SAGB

History of the SAGB (1872-2009)

Try and imagine this scene. It is a chill night - February 7, 1872, to be precise.
See, sense and smell Victorian London. Outside, gas-lights flicker in an evening
breeze. Indeed, it looks as though snow might be on the way. Horses jostle for
space on the ever-crowded roads, their warm breath looking like ghostly vapour.
People are rushing home, everyone from the street urchins and traders to the
professional classes. Even the old lady selling violets seems anxious to vacate
her pitch and head for the often foul-smelling East End and her large,
ever-demanding family. Women, many wearing fur mufflers and sensible hats
against the increasingly bitter cold, occasionally lift their now absurdly long
dresses just an inch or so to escape puddles, some of which are just starting to
ice over…

Now the scene switches to 16, David Street, Marylebone in London's West End.
Around a dozen friends have gathered. Perhaps they were very different in
class, size, education and background: that we do not know. But what we do
know is that they had but one purpose - to discuss forming a Spiritualist society.
After all, Modern Spiritualism had begun in America in 1848. Surely it was time to
establish a Spiritualist organisation.

Perhaps seated informally around a table - the well-stacked fire occasionally
belching smoke as a north wind blew down the chimney - the friends decided
that, yes, they would form a society. A few informal meetings were arranged.

On July 10 of that same year, the Marylebone Spiritualist Association came into
being as an organised body. During the early years, meetings were held at
various locations throughout London, even including a carpenter's workshop and
former police court. A major problem was that Spiritualism was still a taboo
subject. Indeed, so great was the prejudice that occasionally the
Association changed its name (unofficially, of course).

Now leap forward to September 1894, and to London's Mortimer Street where,
thanks to an anonymous donation of £50, "a commodious meeting place" was
secured. Incidentally, Emma Hardinge Britten, who founded "Two Worlds" and
was the medium responsible for the Spiritualists' National Union's Principles,
delivered the opening address.

Over the next decades, the Association met at various places, such as
Steinway Hall, where famous trance medium J. J. Morse similarly delivered an
opening address. Another well-known venue was New Bond Street's Aeolian
Hall.

In fact, it was not until February 1930 that the Association secured permanent
premises at 42, Russell Square, in Holborn. By that time some of the most
famous names in contemporary Spiritualism had - or were - to serve it, such as
Florence Marryat, the novelist, W. T. Stead, Alfred Vout Peters, Estelle Roberts,
Annie Brittain, Horace Leaf, trance healer Fred Jones, trance and direct
voice medium Kathleen Barkel, Nan Mackenzie, Bertha Harris… the list is almost
endless.

Not even the Second World War could halt the Association's activities, for an
official air raid shelter was established in the basement. Amongst active staff
members then were Joe Benjamin. Within a comparatively short time other
well-known mediums were to join the Association's ranks, like Ena Twigg and Ivy
Northage.

A major move - literally! - occurred in 1955 when the Association purchased a
lease on its present premises, 33, Belgrave Square, in the heart of plush
Belgravia. The cost of the then 92-year-long lease was a now unbelievably low
£24,500. Famous Spiritualist Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding declared the
magnificent building open. Indeed, he later took part in one of a number of "At
Homes" in order to raise money for the new headquarters. Later, after an
approach to the Board of Trade, the Association was renamed The Spiritualist
Association of Great Britain, a move which rightly reflected its growth and status.

The SAGB celebrated its ninetieth anniversary in 1962 by building six new
rooms on the ground floor specifically for sittings. These are still in use,
providing ideal private venues. Still, the Association continued to offer sittings
with top class mediums, such as psychic artist Coral Polge, Lilian Bailey, Ursula
Roberts, Doris Collins, Magdalene Kelly, Harold Sharp, Nora Blackwood, Robin
Stevens and David Young, to name but a few.

In recent years, the Association has undergone a carefully planned
refurbishment, still honouring Spiritualist pioneers by remembering them with the
Oliver Lodge Hall, Dowding Wing and Conan Doyle Hall. Indeed, on display is a
chair in which Sir Arthur wrote a number of his famous Sherlock Holmes' stories..

