Henry Havelock Ellis co-wrote one of the first medical textbooks in English to explore homosexuality and published a series of works examining sexuality and gender, including what would now be understood as transgender identities.
He is credited with helping to develop the concepts of narcissism and autoeroticism, which were later taken up by psychoanalysis. Ellis was also a supporter of eugenics and conducted self-experimentation with psychedelic drugs.
Born in Croydon, now part of London, in 1859, he travelled more widely than many of his contemporaries. His father was a ship’s captain, and at the age of seven he accompanied him on a voyage around the world, visiting Sydney, Callao and Antwerp.
After completing his education, he returned to Australia and became a master at a private school. When it was discovered that he did not have the required qualifications, he was dismissed. In his autobiography, he described this period as “short and inglorious”.
He went on to work as a private tutor for a family in rural New South Wales and held several teaching positions before returning to England after four years in Australia. There, he began studying sexuality and undertook medical training. He also earned money editing a collection of lesser-known Elizabethan dramas, published in 1887. Around this time, he met other social reformers, including Eleanor Marx, Edward Carpenter and George Bernard Shaw.
In 1887, he co-authored, with John Addington Symonds, the book Sexual Inversion, which is widely regarded as one of the first English-language works to discuss homosexuality without classifying it as a disease or moral failing.
Ellis also studied individuals who would today be described as transgender and recognised that sexuality is distinct from gender identity.
Accounts of Ellis’s personal life suggest he had limited sexual experience in early adulthood. At the age of 32, he married the writer and women’s rights activist Edith Lees, who was open about being a lesbian. The couple largely lived separately. Following her death in 1916, Ellis had relationships with other women.
In his autobiography My Life Ellis wrote about how his wife had written him a letter informing him that she had entered into a relationship with a old school friend. He wrote back giving his blessing.
“I was exclusively heterosexual and she was not, and that therefore there was no demand on me to go outside marriage for love.” he wrote.
Ellis was also an advocate of eugenics. Some of his writings reflect views, now widely discredited, that attempted to link sexuality with race and social class. He argued that homosexuality did not present a concern for eugenic theory, suggesting that greater social acceptance would reduce social pressures for same-sex attracted individuals to enter heterosexual marriages.
Henry Havelock Ellis died on 8 July 1939 at the age of 80.
In 2023 Edgars Rinkēvičs became the President of Latvia
Edgars Rinkēvičs was elected as Latvia’s President in June 2023, making him the first gay head of state of a country in the European Union. He took up his office on this day in 2023 and continues as the country’s president with his four year term running through to 2027.
He was no stranger to making political firsts, in 2014 he became the first Latvian member of parliament to share they that they are gay.
Latvia’s Presidency is largely ceremonial and the head of state acts as an opinion leader and uniting figure. They represent the country on the world stage, act as the supreme commander of the armed forces, and sign bills into law.
OIP Staff, this post was first published in 2022 and has been updated.
