Wikipedia

Thomas Baty

Thomas Baty (8 February 1869 – 9 February 1954), also known as Irene Clyde,[a] was an English international lawyer, writer, and activist. Baty was a legal adviser to the Japanese Foreign Office from 1916 to 1952 and wrote on international law. Under the name Irene Clyde, Baty co-founded and edited the journal Urania (1916–1940), which opposed binary classifications of gender. Modern scholars have described Baty in differing terms, including non-binary, genderfluid, transgender, and trans woman.

Thomas Baty
A black and white portrait of a formally dressed person with neatly combed hair and a serious expression.
Baty c. 1915–1920
Born(1869-02-08)8 February 1869
Stanwix, England
Died9 February 1954(1954-02-09) (aged 85)
Ichinomiya, Chiba, Japan
Resting place
Aoyama Cemetery
Other names
  • Irene Clyde
  • Theta
Education
Occupations
  • International lawyer
  • writer
  • activist
Years active1898–1954
Signature

Baty studied at The Queen's College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge, and later held academic and legal appointments. Under the name Irene Clyde, Baty published the novel Beatrice the Sixteenth (1909), which depicts a feminist utopian society without sex distinction, and founded the short-lived Aëthnic Union. Baty began advising the Japanese government in 1916 and was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, third class in 1920 and second class in 1936.

In Japan, Baty developed a legal philosophy based on effective territorial control as the basis for recognition of states. Baty used this argument to support Japanese policy in Manchuria and China, represented Japan in international contexts including the League of Nations, and continued working in Japan during World War II. After the war, the British government considered prosecution for treason but instead revoked Baty's British citizenship. Baty remained in Japan and advised the government until 1952.

Life and work

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Early life and education

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Thomas Baty was born on 8 February 1869 in Stanwix, Cumberland, the eldest child of Mary (née Matthews) and the cabinet maker William Thomas Baty.[1] Baty had a sister named Anne.[2] William died when Baty was seven.[2] T. Maait Pepperell writes that Baty then formed a close relationship with Mary and Anne.[3]: 26 

Peter Oblas writes that Baty's uncles financially supported the family, enabling a middle-class home shaped by the Victorian ideal of the "feminine home".[4] Baty attended Carlisle Grammar School[5] and won a scholarship to The Queen's College, Oxford in 1888.[6]

Baty completed a B.A. in jurisprudence in 1892. Baty was called to the bar in 1898, and later earned an LL.M. from Trinity College, Cambridge in June 1901, a D.C.L. from Oxford the same year, and an LL.D. from Cambridge in 1903. Baty was a Civil Law Fellow at Oxford and a Whewell Scholar at Cambridge.[1]

Feminist and anti-gender binary activism

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Baty also wrote under the name Irene Clyde.[b] Jana Funke writes that Clyde advocated the abolition of male dominance, challenged gender binaries, examined the fluidity of biological sex, criticised heterosexual marriage and biological reproduction, and celebrated female-female relationships.[7]

Beatrice the Sixteenth

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In 1909, Clyde published the feminist utopian novel Beatrice the Sixteenth.[7] Set in Armeria, it describes a genderless society whose members have feminine characteristics and form life partnerships. The novel examines same-sex love and the gender binary.[8] Maria Aline Seabra Ferreira describes it as a precursor to later feminist utopias and radical feminist theories of gender and sexuality.[9]

The Aëthnic Union and Urania

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Cover of the May–August 1936 edition of Urania

In 1911, Clyde founded the Aëthnic Union, a society dedicated to challenging the gender binary.[3]: 36–37  In 1916, Clyde, Esther Roper, Eva Gore-Booth, Dorothy Cornish, and Jessey Wade, who had also been members of the Union, launched Urania, a privately circulated journal. The journal opposed rigid classification into two genders.[10][11][12] "Sex is an accident" and "There are no 'men' and 'women' in Urania" were regular mottos.[13] Clyde also contributed under the name Theta.[14]

Urania became a focus for Clyde over the next 25 years, until its publication ceased with the onset of the Second World War. Initially released bimonthly and later three times a year, the journal was distributed privately and free of charge. It was printed in several locations and included original material, often written by Clyde, alongside reprinted excerpts from books and newspapers and occasional editorial comments.[15] Its subjects included same-sex relationships, androgyny, and sex changes.[13]

