THE GENESIS AND HISTORY OF THE CREWE CIRCLE
BY F. R. SCATCHERD
Member of the Society for Psychical Research, Co-Editor of the _Asiatic
Review_
(Miss Felicia Scatcherd, who has been one of the true psychic
researchers and pioneers of knowledge in this country, has
contributed the following information which she gained during
her close association with the Crewe Circle at and after the
time of its formation.)
Questioned about himself, Mr. Hope said that he was christened “Billy
Hope,” and was born at or near Manchester. His first memory is of having
scarlet fever when he was four years old. During the fever he used to
see all sorts of faces peering at him through the doorway, and became
so frightened that he screamed for his father to come and send them
away. Now that he knows about clairvoyance, he thinks otherwise of those
visions. He lost his mother when he was nine, and remembers little about
her. It is a curious fact, as he observed: “I have wished for her picture
hundreds of times, and sat for it many a while, and have never yet got
it. These things beat me.”
When asked did he grieve much for his mother’s death, he replied that he
was brought up in a religious family, his father being a local preacher.
Later on Mr. Hope, Senior, lost all his worldly possessions.
“My father was wealthy according to my ideas,” said Mr. Hope. “He had
two farms, but late in life lost his money.”
Mr. Hope was well cared for by his mother as long as he had her, and
afterwards by his step-mother.
“She was a good woman: and I had an aunt of a religious frame of mind who
also kept an eye on me.”
“You must have been a very good little boy,” I said.
“Oh dear, no! I was much the same as the other lads. I played plenty
of truant, and once joined a party of seven and ran the schoolmaster
round the room. We had agreed beforehand what we would do if he began
a-thrashing of us. But don’t put that in, Miss Scatcherd!”
Spirit photography first interested him when he was working at a bleach
and dye-works near Pendleton. Being an amateur photographer, he and a
comrade agreed to photograph each other one Saturday afternoon. Mr. Hope
exposed a plate on his friend and developed it, when they saw a woman
standing beside him. The brick wall showed through the figure, there
being no background. The sitter, a Roman Catholic, was frightened, and
asked how the woman had got on the plate, and did Mr. Hope know her. When
Mr. Hope replied that he did not know the lady nor how she got there,
_the man said it was his sister who had been dead for many years_.
Neither knew anything of spiritualism, so they took it to the works on
Monday and showed it to their foreman, who happened also to be an amateur
photographer, and was “lost in wonder” over it. But there was a fellow
worker, a spiritualist, who said it was a spirit photo. The foreman
arranged that the experiment should be repeated with the same camera the
following Saturday, when not only the identical woman appeared again but
with her, her little dead baby.
“I thought this very strange,” said Mr. Hope; “it made me more interested
in spirit photography, and I have been dabbling at it ever since. I felt
sorry for my mate, he was so scared. When he saw the second result, I
thought he would have pegged out” (died of fright).
The Circle used to destroy all negatives. The members did not want anyone
to know about their spirit photography, as many people did not want to do
business with them, saying it was all the devil’s work. Till the advent
of Archdeacon Colley on the scene not a single negative was kept. After a
print was taken the negative was destroyed.
Mr. and Mrs. Buxton met Mr. Hope some seventeen years ago at the
Spiritualist Hall at Crewe, where Mr. Buxton was organist. After the
service Mr. Hope asked Mr. Buxton if he could find one or two friends to
form a circle to sit for spirit photography. This was done, and it was
arranged to use the next Wednesday evening from eight to nine.
One of the circle of six was a non-spiritualist, but was converted when
a picture of his father and mother was obtained. A strange thing is
that when all were anxiously desiring a picture, a message appeared on
the first plate exposed. This message promised a picture next time, and
stated that it would be for the master of the house. The promise was kept
several sittings later, when the picture of Mr. Buxton’s mother and of
Mrs. Buxton’s sister came on the plate. Mr. Buxton was of the opinion
that this was given to do away with the idea of thought photography. They
were all thinking of a picture and never dreamed that such a thing as a
written message would be given. They have been very persevering, having
sat regularly ever since, each Wednesday from eight to nine, securing a
picture on an average of one a month at the outset.
