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A Brief History
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882 by Sir William Barrett and Edmund Dawson Rogers because of their interests in Spiritualism and their desire for an organization to conduct research of its related phenomena -- ghosts, trance states, telepathy, etc. The initial organization was composed mainly of enthusiastic Spiritualists, but at the core was an experienced team of paranormal investigators, the so-called "Sidgwick Group."
The Sidgwick Group consisted of Henry Sidgwick, Frederic W.H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Walter Leaf, Lord Raleigh, Arthur Balfour and his sisters Eleanor (who married Sidgwick in 1876) and Evelyn (Lady Raleigh), among others... all members were wealthy with plenty of time to perform their investigations. This informal group had originally been formed in 1874 for the purpose of investigating mediums and Spiritualistic seances, and had exposed many frauds as well as witnessing many occurances they could never explain. It was natural for the newly formed SPR to ask this group to join, and Henry Sidgwick became the first president of the Society, an office he held for nine years.
Six research committees were formed within the SPR, each to study a particular aspect of Spiritualistic and psychical phenomena:
The SPR, partially because of the social standing of members of the original Sidgwick Group, attracted the attention of many an eminent personage such as physicist and chemist William Crookes (president of the SPR 1896-1899), author and physicist Sir Oliver Lodge (president of the SPR 1901-1904), author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (member 1894-1930), philosopher William James (president of the SPR 1894-1895), and psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl G. Jung. William James was so impressed with the early SPR, in fact, that he helped found an american version of the SPR in 1884-1885 (there is some disagreement in my sources as to the exact year) with the name of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR).
In 1886, there was dissension in the ranks of the SPR. The membership had broken into two interest groups, the intellectuals and the Spiritualists, each of which thought the other was not helping the overall cause. By 1887, a large number of the Spiritists had left the organization, leaving the intellectuals in command. Also in 1887, Richard Hodgson, a university pupil of Henry Sidgwick, traveled to America to run the affairs of the ASPR... despite this (or perhaps because of it), in 1889, due to financial difficulties, the ASPR became an affiliate of the original SPR.
By 1900, the SPR had produced over 11,000 pages of reports and articles, as well as a book that was written and published by members: Phantasms of the Living, by Gurney, Myers, and Frank Podmore (another founding member of the SPR), which was published in 1886 and dealt with reports of hallucinations, apparitions, and telepathy.
By 1905 the key members of the early Sidgwick Group had died: Gurney in 1888, Sidgwick in 1900, Myers in 1901, and Hodgson in 1905... but this didn't mean they were out of the picture. First off, a book written by Myers was published posthumously; Human Personality and the Survival of Bodily Death (1903). Secondly, to try and prove the point of Myer's book, almost all reportedly continued to communicate with members of the SPR through mediums. All, that is, but Sidgwick; who had been the most skeptical about the possibility of life after death.
In 1906, the ASPR was once again reorganized as an independent group.
Eleanor Sidgwick became president of the SPR in 1908-1909, was appointed honorary secretary from 1910-1931, and finally, in 1932, was appointed president d'honneur in 1932.
See Also:
Sources:
- Biographical Dictionary of Prarpsychology, Garrett Publications, 1964 Helix Press.
- Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, 1991 HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
