Podmore, Frank (1856-1910) - Encyclopedia.com

Frank Podmore

British parapsychologist (–)

Frank Podmore

Born5 February
Died14 August &#;() (aged&#;54)
Occupation(s)Parapsychologist, writer

Frank Podmore (5 February – 14 August ) was an English author and founding member of the Fabian Society as well as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research.

He is known for his interest in spiritualism, which he eventually developed a sceptical attitude towards, specifically the claims of mediumship which he attacked in his history of mediumship, The New Spiritualism (). However, he defended other spiritualist beliefs such as telepathy and ghosts.

Life

Born at Elstree, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, Podmore was the son of Thompson Podmore, an Anglican priest and the headmaster of Eastbourne College.[1] He was educated at Haileybury and Pembroke College, Oxford (where he first became interested in Spiritualism and joined the Society for Psychical Research – this interest remained with him throughout his life).[2][3] After graduating he went to work for the Post Office, where he worked for most of the rest of his life.[1]

In October , Podmore and Edward R.

Pease joined a socialist debating group established by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. Podmore suggested that the group should be named after the Roman General, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who advocated weakening the opposition by harassing operations rather than becoming involved in pitched battles. In January the group became known as the Fabian Society, and Podmore's home at 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster, became the organisation's first official headquarters.

He was a member of the Oxford Phasmatological Society which dissolved in In Podmore and Sidney Webb conducted a study into unemployment, eventually published as a Fabian Society pamphlet, The Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour. Podmore married Eleanore Bramwell in , however, the marriage was a failure and they separated.

Frank podmore biography Frank Podmore (5 February – 14 August ) was an English author and founding member of the Fabian Society as well as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research.

They had no children.[4]

His major work was a detailed study of the life and ideas of Robert Owen (). Podmore resigned from a senior post in the Post Office in Psychical researcher Alan Gauld wrote that he "was compelled to resign without pension from the Post Office because of alleged homosexual involvements. He separated from his wife, and went to live with his brother Claude, rector of Broughton, near Kettering."[5]

Podmore died by drowning at Malvern, Worcestershire, in August

Researcher Ronald Pearsall wrote that it was generally believed that Podmore was a homosexual and that it was "very strange" that his brother Claude, his wife or any member of the Society for Psychical Research did not attend his funeral.[6]

Psychical research

Podmore at first was impressed by the claims of spiritualism after attending a seance of Henry Slade, and addressed the National Association of Spiritualists in He gave a report on a poltergeist case Worksop which he believed to be genuine, but reassessed the case in finding it fraudulent.

This change may have resulted from an unsympathetic review of his work by H. G. Wells, which Historian Brian Inglis suggests embarrassed Podmore and made him more sceptical, wanting to be viewed as "a detached, scientific, no-nonsense commentator on psychic affairs".[1]

Podmore's books, giving non-paranormal explanations from much of the psychical research that he studied, received positive reviews in science journals.[7][8][9] His book Studies in Psychical Research received a positive review in the British Medical Journal which described his debunking of fraudulent mediums as scientific and came to the conclusion the "book is well worth reading, and it is agreeable reading, for the style is generally vigorous and not infrequently brilliant."[10]

Podmore who considered most mediums fraudulent, was open minded about the telepathic hypothesis for Leonora Piper's séances.

However, Ivor Lloyd Tuckett had "completely undermined" this hypothesis for Mrs. Piper.[11] Podmore was critical of Helena Blavatsky and her claims of Theosophy.[9] He evaluated poltergeist cases and concluded they are best explained by deception and trickery.[12]

Rationalist author Joseph McCabe stated that despite Podmore's "highly critical faculty" he was misled in the Piper case by Richard Hodgson.

2.Blum (2007), 315. Podmore, Frank () British opponent of Spiritualism, well-known psychical investigator, and author. He was born February 5, , at Elstree, Hertfordshire. In , he received a classical scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford University, England.

