Huxley, Juliette, 1896-1994

Lady Marie Juliette Baillot was born in Auvernier, Switzerland, in a village near Lake Neuchâtel, on December 6, 1896, and moved to England at the age of nineteen to work as a French teacher for Ottoline Morrell. At Garsington, Morrell’s home, she met numerous guests including Aldous Leonard Huxley (ALH) and Julian Huxley. Julian and Juliette began courting in 1916, and corresponded throughout 1917 and 1918 while Julian served in the Army Service Corps and Army Intelligence during World War I. The two were married in 1919. Their first son, Anthony, was born in 1920, and their second, Francis, in 1923. Juliette followed Julian in his tenures at King’s College and the Royal Institute in London during the 1920s and until 1931, when Julian resigned. During Julian’s term as Secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 1935 until 1942, Juliette loved living in their home at the London Zoo. She enjoyed walking among the animals and hearing them at night. In 1946 the couple moved to Paris while Julian Huxley served as Director-General of UNESCO.

Juliette Huxley traveled extensively with her husband throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. She later published Wild Lives of Africa (1963), which was based on her experiences traveling with Julian during 1960 and 1961. The two eventually returned to London, where Julian died in 1975. Juliette Huxley continued living in London, surrounded by her own sculptures and the artwork of their numerous friends from over the years. She continued writing as well, publishing her autobiography Leaves of the Tulip Tree in 1986. She also continued to take notice of advancements in the fields in which her husband was interested, including biology, conservation, humanism, and social evolution. Juliette Huxley’s brother-in-law (and Nobel Prize winner), Aldous Huxley and her two sons, among other life-long acquaintances, frequently visited her. Her son Anthony died in 1992, which affected her own health. Juliette Huxley died on September 28, 1994.

From the guide to the Guide to the Juliette Huxley papers, MS 474., 1895-1994, (Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX)