Chronology
“Can Wisdom be in a silver rod or Love in a golden bowl?”
William Blake
Photo Credits: Thanks to Adele Getty, John Hemming and Loren Eugen White for providing permission to use photos.
- 1887: Julian Sorell Huxley (father) was born, 22nd June, in London.
- 1896: Marie Juliette Baillot (mother) born on December 6th, 1896, in Auvernier, Switzerland, the daughter of Alphonse Baillot, a building solicitor, and Mélanie Antonia Ortlieb - Baillot.
- 1908: Grandmother Julia Frances Arnold-Huxley (1862-1908) dies. Julian awarded the Newdigate Prize for English Verse at Oxford.
- 1909: Grandfather Leonard moves to Westbourne Square, London.
- 1912: Julian studies courtship of Podiceps cristatus (Great Crested Grebe) with brother Trevenen, at Tring, Hertfordshire. Appointed research Associate in Biology at Rice Institute, Huston, Texas.
- Leonard marries a second time on 23rd February, Ms. Rosalind Bruce.
- 1914: Julian and Noel Trevenen (born in 1889) in the same rest home due to depression. Trevenen committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree.
- 1915: Mademoiselle Juliette Baillot, becomes Swiss governess to teach and be companion to Julian (1906–1989), daughter of Lady Ottoline Morell (1873 – 1938), married with the liberal politician Philip Morrell. Julian assistant Professor of Biology at Rice Institut.
- 1916: Juliette Baillot meets Julian Huxley at Garsington Manor.
- 1919: Miss Juliette Baillot marries Julian Huxley, now Fellow of New College.
- 1920: Anthony Julian Huxley, brother, born 20th December.
- 1923: Francis John Heathorn Huxley, is born, 28th August, at Holywell, Oxford. “He was another marvel of delight, placid, contented, hardly crying at all, with large grey-green eyes, and melting smile,” as his mother describes him.
- 1925: Julian becomes Chair of Zoology at Kings College, London. Move from Oxford to 31 Hillway, Holly Lodge Estate, Hampstead. Home for seven years. Francis Prep school at Byron House. Learnt to bicycle on lanes of Hampstead Heath. Francis’s health began also to give serious trouble. He seemed to catch every illness, including Bell’s Palsy, whooping cough and eye trouble.
- 1927: Winter in Aigle, Chalet des Arolles at Diablerets, Swiss Alps, with parents, grandmother and brother, into 1928. Aldous, Maria and Cousin Matthew. D.H. Lawrence and Frida joined in. Julian resigned Chair of Zoology at King’s College.
- 1932: Julian has affair, with Viola Ilma. Mother loses sleep and health and feels utterly lost. Leonard scolds his eldest to give his affair up, “he did not wish to see him again.” Francis gets ill with mysterious infection surgical TB. Villars s. Ollon, Switzerland.
- 1933: Frensham Heights School, Farnham, Surrey.
- 1934: Abinger Hill School, Abinger Lane, Dorking, Surrey. (Now called Surrey Hills All Saints Church of England Primary School).
- 1935: Julian appointed secretary to the Zoological Society of London, till 1942. Family lives residentially in The Secretary House, Zoological Gardens.
- 1937: Autumn term: Goes to Gordonstoun School, Elgin, Scotland (till Spring 1942) Aldous and Maria left London for Los Angeles.
- 1938: Severe car accident, “and all that for a donkey.” Julian elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
- 1939: Anthony goes up to Trinity College Cambridge. Francis, at Gordonstoun, evacuated to Wales. Until 1942, Student at Gordonstoun College, Elgin, Scotland
- 1941: November 24. plays Hamlet at Gordonstoun (in Wales) Julian betrayed Francis’ expectation that his father would be there watching the performance. Juliette was there.
- 1942: Lives with parents at: The Secretary House, Zoological Gardens, Regents Park, London NW1, and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park. Friendship with Ferelyth Howard, sculptures. Julian resigns his position as secretary of the Zoological Society. Parents took possession of 31 Pond Street, London, their home for the rest of their lives. Francis joins the Royal Navy, till July 1946.
- 1944: Assistant Navigating Officer on HMS Ramilles, on D-Day, 6. June, in the Channel to Normandy.
- 1945: August, First atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Huxley on a war ship preparing for invasion of Japan.
- 1946: Julian first Director General of UNESCO. Francis meets Claude Lévi-Strauss – “who later gave valuable advice to our son Francis when he went on his anthropological expedition to the Upper Amazon.” (Huxley, J. 1973, p.27)
- 1947: Oxford Student from July until till 1951. Balliol College. Mentors include Prof. Medawar.
- Spring, Life Magazine runs a four-page profile of the Huxley brothers, Julian and Aldous. Julian visits Haiti and fifteen nations of Latin America on behalf of UNESCO.
- 1948: Leads an Oxford University expedition of young scientist to Gambia, to study the hippo problem. 2nd Class Honours in Zoology. Becomes Member of the Anthropological Institute, which his great grandfather, T.H. Huxley co-founded, and an Emslie Horniman Scholar.
