Terrence Higgins (10 June 1945 – 4 July 1982) was among the first people known to die of an
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
-related illness in the United Kingdom.
["Terrence Higgins' legacy, 30 years after death".](_blank)
Neil Prior, BBC News Wales, 5 July 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
Life
Born in
Pembrokeshire, Wales
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park occu ...
, Higgins left
Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...
as a teenager due to feeling alienated because of his sexuality.
He lived in London and worked as a
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...
reporter in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
during the day and as a nightclub barman and
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
in the evenings. He travelled to New York and Amsterdam as a DJ in the 1970s. Higgins collapsed at the nightclub
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
while at work and was admitted to
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where he died of
''Pneumocystis'' pneumonia and
progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare and often fatal viral disease characterized by progressive damage (''-pathy'') or inflammation of the white matter (''leuko-'') of the brain (''-encephalo-'') at multiple locations (''mu ...
on 4 July 1982.
Legacy
In his memory, Martyn Butler and
Rupert Whitaker
Rupert Edward David Whitaker (born 1963) is a British psychiatrist, immunologist, and patient advocate. He is one of Europe's longest-surviving people with HIV, having contracted the disease in 1981. Following the death of his partner, Terre ...
(Higgins' partner) and Terry's close friend Tony Calvert initiated the formation of the Terry Higgins Trust (later renamed the
Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...
)
in 1982 with a group of concerned community-members and Terry's friends, including Len Robinson and Chris Peel;
it was dedicated to preventing the spread of HIV, promoting awareness of AIDS, and providing supportive services to people with the disease.
See also
*
Timeline of early AIDS cases
HIV/AIDS was recognised as a novel illness in the early 1980s. An AIDS case is classified as "early" if the death occurred before 5 June 1981, when the AIDS epidemic was formally recognized by medical professionals in the United States.
Virus o ...
References
Bibliography
*"Terrence Higgins" in Robert Aldrich & Garry Wotherspoon. (Eds.) ''Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day, Volume 2.'' London: Routledge, 2001, pp. 187–188.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Terry
1945 births
1982 deaths
Welsh gay men
People from Haverfordwest
AIDS-related deaths in England
20th-century Welsh LGBT people
Deaths from pneumonia in England
Neurological disease deaths in England