(Corrected after first posting.)
Esteemed as a Fortean—but seemingly not very interested in Fort, Fortean ideas, or the Fortean Society, except to the extent they could serve his own purposes.
Hereward Carrington is almost famous enough not to deserve an entry here: a ghost hunter and investigator of psychic phenomena, he was one of the leaders in the field during the first half of the twentieth century as spiritualism transformed itself into parapsychology and made some progress in institutionalizing itself as a form of knowledge—a species of science—and not (just) esoteric Christianity in both the United States and England. (The story in France is slightly different. I don’t really know what was going on in Germany along these lines, or other European countries for that matter.) But, famous as he is, it is worthwhile to at least do a quick overview of his life and work to get a sense of the communities that abutted and overlapped the Forteans.
Hereward Carrington was born to Robert and (Sarah) Jane (Pewtress) Carrington on 17 October 1880 in Jersey, on the Channel Islands. Robert had been born on the Isle of Man, and worked int he civil service: he was away from home at the time of the 1881 census, leaving Jane as head. Hereford had three brothers, Herbert, Hedley, and Fitzroy, and one sister, Irma, all older than him. Healey made his way to the United States, and Hereford followed him; according to the census, he immigrated in 1889. Other sources have him making the trip in 1888, which seems on the young side, but seems the more correct date. The brothers were living—with Hedley’s wife—in Minnesota, where Hedley was a manager for a rubber company and Hereford a clerk at a bookstore. (Reports are he returned to England around age 12 for education.)
Esteemed as a Fortean—but seemingly not very interested in Fort, Fortean ideas, or the Fortean Society, except to the extent they could serve his own purposes.
Hereward Carrington is almost famous enough not to deserve an entry here: a ghost hunter and investigator of psychic phenomena, he was one of the leaders in the field during the first half of the twentieth century as spiritualism transformed itself into parapsychology and made some progress in institutionalizing itself as a form of knowledge—a species of science—and not (just) esoteric Christianity in both the United States and England. (The story in France is slightly different. I don’t really know what was going on in Germany along these lines, or other European countries for that matter.) But, famous as he is, it is worthwhile to at least do a quick overview of his life and work to get a sense of the communities that abutted and overlapped the Forteans.
Hereward Carrington was born to Robert and (Sarah) Jane (Pewtress) Carrington on 17 October 1880 in Jersey, on the Channel Islands. Robert had been born on the Isle of Man, and worked int he civil service: he was away from home at the time of the 1881 census, leaving Jane as head. Hereford had three brothers, Herbert, Hedley, and Fitzroy, and one sister, Irma, all older than him. Healey made his way to the United States, and Hereford followed him; according to the census, he immigrated in 1889. Other sources have him making the trip in 1888, which seems on the young side, but seems the more correct date. The brothers were living—with Hedley’s wife—in Minnesota, where Hedley was a manager for a rubber company and Hereford a clerk at a bookstore. (Reports are he returned to England around age 12 for education.)