- 1950: MSc. in Social Anthropology, Oxford, under Professor Meyer Fortes and E.E. Evans-Pritchard. November went to Brazil to study Social Anthropology of Indian tribe with grants from Brazilian Government in cooperation with the British Council and from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, aiming to write his Ph.D. In love with Valentine Mitchison (b. 1930), daughter of the Labour politician Dick Mitchison and the novelist Naomi Mitchison.
- 1951: Brazilian Field world with the Ka’por (Urubus), with Darcy Ribeiro, June till November. Julian nervous breakdown. Julian Huxley first coined the term “Transhumanism”. Becomes a ‘Homme de lettres’, with a many long letters from the field to family, friends and darling Val.
- 1952: Returned in Spring to U.K. for consultation with Professor Meyer Fortes, now in Cambridge University, and further studies. Back to Brazil in August with promise of grant for three months from Brazilian Government to complete his studies. Lived at R. dos Oisis 68, Rio de Janeiro, in November, awaiting permission to revisit the territory of the Ka’apor /Urubus.
- 1953: Second visit to Ka’apor, Urubus, in Amazonian Basin of Brazil, February till June. This time on his own. Again, letters from the field.
- 1954: Curator of Ethnography, City of Liverpool Public Museum until 1955. Lives at: 5 Percy Street, Liverpool 8. Friendship with Sheila.
- 1956: Affable Savages published. “To See where I stand among my contemporaries.” Viking Found Grant to visit American Universities, till 1957. In November first LSD experiments, resulting in an affair with Ellen Huxley, then wife of his cousin Matthew. Lives in Brooklyn Heights. Gervas Huxley, Aldous’s favourite cousin, also publishes his first book: Talking of Tea.
- 1958: Field work in Weyburn Mental Hospital, Saskatchewan, Canada. Julian knighted.
- 1959: Field work in Parapsychological Institute, New York. Organizes and talks at, Conference on Parapsychology and Pharmacology, July 6 to 10, Le Piol, St. Paul de Vence, France. Field work in Haiti, for nine months, till 1960. Long essay: Charles Darwin – Life and Habit. Cousin Matthew and his wife Ellen separate after nine years of marriage. Francis’ affair with Ellen was certainly one of the triggers for this. Aldous saddened. 30th July 1959 Francis back to Haiti, after conference with Eileen Garrett in Piol. November 25th in New York: Francis and Ellen arrive to meet Juliette and Julian on their USA visit.
- 1960: Occasionally lives with parents at: 31 Pond Street, Hampstead, London NW3
- 1962: Meets Joan Wescott, fellow anthropologist and one-time secretary to R. D. Laing. In due course love relationship with Joan. Lives from now on in a flat at 18 Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3.
- Africa Before the White Man, by Henri Labouret. Translated from French by Francis Huxley.
- 1963: Origins of Life by Jules Carles. Translated from French by Francis Huxley.
- Juliette Huxley publishes her first book: Wild Lives of Africa. Introduction and Postscript by Julian Huxley. October, Research Fellow in Social Anthropology, at St. Catherine’s College Oxford, till 1968. Is living in, as he pleases. Plans to write Anthropology and the Body. Uncle Aldous dies on the 22nd November, same day as J. F. Kennedy.
- 1964: Publishes Peoples of the World. Gets to know R. D. Laing.
- 1965: Together with Julian organized Royal Society Conference on Ritualisation for Behaviour in Animals and Man. R. D. Laing is invited by Julian to participate. Julian Huxley first coined this term for the display of the great crested grebe.
- 1966: The Invisibles published. Julian has his last nervous breakdown. March 30th Julian in Nursing home receives ECT. Consultation with R.D. Laing.
- 1967: On stage at the Dialectics of Liberation Conference. BBC celebration TV program for Julian’s eightieth birthday. Laing moves, together with Jutta Werner, into the same street: to 65A Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3.
- 1968: Teaches at the Anti University, 49 Rivington Street, London EC2. Sometimes in a double act with Joan Wescott, to a packed lecture theatre. Meets Brazilian urban shaman Lourival de Freitas. He appears as an invited guest on the prestigious Eamonn Andrews Show on ITV. 1st January: Tante Juliette dies in London.
- 1969: Co-founds Survival International and active as a member of the Executive Board, until 1990. His parents celebrate their golden wedding anniversary with a holiday in Yugoslavia.
- 1970: Becomes Member of the Philadelphia Association, London, until 1984.
- 1972: Member of the mission, “Tribes of the Amazon Basin in Brazil 1972” sponsored by the Aborigines’ Protection Society London and the Brazilian Government, with Edwin Brooks, John Hemming and René Fuerst.
- 1973: Marriage with Adriana Paula Santa Cruz. 7th April, London.
- Publishes Tribes of the Amazon Basin in Brazil (with E. Brooks, R. Fuerst, J. Hemming)
- 1974: Publishes The Way of The Sacred. Member and Principal of Studies at the Philadelphia Association.
- 1975: Father Julian died, 14th February. Memorial meeting at St. John’s Smith Square, London, on 18 April.
- 1976: Divorces Adriana Santa Cruz 17th September, London. Publishes The Raven and the Writing Desk. November, Marriage with Meloma Balaskas.
