Terry Higgins, Namesake of UK’s Leading HIV Charity, Commemorated in Haverfordwest Hometown

Plans have been announced by Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK’s leading HIV charity, to erect a memorial plaque in Haverfordwest for their namesake. The charity is currently fundraising for plaques to mark Terry Higgins’s birthplace in Wales, which is planned to be unveiled around World AIDS Day in December.

Terry Higgins spent the first 18 years of his life living with his mum, Marjorie Higgins (née Phillips) in Priory Avenue until he left, aged 18, to join the navy. In 1982, aged just 37, he became one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness. Europe’s first HIV charity, Terrence Higgins Trust. was set up in his memory by his friends and partner.

The charity remains the largest HIV charity in the UK, delivering services across the country, including in Wales.

Terrence Higgins Trust is planning to put up two blue plaques on the site of the former Priory Mount Hospital where Terry was born in 1945, one in Welsh and the other in English. The charity is working in collaboration with Haverfordwest Town Museum curator, Dr Simon Hancock, who is leading the work in the town.  

They are also appealing for people who knew Terry Higgins when he lived in Wales or anyone who is related to him, to come forward and share their memories of him.   

Dr Simon Hancock, curator of the Haverfordwest Museum, said: 'I am delighted Terrence Higgins is finally being commemorated in the town of his birth.  Half of his short life was lived in Haverfordwest where he was educated and where he forged his earliest relationships, it would be wonderful if those who have first-hand memories of Terry are able to join us for the official unveiling of the plaques provisionally scheduled for December’

Richard Angell OBE, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust said: “Terry is best known for how he died, and for the grief and love for him which led to the creation of Terrence Higgins Trust. But it’s really important to remember how he lived. A proud gay Welshman, still remembered with affection in the local community, by his friends and his surviving partner. Terry deserves to be honoured in Haverfordwest, in the place of his birth, as we mark what would have been his 80th year."

Those who wish to share their early memories of Terry Higgins can get in touch via the Haverfordwest Museum website: haverfordwest-town-museum.org.uk

Donations to help fund the plaques can be made at:  

https://tht.events/cymru-terry    

Text RIBBON 5 to 70480 to donate £5, or RIBBON 10 to 70480 to donate £10.