Eve's Sour Apples

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In 1934, Clyde published Eve's Sour Apples, a collection of essays criticising gender distinctions and heterosexual marriage. The book imagined a future in which traditionally masculine behaviour had been removed, and included guidance on how someone assigned male at birth could adopt a more feminine gender presentation.[8] Clyde also opposed the idea that women's worth was tied to motherhood or maternity, writing against "every girl's mind" being "filled with the gruesome details of maternity".[7]

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Baty photographed by Ernest Walter Histed in The Illustrated London News, 1909

Baty specialised in international law. After graduation, Baty lectured on international law at the University of Nottingham and served as a degree examiner at Oxford and at universities in Liverpool and London.[6] Baty was honorary general secretary of the International Law Association from 1905 to 1916 and acted as junior counsel in the Zamora case.[clarification needed] Baty became an associate member of the Institut de Droit International in 1921.[1]

Japanese government adviser

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After the outbreak of World War I, Baty helped establish the Grotius Society in London in 1915. As one of its original members, Baty met Isaburo Yoshida, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in London and an international law scholar from Tokyo Imperial University. The Japanese government was seeking a foreign legal adviser after the death of Henry Willard Denison, an American who had held the position until 1914. Baty applied in February 1915. The Japanese government accepted the application, and Baty arrived in Tokyo in May 1916 to begin work at the Japanese Foreign Office. In 1920, Baty was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, third class, for service as a legal adviser.[6] In 1936, Baty received the second class of the same order.[16]

In 1927, Baty participated in the Japanese delegation to the Geneva Naval Conference on disarmament, Baty's only public appearance as a legal adviser to the Japanese government. Most of Baty's work consisted of writing legal opinions. Baty renewed working contracts with the Japanese Foreign Office several times and became a permanent employee of the ministry in 1928.[16]

Japanese policy in China

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Oblas writes that Baty's legal philosophy developed while working for the Japanese government and was used to justify Japanese encroachments on Chinese sovereignty.[16] After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1932 and the establishment of Manchukuo, Baty defended Japan's position in the League of Nations and advocated membership for the new state. Baty also wrote legal opinions justifying the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.[16]

Baty donated 1,000 yen five times to aid the families of fallen Japanese soldiers. Baty described these donations as humanitarian and argued that the war could have been avoided if the League of Nations had accepted Baty's views and Japan's position.[16]

Baty argued that recognition of states should depend only on effective control by a government over a state's territory, rather than on prior definitions of what a state should be. On this basis, Baty opposed de facto recognition, arguing that recognition should be final and irrevocable. Baty accused Western states of hypocrisy for using de facto recognition as a way to conduct transactions with governments they had not fully accepted as members of the international community.[17]

World War II and aftermath

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Baty, c. 1954

In July 1941, the Japanese government froze the assets of foreigners living in Japan and its colonies in response to similar actions by the United States. Baty was exempt as an employee of the Japanese government. After the outbreak of war with the United Kingdom in December 1941, Baty remained in Japan, rejecting efforts by the British Embassy to arrange repatriation. Baty continued working for the Japanese government and defended its policy of conquest as a response to Western imperialism in Asia. In late 1944, Baty questioned the legitimacy of pro-Allied governments established after the end of the German occupation in Europe.[16] Baty also wrote articles on British and American affairs for Japanese newspapers.[18]

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Foreign Office considered prosecuting Baty for treason. The Central Liaison Office, a British government agency operating in Japan, considered Baty's wartime involvement with the Japanese government to be insignificant. Some legal advisers within the British government also argued against prosecution because of Baty's age. The British government allowed Baty to remain in Japan and revoked Baty's British citizenship instead of bringing charges.[16]

Baty spent the rest of life in a villa in Ichinomiya, Chiba, given by Kano Hisarō. Baty continued to work for the Japanese government until 1952.[19]

Death

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On 9 February 1954, Baty died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Ichinomiya, Chiba, aged 85.[20] Emperor Hirohito sent flowers to Baty's funeral, as did many people who knew Baty. Eulogies were delivered by Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, Foreign Minister Katsuo Okazaki, President of the Japanese Society of International Law Saburo Yamada, and Baty's former colleague Iemasa Tokugawa. Baty was buried at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo, next to Baty's sister and mother.[2]

Baty, who wrote around 18 books on legal matters, died shortly after completing the first proof of International Law in Twilight. The book comments on legal, historical, political, and Far Eastern questions, drawing on Baty's experience as legal adviser to the Japanese Foreign Office.[21]

Gender identity

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Personal reflections

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In 1926, Baty wrote a declaration on love and marriage that was privately shared with close friends and published posthumously. In the text, Baty wrote:[4]

From my earliest years I hated sex. The reason was that I wanted to be a girl. I saw that ladies, while admittedly more graceful and sweet than men, were also just as determined and noble. I could not bear to be relegated to the ranks of rough and stern men.