There have been many storms before which have broken over the Crewe
Circle, but the cause of them has usually been the limited knowledge
of the strange possibilities of psychic photography on the part of the
sitters and of the public. One of the most notorious of these so-called
“exposures” (which really were exposures of the critics’ ignorance) was
in 1908, and arose out of Archdeacon Colley’s first sitting. He had
heard that the Crewe Circle were simple-looking folk, and this attracted
him, so he broke his journey at Crewe and called upon Mr. and Mrs. Hope,
who had just lost their eldest daughter. The Archdeacon apologised for
having come at such a time, but Mr. Hope sent him on to Mr. and Mrs.
Buxton, where he was shown the photos and asked to see the negatives.
He was shocked when he heard that they had all been destroyed, and from
that time kept all negatives he was able to get hold of. The Archdeacon
brought his own camera, loaded at Stockton with his own diamond-marked
plates. He kept the plates in his own possession and focussed the camera,
_which he put up outside the house_, although it was raining. Mr. Hope
merely pressed the bulb and Archdeacon Colley developed the plates with
his own developer. When he held the picture to the light he exclaimed:
“My father and my sainted mother!”
Mr. Hope was the first to notice the likeness between “Mrs. Colley” and
a picture he had copied about two years ago, and cycled with it to Mr.
Spencer, of Nantwich. Mrs. Spencer declared it to be her grandmother, and
cried out, “Oh, if this had only come with us how pleased we should have
been!”
Mr. Hope then wrote to Archdeacon Colley telling him it could not be his
mother, as it had been recognised at Nantwich. The Archdeacon said it was
madness to think a man did not know his own mother, and advertised in the
Leamington paper, asking all who remembered his mother to meet him at
the Rectory, when eighteen persons selected the photograph from several
others and testified in writing that the picture was a portrait of the
late Mrs. Colley, who had never been photographed.
The Crewe friends heard no more about the matter until the controversy in
_Light_ (February 14th, 1914, and subsequent numbers). The extraordinary
ignorance, even of the spiritualistic public, on these matters, was
revealed by the storm of indignation that burst upon the devoted heads
of the Crewe Circle and their supporters. The testimony of such students
and scholars as the late Mr. James W. Sharpe, M.A., of Bournemouth, an
eminent mathematician and expert authority on all questions of psychical
research, did little to allay the outburst. In vain it was pointed out
that no fact was better vouched for than the reproduction by “spirit”
photographers of well-known pictures and photographs, often true in every
detail to the originals. The theory and fact of ideoplasticity were
ridiculed just as they are ridiculed to-day by those who should keep
themselves up-to-date in physical science, if they wish to judge justly
the yet more complex problems of psychical science.
The Society for Psychical Research was as unhelpful as the “man in the
street,” so far as its leading authorities were concerned.
To return to the beginning of things: it was on July 16th, 1909, when,
in response to a telegram from Archdeacon Colley, I went to Leamington,
where I first met the Rev. Prof. Henslow and two members of the Crewe
Circle who were on a visit to the Archdeacon. A séance for spirit
photography was held. It was disappointing in one sense. Prof. Henslow
was told that he would find impressions on certain plates in a sealed
packet on the table _which was not to be opened for a fortnight_.
I prepared to say good-bye, when Mr. Hope said he would like to do
something for the visitor from London. “The friends say that if the lady
can remain the night they will give her a test.” I replied that the only
test of interest to me was one that would convince my fellow-members of
the Society for Psychical Research. The mediums insisted, but I refused
to stay unless Prof. Henslow also remained and took charge of the
proceedings.
