38 Facts About Thomas Baty

Thomas Baty, known as Irene Clyde, was an English international lawyer, writer and activist.

Thomas Baty was a notable advocate for radical feminism and against binary gender distinctions.

Thomas Baty's career encompassed teaching positions at several prominent universities and a prolific output of writings on international law.

Under the name Irene Clyde, Thomas Baty published Beatrice the Sixteenth, a feminist utopian novel set in a genderless society, founded the short-lived Aethnic Union, and co-founded the journal Urania to challenge binary gender categories.

Thomas Baty defended Japan's actions in international forums, including the League of Nations.

Thomas Baty died in Ichinomiya, Chiba, and was posthumously honored by Japanese dignitaries.

Thomas Baty was born on 8 February 1869, in Stanwix, Cumberland, the eldest child of William Thomas Baty and his wife Mary.

Thomas Baty enrolled in 1888 and completed a bachelor's degree in jurisprudence in 1892.

Thomas Baty was a Civil Law Fellow at Oxford and a Whewell Scholar at Cambridge.

Thomas Baty served as the honorary general secretary of the International Law Association from 1905 to 1916 and acted as junior counsel on the Zamora case.

Thomas Baty was an associate member of the Institut de Droit International from 1921 onwards.

The Japanese government accepted the application and Thomas Baty came to Tokyo in May 1916 to start work at the Japanese Foreign Office.

In 1920, Thomas Baty was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, third class, for service as a legal adviser, and in 1936, Thomas Baty received the second class of the same order.

In 1927, Thomas Baty participated as part of the Japanese delegation to the Geneva Naval Conference on disarmament, marking the only public appearance as a legal adviser for the Japanese government.

The majority of Thomas Baty's work focused on writing legal opinions.

Thomas Baty renewed working contracts with the Japanese Foreign Office several times and, in 1928, became a permanent employee of the ministry.

Thomas Baty wrote legal opinions justifying the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Thomas Baty accused the Western international community of hypocrisy for using de facto recognition as a tool to engage in certain transactions with governments of states Thomas Baty considered unfriendly, without fully committing to accepting those states as part of the international community.

Thomas Baty was exempt from this policy due to service for the Japanese government.

Thomas Baty continued working for the Japanese government throughout the war and defended Japan's policy of conquest as a response to Western imperialism in Asia.

In late 1944, Thomas Baty questioned the legitimacy of pro-Allied governments established after the end of the German occupation in Europe.

Thomas Baty contributed articles to Japanese newspapers on British and American affairs.

Thomas Baty continued to work for the Japanese government until 1952.

Thomas Baty died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 85, in Ichinomiya, on 9 February 1954.

Thomas Baty was buried in Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo, alongside Thomas Baty's sister and mother.

Thomas Baty, who authored approximately 18 books on legal matters, died shortly after completing the first proof of Thomas Baty's last book, International Law in Twilight.

In 1926, Thomas Baty wrote a declaration on love and marriage that was privately shared with close friends and published posthumously.

Friends observed Thomas Baty's reserved nature, gentle demeanour, and traditionally feminine traits, such as speaking in the women's style of Japanese and fastening garments from right to left.

Thomas Baty has been described variously by contemporary scholars as non-binary, genderfluid, transgender, or a trans woman.

Thomas Baty was a strict vegetarian since the age of 19 and later served as vice-president of the British Vegetarian Society.

Thomas Baty was a member of the Humanitarian League and the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.

Thomas Baty subsequently became a Theosophist and a follower of Shinto.

Thomas Baty's recreations included a passion for music, heraldry, and the sea, and Thomas Baty was described as a conservative.

Thomas Baty had a passion for literature and localism, particularly the formation of small, self-sustaining communities.

At the lake, Thomas Baty owned and sailed a boat named The Ark and socialised at the Nantaisan Yacht Club.

Thomas Baty described a personal philosophy as that of a radical feminist and a pacifist, arguing that masculine traits lead to war, while feminine traits reject it.

Thomas Baty was a supporter of the feminist struggle in Japan.

In 1993, scholars Daphne Patai and Angela Ingram uncovered that starting in 1909, Thomas Baty had been writing about feminism and gender using the name Irene Clyde.