In an autobiographical sketch in Alone in Japan, Baty wrote: "From earliest days, adored Beauty and Sweetness; considered ladies had both, as well as Persistence and Tenacity. Therefore, longed passionately to be a lady—and have continued to do so."[22]

Accounts by friends and observers

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Baty publicly presented as Thomas Baty in most public settings.[3]: 21–22  Friends described Baty as reserved and gentle, and noted traits they understood as feminine, including speaking in the women's style of Japanese and fastening garments from right to left.[22] Baty also sometimes wore women's clothes and accessories.[4] Hugh Keenleyside, a Canadian diplomat in Japan, described Baty as a "transvestite" who occasionally entertained guests while dressed in a gown.[23]

Maait Pepperell writes that friends observed "a transition from Thomas Baty to Irene Clyde" in private settings, noting that one identity appeared to fade as the other emerged:[3]: 21–22 

When he extended his hand in greeting his sombre eyes lit up, his withdrawn expression melted away. Dr Baty, Chief Legal Advisor to the Foreign Office of Japan, disappeared and in his place stood Irene Clyde, a gentle, kindly, witty, and intelligent elderly lady.

Modern interpretations

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Modern scholars have described Baty in differing terms, including non-binary,[24][25] genderfluid,[3]: 21–22 [25] transgender,[11][12][25] and a trans woman.[26] Sandra Duffy writes that Baty's gender identity remains ambiguous.[25] Alison Oram argues that Baty's desire "to be a lady" complicates attempts to trace a continuous transgender identity through history. Oram writes that, while there are similarities to late 20th-century transgender politics, Baty's self-understanding was shaped by a specific historical context and differed from identities shaped by later developments in medical transition.[27]

Personal life

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Baty was a strict vegetarian from the age of 19 and later served as vice-president of the British Vegetarian Society.[2] Baty was also a member of the Humanitarian League[28] and the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.[29]

Influenced by the writings of Thomas Carlyle, Baty came to perceive the unity of all religions and gave little weight to the historical distinctions between Hebrew and Christian traditions. Baty later became a Theosophist and a follower of Shinto.[15]

Baty's sister Anne accompanied Baty to Japan in 1916, along with their mother, who died the same year. Anne lived with Baty until her death in Nikkō on 22 January 1945.[2]

Baty's recreations included music, heraldry, and the sea, and Baty was described as a conservative.[1] Baty was also interested in literature and localism, particularly the formation of small, self-sustaining communities.[23] While living in Tokyo, Baty spent summers at Lake Chuzenji with Anne. At the lake, Baty owned and sailed a boat named The Ark and socialised at the Nantaisan Yacht Club.[16]

Baty never married. Some evidence suggests that Baty was disillusioned with Victorian sexual norms and with ideas of male domination over women.[4] Baty described a personal philosophy as radical feminist and pacifist,[30] arguing that masculine traits led to war and that feminine traits rejected it. Baty concluded that ending war required prioritising feminine characteristics.[2] Baty was also a supporter of the feminist movement in Japan.[31]

Legacy

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Baty's later years inspired the Japanese writer Ayako Sono's 1954 short story "Grave of the Sea". Although the story is set in Hakone rather than Nikkō, where Baty resided, it portrays a difficult postwar life in a foreign country. A line from the main character reads: "When I die, please throw my bones in the sea. I don't need a grave."[32]

In 1959, Baty's memoirs, Alone in Japan: The Reminiscences of an International Jurist Resident in Japan 1916–1954, were published, edited by Motokichi Hasegawa.[33]

In 1993, Daphne Patai and Angela Ingram identified Baty as the author who had written about feminism and gender under the name Irene Clyde from 1909 onward.[34] Alice Millea writes that Baty's opposition to gender conventions and private defiance of those conventions have led contemporary scholars to discuss Baty as a transgender pioneer.[34][35]

