Terrence Lionel Seymour Higgins (10 June 1945 – 4 July 1982) was among the first people known to die of an AIDS-related illness in the United Kingdom.[ "Terrence Higgins' legacy, 30 years after death". Neil Prior, BBC News Wales, 5 July 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2015.]
Life
Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Higgins left
Haverfordwest as a teenager due to feeling alienated because of his sexuality.
He lived in London and worked as a
Hansard reporter in the House of Commons during the day and as a nightclub barman and
disc jockey in the evenings. He travelled to New York and Amsterdam as a DJ in the 1970s. Higgins collapsed at the nightclub Heaven while at work and was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital,
London where he died of
Pneumocystis pneumonia and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy on 4 July 1982.
Legacy
Martyn Butler,
and Tony Calvert initiated the formation of the Terry Higgins Trust.
in 1982 with a group of concerned community-members and Terry's friends, including Len Robinson and Chris Peel;
it is 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
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.