This was based on a letter he saw in the 2nd edition Spiritualism and Oliver Lodge by Dr. Charles Arthur Mercier, from a cousin of George Pellew to Edward Clodd, alleging that Hodgson claimed that Professor Fiske from his séance with Piper was "absolutely convinced" Piper's control was the real George Pellew, but that when Pellew's brother contacted Fiske about it, he replied it was "a lie" as Piper had been "silent or entirely wrong" on all his questions.[13] However, Alan Gauld, referring to this letter as published by Clodd, stated that it was "wholly unreliable", noted that Hodgson in his original report wrote that Fiske had a negative attitude, and that Hodgson himself considered the Fiske sittings to be of no evidential value.[14]

Podmore's text Mesmerism and Christian Science: A Short History of Mental Healing received a positive review in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which referred to it as "an excellent account of this interesting and important subject."[15] His history of mediumship, The New Spiritualism, was deeply sceptical, in which every medium tested was dismissed as a charlatan.[16]

Podmore defended the validity of telepathy[17] and ghosts,[18] the latter of which he believed to be "telepathic hallucinations."[19]

Works

See also

References

  1. ^ abcWillin, M.

    (). 'Frank Podmore'. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research.

  2. ^Shepard, Leslie. (). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology – Volume 2. Gale Research Company. p. "Podmore, Frank (–)".
  3. ^Oppenheim, Janet. ().

  4. 4.Podmore (1896).
  5. See full list on psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk
  6. Podmore, Frank (1856-1910) - Encyclopedia.com

    7. The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, – Cambridge University Press. p. ISBN&#;

  7. ^Stanley Kunitz, Howard Haycraft. (). Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature. H. W. Wilson Company.

    1.Podmore (1906). Frank Podmore () played a significant role in the early years of the Society for Psychical Research, initially as an investigator, later as a proponent of mainly non-paranormal interpretations of psi phenomena.

    p.

  8. ^Gauld, Alan. (). Frank Podmore (–). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
  9. ^Pearsall, Ronald.

    3.Podmore (1883).

    Frank Podmore (5 February – 14 August ) was an English author and founding member of the Fabian Society as well as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research.

    (). The Table-Rappers. Book Club Associates. p.

  10. ^Anonymous. (). The Naturalization of the Supernatural by Frank Podmore. (). American Journal of Psychology 20 (2): –
  11. ^Anonymous. (). Modern Spiritualism. A History and a Criticism by Frank Podmore. American Journal of Psychology 14 (1): –
  12. ^ abMackenzie, W.

    Leslie. (). Studies in Psychical Research. Nature 5–6.

  13. ^Anonymous. (). Studies in Psychical Research by Frank Podmore. British Medical Journal 1 (): 25–
  14. ^Anonymous. (). Review: A Study Of "Psychical Research". Reviewed Work: The Evidence For The Supernatural; A Critical Study Made With "Uncommon Sense" by Ivor Lloyd Tuckett.

    British Medical Journal 1 (): –

  15. ^Blum, Deborah. (). Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. Penguin Press. p. ISBN&#;
  16. ^Joseph McCabe. (). Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined.

    London: Watts & Co. pp. –

  17. ^Gauld, Alan. (). Founders of Psychical Research.

    4.Podmore (1896).: Podmore, Frank () British opponent of Spiritualism, well-known psychical investigator, and author. He was born February 5, , at Elstree, Hertfordshire. In , he received a classical scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford University, England.

    Schocken Books. pp. – ISBN&#;

  18. ^"Mesmerism and Christian Science: A Short History of Mental Healing By Frank Podmore. 8vo. London: Methuen & Co., pp. ". The British Journal of Psychiatry. 56 (): – doi/bjp Retrieved 18 December
  19. ^Hazelgrove, Jenny (). Spiritualism and British Society Between the Wars.

    Manchester University Press. p. 3. ISBN&#;

  20. ^Podmore, Frank. (). What Psychical Research Has Accomplished.

  21. Item 3 of 10
  22. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Podmore, Frank
  23. Item 1 of 1
  24. Item 8 of 10

    25. The North American Review. Vol. , No. pp. –

  25. ^Podmore, Frank. (). IN DEFENCE OF PHANTASMS. The National Review. Vol. 19, No. pp. –
  26. ^Podmore, Frank. (). Telepathic Hallucinations: The New View of Ghosts. New York&#;: F.A. Stokes Co.

External links