Laurence Michael Dillon (born Laura Maud Dillon; 1 May 1915 – 15 May 1962) was a physician and the first
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inc ...
to undergo
phalloplasty
Phalloplasty is the construction or reconstruction of a penis or the artificial modification of the penis by surgery. The term is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement.
History
Russian surgeon Nikolaj Bogoraz performed the fir ...
.
Early life and transition
Dillon was the second child of Robert Arthur Dillon (1865–1925), heir to the
baronetcy of Lismullen in Ireland, and his Australian wife, Laura Maud McCliver, Reese. Dillon's mother died of
sepsis
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
ten days after giving birth. Dillon, born female, was raised with older brother Bobby by their two aunts in
Folkestone in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England. He grew up in the Church of England.
Dillon was educated at Brampton Down School, then at
St Anne's College, Oxford, a
women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...
. Dillon was president of the
Oxford University Women's Boat Club
Oxford University Women's Boat Club (OUWBC) is the rowing club for female rowers (and coxes of either sex) who are students at the University of Oxford. The club was founded in 1926 and is now based in Wallingford at the Fleming Boat Hous ...
and won a
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
for
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
, competing in the
Women's Boat Race
The Women's Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Cambridge University Women's Boat Club and Oxford University Women's Boat Club. First rowed in 1927, the race has taken place annually since 1964. Since the 2015 race it has been rowed on ...
in
1935 and
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
. After graduating he took a job at a research laboratory in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
.
Dillon was more comfortable in men's clothing and was more self-assured living as a male. In 1939, he sought treatment from George Foss, who had been experimenting with
testosterone
Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristi ...
to treat
excessive menstrual bleeding; at the time, the hormone's masculinizing effects were poorly understood. Foss provided Dillon with testosterone pills but insisted Dillon consult a psychiatrist first, who gossiped about Dillon's desire to become a man, and soon the story was all over town. Dillon fled to Bristol and took a job at a garage. The hormones soon made it possible for him to
pass as male, and eventually the garage manager insisted that other employees refer to Dillon as "he" in order to avoid confusing customers. Dillon was promoted to
recovery-vehicle driver and doubled as a
fire watcher during
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
.
[
Dillon suffered from ]hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). Whipple's triad is used to properly identify hypoglycemic episodes. It is defined as blood glucose bel ...
, and twice injured his head in falls when he passed out from low blood sugar. While in the Bristol Royal Infirmary
The Bristol Royal Infirmary, also known as the BRI, is a large teaching hospital situated in the centre of Bristol, England. It has links with the nearby University of Bristol and the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the Wes ...
recovering from the second of these attacks, he came to the attention of one of the world's few practitioners of plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes cranio ...
. The surgeon performed a double mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
, provided Dillon with a doctor's note that enabled him to change his birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensui ...
, and put him in contact with the pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies
Sir Harold Delf Gillies (17 June 1882 – 10 September 1960) was a New Zealand otolaryngologist and father of modern plastic surgery.
Early life
Gillies was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, the son of Member of Parliament in Otago, Robert Gillies ...
.[ He officially became Laurence Michael Dillon in 1944 when the birth certificate was amended; this meant that he was now heir presumptive to the baronetcy. Dillon was one of the few transgender people able legally to change his identity at this time; in 1970 the marriage of ]April Ashley
April Ashley (29 April 1935 – 27 December 2021) was an English model. She was outed as a transgender woman by ''The Sunday People'' newspaper in 1961 and is one of the earliest British people known to have had sex reassignment surgery. Her ...
, a trans woman, was declared null in the court case ''Corbett v Corbett
''Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley)'' is a 1970 family law divorce case heard between November and December 1969 by the High Court of England and Wales in which Arthur Corbett sought annulment of his marriage to April Ashley. Corbett (the h ...
'', and thenceforth change of sex would not be legally recognized.
Gillies had previously reconstructed penises for injured soldiers and performed surgery on intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...
people with ambiguous genitalia
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...
