William Stainton Moses (1839-1892) was an Anglican priest and teacher who described his experiences with mediumship in a private circle. The phenomena were witnessed by few, as Moses gave seances only for close friends, and did not submit to scientific investigation. But the strength and variety of the phenomena, together with his reputation for complete integrity, led him to be regarded by some as one of the most significant mediums of the period.
Moses was born in Lincolnshire, England. He went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1858, but became seriously ill before completing his undergraduate studies, and spent a year convalescing in Europe. He returned to Oxford and gained his Master’s degree in 1863, before being ordained as a clergyman in the Church of England. He then served as a curate first at Maughold and Douglas, Isle of Man, then at Dorsetshire and Salisbury. Afflicted with throat problems that prevented him from preaching, he returned to London in 1870 to convalesce. While there, he tutored Charlton Templeman Speer, the son of Dr and Mrs Stanhope Speer. In 1871, he was appointed English tutor at University College, London, a position he held until 1889.
According to Frederic Myers, in 1875 Serjeant Cox founded a ‘Psychological Society’, with both Myers and Moses as members; however, it never got off the ground and was abandoned at Cox’s death in 1879. When the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded three years later, Moses was part of the organizing group and was made a vice-president. However, he took little interest in the purely scientific objectives of the SPR and resigned in 1886 in protest at what he considered unreasonable and inappropriate controls in the SPR’s study of the medium William Eglinton. Continued …