Baty's support for Japan during the war made Baty a controversial figure in international law.[2] Critics have described Baty as both a traitor and an apologist for imperialism.[36] In 2004, a commemorative seminar was held at the University of Tokyo on the 50th anniversary of Baty's death to reassess Baty's contributions to international law. It featured work from Vaughan Lowe, Martin Gornall, and Hatsue Shinohara.[37]

Works

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Books

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As Thomas Baty

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As Irene Clyde

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Articles

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  • "The Root of the Matter". Macmillan's Magazine. Vol. 88. 1902–1903. pp. 194–198.
  • "The Aëthnic Union". The Freewoman. 1 (14): 278–279. 22 February 1912.
  • "Can an Anarchy be a State?" American Journal of International Law, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Jul., 1934), pp. 444–455
  • "Abuse of Terms: 'Recognition': 'War'" American Journal of International Law, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 377–399
  • "The 'Private International Law' of Japan" Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jul., 1939), pp. 386–408
  • "The Literary Introduction of Japan to Europe" Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 7, No. 1/2 (1951), pp. 24–39; Vol. 8, No. 1/2 (1952), pp. 15–46; Vol. 9, No. 1/2 (1953), pp. 62–82; Vol. 10, No. 1/2 (1954), pp. 65–80

Notes

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  1. ↑ This article refers to Baty by surname or as Irene Clyde instead of using pronouns.
  2. ↑ This article uses the name Irene Clyde when referring to works written under that name.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 "Baty, Thomas". Who Was Who, 1951–1960: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Decade 1951–1960. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). London: A & C Black. 1964. p. 78 – via Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Murase, Shinya (1 January 2003). "Thomas Baty in Japan: Seeing Through the Twilight". British Yearbook of International Law. 73 (1): 315–342. doi:10.1093/bybil/73.1.315. ISSN 0068-2691. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Maait Pepperell, T. (September 2022). A Monastery of Their Own: Imagining a Utopia from the Aëthnic Union to Urania (PDF) (Master's thesis). University of Essex. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Oblas, Peter (December 2001). "In Defense of Japan in China: One Man's Quest for the Logic of Sovereignty" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. 3 (2): 73–90. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 January 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  5. ↑ Venn, John (2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-108-03611-5. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Oblas, Peter (1 March 2004). "Naturalist Law and Japan's Legitimization of Empire in Manchuria: Thomas Baty and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 15 (1): 35–55. doi:10.1080/09592290490438051. ISSN 0959-2296. S2CID 154830939. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Funke, Jana (2023). "Lesbian-trans-feminist modernism and sexual science: Irene Clyde and Urania". In Carroll, Rachel; Tolan, Fiona (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Literature and Feminism. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003429951-18 (inactive 14 July 2025). ISBN 978-1-00-342995-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
  8. 1 2 White, Jenny (18 May 2021). "Jenny White reflects on the legacy of Urania". LSE Review of Books. London School of Economics and Political Science. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  9. ↑ Ferreira, Maria Aline Seabra (2005). I Am the Other: Literary Negotiations of Human Cloning. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-313-32006-4.
  10. ↑ Tiernan, Sonja (2008). "'Engagements Dissolved:' Eva Gore-Booth, Urania and the Challenge to Marriage". In McAuliffe, Mary; Tiernan, Sonja (eds.). Tribades, Tommies and Transgressives: Histories of Sexualities. Vol. 1. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 128–144. ISBN 978-1-84718-592-1. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  11. 1 2 Delap, Lucy (2007). The Feminist Avant-Garde: Transatlantic Encounters of the Early Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-521-87651-3. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2020. the lawyer and transgender activist Thomas Baty, who advertised his 'Aethnic Union' in The Free-woman. This group explicitly rejected sexual differentiation...