“Sir, do stay!” pleaded Mr. Hope. “There are five of us—you, the
Archdeacon, Mrs. Buxton, Miss Scatcherd and myself. You must buy five
plates from your own photographer. Each plate must be put into a
light-tight envelope and worn by the sitter, with the sensitised surface
next to the person, until the séance. It will not take long to fetch the
plates and bring them back to us. Thus we shall have an hour to wear
them before the séance this evening. It is the only way to get them
magnetised so as to have immediate results. You can each develop your own
plate to-night and then Miss Scatcherd will know whether the friends have
kept their word.”
Prof. Henslow good-naturedly agreed and drove off with the Archdeacon to
purchase the plates. I remained with Mrs. Buxton and Mr. Hope. Within
an hour the Archdeacon returned with four plates put up as directed.
Professor Henslow had gone home to dinner wearing his plate in a wood
slide contrived by Archdeacon Colley. Mrs. Buxton and I tucked ours
inside our blouses and Mr. Hope placed his in that trouser-pocket which
has aroused such evil suspicions in the minds of investigators. We
remained together until Prof. Henslow joined us. It was full daylight. We
sat round the table when Mr. Hope asked:
“What do you want, Miss Scatcherd? A face? A message? What shall it be?”
“You forget my conditions; Prof. Henslow must decide. Let him choose,” I
replied.
Prof. Henslow said he did not care what came so long as _the same thing
appeared on all the plates_. It was a remark worthy of the speaker,
conveying, as it did, a most crucial test, in view of the fact that he
had never let his plate out of his own keeping. The usual séance was held.
Prof. Henslow developed his plate first. I developed mine under
Archdeacon Colley’s supervision, then Mrs. Buxton and Mr. Hope developed
theirs.
The results are of interest. The Archdeacon did not wear a plate so as
to leave “more power for the others.” Mr. Hope’s plate was blurred. The
tablet on Prof. Henslow’s was identical in outline with Mrs. Buxton’s and
mine, both of which were sharp and clear, but Mrs. Buxton’s was the best.
Mrs. Buxton had been with me the whole time, and her six-months-old baby
had never left her arms.
The message addressed to Prof. Henslow was appropriate, but the writing
was so microscopically fine that we could not read it that night. Mr.
Hope was very disappointed. “Never mind,” he said, “when we get home we
will ask the guides to give it us again!” He and Mrs. Buxton were leaving
by the early morning train. The Archdeacon had charge of the negatives
and had promised to let us know as soon as he had deciphered the message.
The mediums did not like their lodgings, so slept at my hotel. I saw
them off in the morning, _before any of us knew what the message was_. A
day or two later I received from the mediums a duplicate of the message
not yet known to them or to myself. But this time the writing was large
enough to be read by the naked eye. As Prof. Henslow had requested,
the same thing had come on all the plates in differing degrees of
distinctness.
This was my first experience of a Crewe skotograph, and it was decisive.
As I wrote in the _Psychic Gazette_ from notes submitted to Archdeacon
Colley at the time, and afterwards read by Prof. Henslow when published,
no suspicions could fall either on the mediums, Archdeacon Colley or
myself, as not one of us had had the chance of tampering with Prof.
Henslow’s plate, nor could Prof. Henslow and his photographer have
prepared a series of plates for an occasion on which they had no reason
to have reckoned.
I wrote a minute account of these early experiments, according to the
strictest psychical research methods, and left it with Mr. Wallis, the
then editor of _Light_. He did not publish it, and when I returned to
England it could not be found. This incident is briefly recorded by Prof.
Henslow in _Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism_, pp. 224-7.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.—Photomicrograph by Major R. E. E. Spencer of
portion of Archdeacon Colley’s signature taken from letter written during
his lifetime. (_See_ p. 84.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Photomicrograph by Major R. E. E. Spencer of
portion of Archdeacon Colley’s signature on psychograph appearing after
his death. Compare with Figs. 2. and 16.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Photograph of Mr. Wm. Walker with message in the
handwriting of Mr. W. T. Stead. (_See_ p. 87.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.—Mr. and Mrs. Harry Walker and two friends with
psychic likeness of Mr. Walker’s father. Compare with Fig. 18.]