Terry Higgins
Welsh prominent early AIDS death (1945–1982)
title: "Terry Higgins" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1945-births", "1982-deaths", "welsh-gay-men", "people-from-haverfordwest", "aids-related-deaths-in-england", "20th-century-welsh-lgbtq-people", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-england", "neurological-disease-deaths-in-england"] description: "Welsh prominent early AIDS death (1945–1982)" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Higgins" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Welsh prominent early AIDS death (1945–1982) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Terry Higgins |
| image | Terry Higgins 1945-1982.jpg |
| birth_name | Terrence Lionel Seymour Higgins |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Pembrokeshire, Wales |
| known_for | First British person known to die of AIDS |
| death_date | |
| death_place | London, England |
| :: |
| name = Terry Higgins | image = Terry Higgins 1945-1982.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Terrence Lionel Seymour Higgins | birth_date = | birth_place = Pembrokeshire, Wales | known_for = First British person known to die of AIDS | death_date = | death_place = London, England | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children =
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.
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, Rupert Whitaker 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.
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.
References
- (4 July 2022). "Terrence Higgins: A name that gave hope to those with HIV and AIDS". BBC News.
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18726184 "Terrence Higgins' legacy, 30 years after death".] Neil Prior, BBC News Wales, 5 July 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- Prior, Neil. (5 July 2012). "Higgins' legacy, 30 years later". BBC News.
- (2013). "Encyclopedia of Death and Dying". Routledge.
- "How it all began | Terrence Higgins Trust".
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