  12. 1 2 DiCenzo, M.; Ryan, Leila; Delap, Lucy, eds. (2010). Feminist Media History: Suffrage, Periodicals and the Public Sphere. Springer. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-230-29907-8. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2020. Thomas Baty, a transgender lawyer and later, publisher of the private journal 'Urania', wrote to advertise his 'Aethnic Union,' a society dedicated to sweeping away the 'gigantic superstructure of artificial convention' in sexual matters, and resisting the 'insistent differentiation' into two genders...
  13. 1 2 Murphy, Gillian. "Trans history". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  14. ↑ Smith, Judith Ann (2008). Genealogies of desire: 'Uranianism', mysticism and science in Britain, 1889–1940 (Master's thesis). University of British Columbia. p. 46. doi:10.14288/1.0066742. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  15. 1 2 Butler, William E. (2020). "Thomas Baty: Legal Adviser to the Government of Japan". Jus Gentium: Journal of International Legal History. 5: 185.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Oblas, Peter (December 2005). "Britain's First Traitor of the Pacific War: Employment and Obsession" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. 7 (2): 109–133. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  17. ↑ Baty, Thomas (1936). "Abuse of Terms: 'Recognition': 'War'". American Journal of International Law. 30 (3): 377–399. doi:10.2307/2191011. ISSN 0002-9300. JSTOR 2191011. S2CID 147428316. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  18. ↑ "Obituary: Dr Thomas Baty". The Guardian. 10 February 1954. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ Tetsuro Takasaki (April 2014). 国際人・加納久朗の生涯 [The Life of an International Figure, Hisao Kano] (in Japanese). Kashima Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 978-4-306-09434-5.
  20. ↑ "British Jurist Baty Dies at 85 in Japan". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 9 February 1954. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Ito, N. (April 1955). "International Law in Twilight. By Thomas Baty. Tokyo: Maruzen Company, Ltd., 1954. pp. 327. ¥1200". American Journal of International Law. 49 (2): 271–272. doi:10.2307/2194356. ISSN 0002-9300. JSTOR 2194356.
  22. 1 2 Oram, Alison (June 2001). "Feminism, Androgyny and Love between Women in Urania, 1916–1940". Media History. 7 (1): 57–70. doi:10.1080/1368800120048245. ISSN 1368-8804. PMID 21046841.
  23. 1 2 Gilfillan, Ealasaid (19 July 2020). "Reflections on Thomas Baty". LGBT+ Language and Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  24. ↑ Moran, Maeve (16 October 2019). "Unheard Voices: Eva Gore-Booth". Palatinate Online. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Duffy, Sandra (4 November 2023). "Postcolonial Dynamics in Pro- and Anti-Trans Activism in the United Kingdom and Ireland". Feminists@law. 12 (2). doi:10.22024/UNIKENT/03/FAL.1086. a trans/non-binary/gender-fluid person (Thomas Baty/Irene Clyde)
  26. ↑ Imperitura, Lorenzo (30 October 2024). The Forgotten Queer Utopia (Master's thesis). UiT The Arctic University of Norway. p. 52. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  27. ↑ Oram, Alison (2006), Cocks, H. G.; Houlbrook, Matt (eds.), "Cross-Dressing and Transgender", Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 256–285, doi:10.1057/9780230501805_12, ISBN 978-1-4039-1290-9, retrieved 29 November 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  28. ↑ Weinbren, Dan (1994). "Against All Cruelty: The Humanitarian League, 1891–1919" (PDF). History Workshop (38): 86–105. ISSN 0309-2984. JSTOR 4289320. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  29. ↑ "Life Members". Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society: Reports for 1933 and 1934 (PDF). 1934. p. 5.
  30. ↑ Ingram, Angela; Patai, Daphne, eds. (1993). "Fantasy and Identity: The Double Life of a Victorian Sexual Radical". Rediscovering Forgotten Radicals: British Women Writers, 1889–1939. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 265–304.
  31. ↑ Čapková, Helena (1 September 2020). "A Brief History of the Theosophical Society in Japan in the Interwar Period" (PDF). The Journal of CESNUR. 4 (5): 3–26. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2020.4.5.1. ISSN 2532-2990.
  32. ↑ "17. トーマス・ベイティ、アンニー・スリング" [17. Thomas Baty, Annie Thring]. toby.la.coocan.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  33. ↑ Baty, Thomas (1959). Hasegawa, Motokichi (ed.). Alone in Japan: The Reminiscences of an International Jurist Resident in Japan 1916–1954. Tokyo: Maruzen.
  34. 1 2 Millea, Alice (15 February 2022). "Thomas Baty, gender critic". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  35. ↑ Gilfillan, Ealasaid (14 June 2020). "Thomas Baty and Gender". LGBT+ Language and Archives. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  36. ↑ Josephine Giles, Harry (11 June 2024). "'We make ourselves through words': writing trans lives and stories". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  37. ↑ "The Commemorative Seminar for Dr. Thomas Baty" (PDF). 2004.

Further reading

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