- 1977: Lives at: 18b Wedderburn Road, London NW3, as a writer and private scholar, teaches and holds seminars on Social Anthropology and Mythology. Lecture: “Embryos and Ancestors.” The Philadelphia Association Lectures, Institute of Education UL. 31 of May.
- 1979: Publishes The Dragon - Nature of spirit, spirit of nature.
- 1980: Separation from Meloma Balaskas-Huxley.
- 1981: Begins Friendship with Avice Simpson. Goes to Sheffield University Hospital by invitation of Professor Jenner, to study his wards, “to make it more Philadelphian.”
- 1982: Leaves the Philadelphia Association London, together with R.D. Laing. Gives workshops in Switzerland on Mythology and Rites.
- 1983: 60th birthday, in London. Helps Juliette Huxley write her autobiography. Gives a talk at the Lewis Carroll Society. Gives workshops in Vancouver, Canada. Co-founder of Integral Therapy Association, with Leon Redler. Avice leaves Sheffield and works in Aylesbury mental hospital as a psychiatrist.
- 1984: Meets Adele Getty in Happy Valley, at a conference: “The Way of the Warrior.” Separates from Avice Simpson. Delivers the Prestigious Chichele Lecture, in All Souls, Oxford, on Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. Main Speaker at “Shamanism and Healing” Third International Gathering. Alpbach/Austria. Gives a talk at Dartington Hall Conference, on Form and Freedom. Lives part time at Point Reyes Station, California, with Adele.
- 1985: Main Speaker at: Das Festival der Kulturen, Wissenschaft und Religionen (Planetary – Rainbow-Ceremony) July. Interlaken / Switzerland. Fell out of the loft in Wedderburn Road, 17. Sept., “damaged a foot, a knee, a wrist and some self-esteem.”
- 1986: February, Fire in his London flat, caused by a careless tenant. Divorces Meloma Huxley 25th February. Juliette Huxley’s Leaves of the Tulip Tree published, which Francis Huxley substantially helped her write. She is 90 in December. Marries Adele Marie Getty, 10th November, Camden Register Office. Lives at Berkley Hills; Kensington till 1990s. Travels extensively between London and California. Appears, with Adele, on a ten-day Poetry Festival in Oslo, on Dance and Shamanism.
- 1987: Vision Quest Workshop in Switzerland with Adele. Lectures in St. Gallen on The False Self. Lectures in London Convivium on The Beauty and the Beast. With R. D. Laing in Vancouver, giving workshops.
- 1989: 23rd August, R.D. Laing dies in St. Tropez. Writes: Liberating Shaman of Kingsley Hall. R.D. Laing Obituary, The Guardian, 25th August. Holds Fair-Well” talks in Zurich (21.9.) and St. Gallen (22.9.) Switzerland.
- 1990: Publishes The Eye – Seer and the Seen. Farewell talk at Laing memorial gathering, Piccadilly. January 3rd.
- 1990: Lives in Santa Fee and environs in various places. In October Lectures at Conference in Korea on Shamanism.
- 1991: Talks at The Bridge Psychedelic Conference 1991. Travels to Berkeley and Vancouver, to give workshops.
- 1992: Brother, Anthony Julian dies on 26th December. Starts to write The Mutual Self.
- 1993: Visits London and supports Mother, Lady Huxley, in Pond Street, after brother’s death. Appears, in July, at the London Convivium for Archetypal Studies: A touch of Odysseus. Mythic enactment for men. Festschrift for his 70th Birthday: A Letter to Francis Huxley. Ed. Theodor Itten
- 1994: Lady Juliette Baillot-Huxley dies in her 98th year, September 28th in London.
- 1995: Sells family home 31. Pond Street, Hampstead. Lives in a hamlet in Pojoaque valley, New Mexico and builds a new house with Adele in 1996/7. Unit 7, Casa las Barrancas, Camino Ancon #15, Pojoaque.
- 1998: In autumn, Separation from Adele Getty-Huxley. She moves back to California.
- 2000: 3rd R. D. Laing Conference in SOAS, London – Talk on “Laing and Shamanism.”
- 2001: Publishes Shamans Through Time – 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge. Edited with Jeremy Narby.
- 2002: Gives a workshop in Manaus, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
- 2005: Moves to 1105 Wagnon Road, Sebastopol, California, March 15th. Lives in a small three-room cabin, in the middle of woodland, on the same patch as Adele and Michael Patrick Williams.
- 2006: Visits Mexico for a month, in December, with Michael and Adele.
- 2007: Adele Getty marries Michael Patrick Williams, 4th October, Lake Tahoe. Huxley is ill with cancer and has it treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Has an operation for cataract in one eye, whose first effect was to flood his vision with blue.
- 2012: Car accident. Beloved dog Cumae, who was in the car, dies of injury. Gives up driving. Uncle Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917-2012) only six years his senior, died.
- 2016: Ann Huxley, first wife of brother Anthony, died 2. January. Francis died at 1105 Wagnon Road, Sebastopol CA, 10:30 am on 29. October, surrounded by closest friends, Adele, Michael and Cal.
