Emma Hardinge Britten

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Emma Hardinge Britten

Emma Hardinge Britten née Emma Floyd (born May 2, 1823 in London , England , † October 2, 1899 in England) was an English spiritualist , writer and theosophist .

Life

Parents, naming and marriage

Britten was born under her maiden name Emma Floyd in the East End of London as the daughter of Ebenezer Floyd († 1834) and Anne Sophia Floyd (1793-1886). After being entered in the baptismal register, her father was a teacher . However, other sources indicate his occupation as a ship captain . Around 1850 Britten had a long relationship with a Dr. Hardinge , whereupon she changed her name to Emma Hardinge or Emma Floyd Hardinge . In October 1870 she married Dr. William Britten (1819-1894), from then on she was called Emma Hardinge Britten or Emma Floyd Hardinge Britten .

As an actress

As a child she showed a talent for music , acting and rhetoric . When in 1834, at the age of 11, her father died, she took over the care of the family by teaching piano. After studying art briefly in Paris , she decided to take up acting and joined a theater company in England . Various engagements took her to several stages in England, France and finally to the USA around 1855 . During this time she also worked as an art teacher and gave private lessons. At the end of the 1850s she ended her artistic career and devoted herself entirely to spiritualism. Her mother usually accompanied her on her travels.

As a medium

She claims to have come into contact with the occult secret society Orphic Society in England around 1835/36 . Her clairvoyant gifts are said to have been discovered there. In 1855 or 1856 she visited several media outlets in New York , which she finally convinced of her own media skills. In the following decades she gave public sessions herself as a medium, her fame rose and her lectures in the USA, Canada , England, Australia and New Zealand were well attended.

After living in the USA from 1855/56 to 1881, she settled back in England. Here she founded the magazines Two Worlds (1887 to 2006) and The Unseen Universe (1892-1893). She has authored several books, including the parapsychological works Nineteenth century miracles and Modern American spiritualism . In addition, she published in several magazines such as The Western Star or The Christian Spiritualist .

In 1890 she founded the Spiritualists' National Federation , usually referred to as the Spiritualist's National Union (SNU). This should merge the views of different churches into a unity. The foundations of this organization were the so-called seven principles, which they had allegedly received from the late Robert Owen in 1871 in a mediumistic meeting . These have sometimes been viewed as the 7 principles of spiritism .

  1. The Fatherhood of God
  2. The Brotherhood of Man
  3. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels (The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels)
  4. The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul
  5. Personal Responsibility
  6. Compensation and Retribution for all the good and evil deeds done on earth (compensation and retribution for all good and bad deeds committed on earth in the hereafter)
  7. Eternal progress open to every soul (Eternal progress, open to every human soul)

Plagiarism disputes with Blavatsky

Hardinge Britten was a co-founder and member of the Theosophical Society (TG) and was elected to the Council of the TG on October 30th.

In 1876 she published her work Art magic , which was supposedly dictated to her by a being in a trance . When Blavatsky's work Isis was unveiled on September 29, 1877 , it contained several articles that had already been treated in a similar manner in Britten's book Art magic. This led to a dispute with Blavatsky, since Britten was of the obvious view that, without a source, she was copied. Because of these differences, Britten finally left the TG at the turn of the year 1877/78, her husband, Dr. William Britten, followed suit. Although her relationship with Blavatsky had been severely hypothermic since then, she was still standing with other theosophists until around 1890. a. Henry Steel Olcott in correspondence.

Works (selection)

  • Art magic, or, mundane, sub-mundane and super-mundane spiritism. A treatise in three parts and twenty-three sections, descriptive of art magic, spiritism, the different orders of spirits in the universe known to be related to, or in communication with man, together with directions for invoking, controlling, and discharging spirits, and the uses and abuses, dangers and possibilities of magical art . William Britten, New York 1876
  • Ghost land, or, Researches into the mysteries of occultism, illustrated in a series of autobiographical sketches . Progressive Thinker Pub. House, Chicago 1897
  • Modern American spiritualism, a twenty years' record of the communion between earth and the world of spirits . University Books, New Hyde Park 1970
  • Nineteenth century miracles, or, Spirits andt heir work in every country of the earth . Arno Press, New York 1976; ISBN 0-405-07943-5
  • The electric physician, or, Self cure through electricity. A plain guide to the use of electricity, with accurate directions for the treatment and cure of various diseases, chronic and acute . William Britten, Boston 1875
  • The lyceum manual, a compendium of physical, moral, and spiritual exercises for use in progressive lyceums connected with British Spiritualists' churches and kindred bodies . British Spiritualists' Lyceum Union, Manchester 1924
  • The place and mission of woman . HW Swett, Boston 1859

literature

  • Robertson, James: A Noble Pioneer. The life story of Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten . The "Two worlds" publishing co., Manchester undated (approx. 1890)
  • Wilkinson, Margaret (Ed.): Autobiography of Emma Hardinge Britten . J. Heywood, London 1900

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Britten, Emma Hardinge
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Floyd, Emma (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English spiritualist, writer and theosophist
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1899
Place of death England