(1859–1939). The first modern student of human sexual behavior was a British physician named Havelock Ellis. Through his writings he helped bring about more open discussion of sexual problems. He also influenced the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud, who consulted him by mail.
Ellis was born at Croydon in Surrey, England, on Feb. 2, 1859. He was educated at private schools in London and spent some years at sea with his father, a sea captain. In his early years he was concerned with what he called “the ugliness and beauty of sex,” a problem he believed could only be solved through scientific studies. Ellis enrolled at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London to study medicine in 1881. He finished the course of studies eight years later but never practiced medicine regularly.
For a time he turned his attention to the arts and made the acquaintance of such people as George Bernard Shaw. He translated some of Heinrich Heine’s prose, introduced the plays of Henrik Ibsen to England, and wrote books of essays. His first book, published in 1890, was a study entitled The Criminal. In The Nationalisation of Health (1892) he anticipated the much later British National Health Service.
Ellis’ first study on sexuality was Man and Woman (1894), on the psychophysiological differences between the sexes. His major work, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, ran to seven volumes and was published from 1897 to 1928. At first it was considered pornographic and released only to physicians. Later works included The Task of Social Hygiene (1912), Erotic Rights of Women (1918), and Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)—all of which earned Ellis a reputation as a champion of women’s rights. Ellis died in Suffolk, England, on July 8, 1939.