Spiritualism
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
Mr. & Mrs. Fox and their two youngest daughters Margaretta and Catherine moved into a small wooden cottage in Hydesville , New York, U.S.A., in 1847. The rapping's in the night began occurring on a regular basis and eventually, on Friday 31st March 1848 the girls were preparing for bed when they heard the noises again. The family and an investigation committee formed a code that could be used to communicate in words and numbers. Margaretta Fox did the first public demonstration of mediumship in the New York Corinthian Hall in 1849.
Spiritualism was introduced to England in 1852 by a medium from America called Mrs. Hayden, who had suffered many hostilities from churches and press. However, she was backed up by such eminent people as Sir Charles Isham, Professor De Morgan, Robert Chambers and Dr. Ashburner. Keighley in Yorkshire became the first site in Britain to establish a Spiritualist Church which was opened by David Richmond in 1853 and it was also the first place to publish a Spiritualist Newspaper called “The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph” in 1855. A great socialist called Robert Owen became interested in spiritualism after having private sittings with Mrs Hayden in 1854. After his death he gave the seven principles of Spiritualism through a Medium called Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten in 1871. The Two Worlds Newspaper which was first issued in 1887 published the seven principles in 1889. Mrs Emma Hardinge Britten was known as a very good medium and had returned to England in 1866 to promote spiritualism.
Andrew Jackson Davis, born on the 11 th August 1826 in Orange County USA founded the Lyceum in New York in 1863, after giving a lecture in Dodsworth Hall, Broadway, New York., where he described the things he had seen in Summerland, how happy and well looked after the children were there. Subsequently in 1866 Mr Hitchcock opened the first British Lyceum in Nottingham. The first Lyceum conference was held in Bradford in 1886 headed by Alfred Kitson. In 1887 the first Lyceum Manual was produced in Britain. It was written by Mrs Emma Hardinge Britten, Alfred Kitson and Mr Kersey. The Spiritualists Lyceum Union became established in 1890, however the name became British Spiritualists Lyceum Union four years later. In 1948 the British Spiritualists Lyceum came together with the Spiritualists National Union and in 1951 the Lyceum Department received a letter from the SNU stating that from now on it would be know as The Spiritualists Lyceum Union.
An interesting report was printed in 1869 by the Dialectical Society which was a committee that had been formed to investigate Spiritualism. Sir William Crookes a top physicist published his report to the Royal Society in the Journal of Science in 1871. He had set out to prove Spiritualism had no substance, but found it to be breathtakingly accurate. He remained a believer in the existence of the spirit world for the rest of his life.
1865 and 1872 saw two failed attempts at forming a national organisation for spiritualists. However, in 1873 the British National Association of Spiritualists was formed. Further in 1882 Sir William F Barrett started the Society for Psychical Research.
In the late nineteenth century it was felt necessary to form a Federation to group all Spiritualist organisations together instead of lots of isolated bodies, which saw the founding of the National Spiritualist Federation in 1890. However, they had no legal status and in 1902 found it necessary after 12 years to join with the Spiritualist National Union Ltd which was formed in 1901. This meant “The Companies Act” gave them the right to hold properties as a company limited by guarantee. The main aims of The Spiritualist National Union Ltd, which still hold fast today are to spread the religion and philosophy of Spiritualism.
In 1916 Ernest Oaten led a parliamentary campaign instituted by the Union for legal recognition of Spiritualism. Two years later in 1918 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lent weight to spiritualism by speaking of his own beliefs in it and issued a publication called “The New Revelation”.
Arthur Findlay produced three books between 1931-1935, these were, On the Edge of the Etheric, The Rock of Truth and The Unfolding Universe. He was also the founder of The Psychic News which was edited at the time by Maurice Barbanell.
The first BBC programme on Spiritualism was given by Ernest Oaten in 1934. Spiritualism continued to grow, and quite a few notable and significant things were happening. In 1937 the Archbishop of Canterbury with Dr. Cosmo Lang and Archbishop Temple of York formed a Church of England Committee to look into Spiritualism. They issued a report on their findings, but this report was suppressed as it was found to be too favourable. The SNU also started appointing Ministers in 1939, and in 1940 the Union was given a certificate by the Government to act as a Trust Corporation.
A very important trial took place in 1944. It was the trial of Helen Duncan at the Old Bailey. She was accused of being fraudulent and was sent to Holloway Prison for nine months.
The Royal Albert Hall in London was the venue for the celebrating one hundred years of spiritualism in 1949 and a year later in 1950 the Spiritualists National Union was known as the official body of spiritualism. An extremely important year was 1951 when the Government saw fit to bring in the “Fraudulent Mediums Act”. This meant a lot to Spiritualists, as, if it was recognised that there were fraudulent mediums, this also meant there were bona fide ones. The “Witchcraft Act 1735” was abolished, and Mediums no longer had to worry about Section 4 of the “Vagrancy Act 1824”.
In 1954 the National Federation of Healers was formed. At the AGM of the Union in 1963 a motion was put forward showing a need for a Guild of Spiritualist Healers. Although the motion was proved, nothing could be done at the meeting. This was followed by a proposal to form a Guild of Spiritualist Healers in 1964 at the Unions AGM held in Manchester, and in the same year Stansted Hall was bequeathed to the SNU by Arthur Findlay for use as a College for Psychic Science, which opened its doors in 1966. 1969 saw the inauguration of the League of Friends of Stansted Hall. In 1970 the first meeting of the Guild of Spiritualist Healers took place at Stansted Hall and the first conference followed in 1972. A new set of Articles of Association were adopted and a new three tier system of administration was agreed upon at the SNU AGM in 1975. The Guild of Spiritualist Healers was merged with the SNU in 1994 and made responsible for healing within the Union.
Wembley was the venue for the national celebration of the SNU Centenary in 1990 on Hydesville Day March 31st . One of the great mediums of our time Gordon Higginson MSNU passed to spirit on 18 th January 1993. He was president of the SNU for 23 years and is sadly missed, although he continues to work from the spirit side of life.
One hundred and fifty years of Spiritualism was celebrated in 1998 and leaders of major spiritual organisations met at Stansted Hall.
Finally, the Pioneer Centre at Stansted Hall was opened and dedicated in 1999 by Mrs Judith Seaman MSNU. This is now being used for Healing and many other therapies and uses.