. He was willing to perform a phalloplasty
Phalloplasty is the construction or reconstruction of a penis or the artificial modification of the penis by surgery. The term is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement.
History
Russian surgeon Nikolaj Bogoraz performed the fir ...
, but not immediately; the constant influx of wounded soldiers from World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
already kept him in the operating room around the clock. In 1945 Dillon enrolled in School of Medicine
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
at Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
under his new legal name
A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ap ...
, Laurence Michael Dillon. A former tutor of Dillon's persuaded the Oxford registrar to alter records to show that he had graduated from all-male Brasenose rather than the women's college St Anne's, so that his academic transcript would not raise questions. Again he became a distinguished rower, this time for the men's boat club.[
Gillies performed at least thirteen surgeries on Dillon between 1946 and 1949. He officially diagnosed Dillon with acute ]hypospadias
Hypospadias is a common variation in fetal development of the penis in which the urethra does not open from its usual location in the head of the penis. It is the second-most common birth abnormality of the male reproductive system, affecting abou ...
in order to conceal that he was performing sex-reassignment surgery. Dillon, still a medical student at Trinity, blamed war injuries when infections caused a temporary limp. In what little free time he had he enjoyed dancing, but he avoided forming close relationships with women, for fear of exposure and in the belief that "One must not lead a girl on if one could not give her children." He deliberately cultivated a misogynist
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced f ...
reputation to prevent any such problematic attachments.[
]
''Self'' and Roberta Cowell
In 1946 Dillon published ''Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology'', a book about what would now be called transsexualism
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 reassignmen ...
, though that term would not be introduced into the English language until 1949, when David Oliver Cauldwell David Oliver Cauldwell (June 17, 1897 – August 30, 1959) was a prolific and pioneering sexologist, who coined the term transsexual as used in its current definition. Many of his monographs on sex, psychology, or health were published by Emanuel H ...
introduced the word directly based on Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
's coinage (in German) of the term in 1923. Dillon described "masculine inverts" as being born with "the mental outlook and temperament of the other sex", using Stephen Gordon in the novel ''The Well of Loneliness
''The Well of Loneliness'' is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose " sexual inversion" (hom ...
'' as an example. Since this form of inversion was innate, a hidden physical condition similar to intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...
, it could not be affected by psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
and should instead be treated medically. "Where the mind cannot be made to fit the body," he wrote, "the body should be made to fit, approximately at any rate, to the mind."
''Self'' brought him to the attention of Roberta Cowell, who would become the first British trans woman
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...
to receive male-to-female sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery for male-to-female transgender women or transfeminine non-binary people describes a variety of surgical procedures that alter the body to provide physical traits more comfortable and affirming to an individual's gender ...
. Though Dillon was not yet a licensed physician, he performed an orchiectomy
Orchiectomy (also named orchidectomy, and sometimes shortened as orchi or orchie) is a surgical procedure in which one or both testicles are removed. The surgery is performed as treatment for testicular cancer, as part of surgery for transgend ...
on Cowell, since British law made the operation illegal. Cowell's vaginoplasty
Vaginoplasty is any surgical procedure that results in the construction or reconstruction of the vagina. It is a type of genitoplasty. Pelvic organ prolapse is often treated with one or more surgeries to repair the vagina. Sometimes a vaginopl ...
was later performed by Gillies.
Later life
Dillon qualified as a physician in 1951 and initially worked in a Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
hospital. He then spent the six years at sea as a naval surgeon
A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail.
Ancient uses
Speciali ...
for P&O and the China Navigation Company
The China Navigation Company. Pte. Ltd. is registered in Singapore, with parent entity - The China Navigation Company Limited (CNCo), trading brands as Swire Shipping & Swire Bulk, is a merchant shipping company based in Singapore. It is part of ...
.
Dillon had not revealed his own history in ''Self'', but it came to light in 1958 as an indirect result of his aristocratic background. ''Debrett's Peerage
Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company, publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John Deb ...