True to its founding fathers, the Association is at the very forefront of promoting
high-quality younger mediums from all parts of the UK in addition to already
established mediums. Public demonstrations of clairvoyance are held daily so
that everyone - convinced Spiritualist or not - can attend and, perhaps for the first
time, come into contact with mediumship and Spiritualism in conducive
surroundings. As such, the SAGB does not have an official Mission Statement, to
use a hideous modern expression. But if it did, perhaps it would run along these
lines: "To offer evidence to the bereaved that man survives the change called
death and, because he is a spiritual being, retains the faculties of individuality,
personality and intelligence, and can willingly return to those left on earth, ties of
love and friendship being the motivating force. To offer spiritual healing to those
suffering from dis-ease, whether in mind, body or spirit, in a warm and loving
environment.With both of these objectives in mind, to offer only the best and
highest so that those on both sides of the veil can progress in a truly spiritual
sense."

The History of No 33 Belgrave Square
Belgrave Square takes its name from a Leicestershire village owned by the
ground landlords, the Grosvenor family, Dukes of Westminster. Most of the
mansions here were constructed by Thomas Cubitt to designs by George
Vasevi, who in 1845 fell to his death while surveying the spire of Ely Cathedral.
Cubitt overcame the problem of the swampy terrain by fashioning the clay
sub-soil into bricks and filling the excavations with earth removed from St.
Katharine's Dock Hard, by the Tower of London, which was also
then under construction.

In 1836 33 Belgrave Square was acquired by the Right Honourable Doctor John
Nicholl, whose Georgian ancestors had been men of rank and influence in
Glamorganshire. About 1859 his son sold the property to John Edward
Cornwallis, 2nd Earl of Stradbroke (1794-1886), a professional soldier who saw
extensive action in the Peninsular campaign, and San Sebastian and the
investment of Bayonne. He died 27 January 1886 at Henham Hall seventeen
days short of his 93rd birthday. His wife, Augusta, survived him fifteen years,
dropping dead of apoplexy in October 1901 while on a visit to her fourth
daugher, Lady Hilda McNeill, at Broadway, Worcestershire.

With the death of the 2nd Earl of Stradbroke, passed to his son and heir, the 3rd
Earl, George, born in this house 19 November 1862. An Aide de Camp for
almost thirty years, firstly to Edward VII and then to his son, George V, his life
had only one moment of real excitement, when, on 6 November 1916, the P & O
steamship, Arabia, on which he was a passenger, was sunk by a German
torpedo. His Lordship escaped uninjured. From 1921 to 1926 he was Governor
of Victoria, endearing himself to the Australian population through his deep
knowledge of farming. He was a leading breeder of Suffolk horses and did much
to improve the Suffolk Punch. He was also a prominent owner and exhibitor of
Suffolk sheep and of Red Poll cattle.

The 2nd Earl of Stradbroke quitted Belgrave Square shortly before the turn of
the century. 33 was then acquird by Maurice Ruffer, of whom nothing is known
except that in about 1936 he disposed of his interest in the property to
Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Alexander Cazalet (1896-1943) Unionist Member of
Parliament for Chippenham since 1924. Cazalet's knowledge of Central Europe
was probably unequalled among the younger M.P.s, and it was something of an
inspiration to offer him the position of liaison officer with General Wladyslaw
Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, in 1940. Cazalet
accompanied General Sikorski in all his travels; and on Sunday 4 July 1943 died
with him when the helicopter in which they were travelling crashed shortly after
leaving Gibraltar. He was sorely missed. A man of extraordinarily sweet nature
the mainspring of his life had been an unswerving religious faith. He had in youth
been a first class squash rackets player, winning the Amateur Championship four
times. Fittingly perhaps, 33 was taken after his death by the Polish Relief Fund.
After the war it was acquired by the Marylebone Spiritualist Association; and is
occupied today by the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain, established in
1872 and the largest association of its kind in the world.