented and default on rent payment could not be avoided. All four hotels, which had been trading well, were put up for sale.
Wrexham F.C.
In 2011, Booth announced her intention to take over Wrexham A.F.C.
Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...
, with an interest-free loan to save it from going into financial administration and the plan to raise £5 million to purchase the club in a community-based venture.
Death
On the evening of 18 September 2016, Booth was killed in a tractor accident at her smallholding
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
farm on the outskirts of Corwen
Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llan ...
, Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnew ...
. She was aged 70, and survived by her husband, David.
Autobiographies
Short autobiography ''The official autobiography of sex-change Stephanie Anne Lloyd'' was published in 1990 by TMC Publishing Ltd.
Autobiography ''Stephanie: A Girl in a Million'', co-written with Sandra Sedgbeer, was published in 1991 by Ebury Press. Dutch translation was published in 1993, Czech translation in 1994.[WorldCat]
Stephanie. Z muže ženou : autobiografie transsexuála
/ref>
Online version of the autobiography
is available at the web of ''Transformation'' company. It includes chapter written in 2014, briefly covering events after publishing the book, including the imprisonment due to false charge and the failure of hotel business.
References
External links
Stephanie's Story
online autobiography, updated in 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Stephanie
1946 births
2016 deaths
People from St Albans
People from Llangollen
British hoteliers
Transgender women
Transgender businesspeople
English transgender people
English LGBT businesspeople
English LGBT rights activists
Road incident deaths in Wales
Sex industry in Wales
20th-century English businesswomen
20th-century English businesspeople
21st-century English businesswomen
21st-century English businesspeople