'', a genealogical guide, listed him as heir to his brother's baronetcy, while its competitor ''Burke's Peerage
Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great ...
'' mentioned only a sister, Laura Maude . When the discrepancy was noticed, he told the press he was a male born with a severe form of hypospadias
Hypospadias is a common variation in fetal development of the penis in which the urethra does not open from its usual location in the head of the penis. It is the second-most common birth abnormality of the male reproductive system, affecting abou ...
and had undergone a series of operations to correct the condition. The editor of ''Debrett's'' told ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine that Dillon was unquestionably next in line for the baronetcy: "I have always been of the opinion that a person has all rights and privileges of the sex that is, at a given moment, recognized."
The unwanted press attention led Dillon to flee to India, where he spent time with Sangharakshita
Sangharakshita (born Dennis Philip Edward Lingwood; 26 August 192530 October 2018) was a British spiritual teacher and writer, and the founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, which in 2010 was renamed the ''Triratna Buddhist Commun ...
(Dennis Lingwood) in Kalimpong, and with the Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
community in Sarnath
Sarnath (Hindustani pronunciation: aːɾnaːtʰ also referred to as Sarangnath, Isipatana, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a place located northeast of Varanasi, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pr ...
. While at Sarnath, Dillon decided to pursue ordination and became ''Sramanera Jivaka'' (after the Buddha's physician). Because Sangharakshita refused to allow Jivaka full ordination, and other frustrations with Sangharakshita's management of Triyana Vardhana Vihara, Jivaka turned to the Tibetan branch of Buddhism. He went to the Rizong Monastery in Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...
. He was reordained a novice monk of the Gelukpa order, taking the name ''Lobzang Jivaka'', and spent his time studying Buddhism and writing. Despite the language barrier
A language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups originally speaking different languages, or even dialects in some ...
he felt at home there, but was forced to leave when his visa expired. His health failed, and he died in a hospital at Dalhousie, India
Dalhousie ( hi, script=Latn, ḍalhauzī, ) is a hill station, near town of Chamba in Chamba district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is situated on five hills and has an elevation of above sea level.
Etymology
Dalhousie Town was ...
, on 15 May 1962, aged 47.
Writing under both of his Buddhist names, Jivaka published ''Growing Up into Buddhism'', a primer on Buddhist practice for British children and teens, and ''A Critical Study of the Vinaya'', which looks at the Buddhist rules for ordination; both books were published in 1960. Two additional books by him were published in London in 1962: ''The Life of Milarepa
Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan siddha, who was famously known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to Buddhism and becoming a highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is generally considered one of Tibet's m ...
'', about an 11th-century Tibetan yogi
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...
, and ''Imji Getsul'', an account of life in a Buddhist monastery.
After Dillon's death, his brother said he wanted to burn Dillon's unpublished autobiography, but the manuscript was saved by Dillon's literary agent and published as ''Out of the Ordinary'' in 2017.
Works
* ''Self: A Study in Endocrinology and Ethics'' (1946), as Michael Dillon
* ''Poems of truth'' (1957), as Michael Dillon
* ''The Life of Milarepa'' (1962), as Lobzang Jivaka
* ''Imji Getsul'' (1962), as Lobzang Jivaka
* ''Out of the Ordinary: A Life of Gender and Spiritual Transitions'' (1962; published 2017) as Michael Dillon/Lobzang Jivaka
Notes
References
*
*
Michael Dillon
The World's First Transsexual Man, Transgender Zone Media Archives.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Michael
1915 births
1962 deaths
20th-century British medical doctors
20th-century Buddhist monks
Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
British Buddhist monks
British Merchant Navy officers
LGBT Buddhists
English LGBT people
LGBT physicians
LGBT nobility
LGBT scientists from the United Kingdom
Gender-affirming surgery (female-to-male)
Ship's doctors
Tibetan Buddhists from the United Kingdom
Transgender men
Transgender scientists
ja:マイケル・ディロン