Harry James Edwards (29 May 1893 – 7 December 1976) was a self-proclaimed

spiritual healer Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into a patient and effect positive results. Practitioners use a number of names including various synonyms for ...

, teacher and author who had a career of nearly 40 years.

Early years

Born in Islington, London as one of nine children, Harry Edwards was the son of

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

and a dressmaker. In 1905, aged 12, Edwards joined the London Diocese Church Lads Brigade. In 1907 he left school and began a seven-year apprenticeship to a printer. Dissatisfied with that career, he developed political aspirations and joined the local branch of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, for whom he campaigned.Redwood, Dawn ‘’ The Harry Edwards Spiritual Healing Sanctuary’’
– brief biography On the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914 Edwards enlisted in the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot a ...

and by late 1915 he was in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

en route for Tekrit, where he worked to build the railway track between there and

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

. He was commissioned in the field, and achieved the rank of captain.Biography of Harry Edwards
/ref> In 1921 he returned to the UK and married Phyllis. The couple opened a stationer's shop and printing works in Balham, and Edwards tried to launch himself into a political career, standing for

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

and council seats as a Liberal candidate on several occasions, but with no success. By this stage he also had four children to support.

Spiritual healing

Edwards became a spiritual healer when he attended a meeting at a spiritualist church in 1935 and was told by the

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s present that he had healing powers. His early attempts at spiritual healing were met with success, and gradually his reputation as a healer spread and his services became more in demand. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Edwards served in the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

and continued to run his printing business alongside his now growing practice as a healer. Gradually, as his fame spread, his healing took over from his printing business, which was later to be run by a brother. He moved to Stoneleigh in Surrey just after the war, where he used the front room of his house as a healing sanctuary. Eventually, because of the increasing number of patients visiting him Edwards outgrew this home, so in 1946 he moved his family and his healing practice to Burrows Lea, a large house with several acres of gardens and woodland in

Shere Shere is a village in the Guildford district of Surrey, England east south-east of Guildford and west of Dorking, centrally bypassed by the A25. It is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set in the wooded ' Vale of Holmesdale' ...

, where he founded the 'Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary'. As his fame as a healer spread he was receiving 10,000 letters a week asking for help and distance healing. In 1948 Edwards held a healing demonstration in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

which was attended by 6,000 people. In September 1951 during the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

he appeared at the Royal Festival Hall in London, where he demonstrated

spiritual healing Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into a patient and effect positive results. Practitioners use a number of names including various synonyms for ...

to a packed hall. In 1954 he became the first President of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers (NFSH). Edwards visited the island of Cyprus for his initiation into Daskalos' inner circle "The Researchers of Truth". The ceremony took place on 1 April 1954. An 'Archbishops' Commission on Divine Healing' was set up in 1953 to investigate spiritual healing, and Edwards addressed the Commission in 1954, providing it with documentary evidence of a number of cases of successful healing for it to examine. At the same time he held a public demonstration in front of 6,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall to launch the '10 o'clock Healing Minute'. The commission's report, published in 1958, stated that neither the Church or the medical profession accepted the claims of spirit healers that they were responsible for successful healings. Despite the fact that Harry Edwards had appeared before the Commission he was never sent a copy of the final report. Edwards claimed that several deceased scientists worked through him, including

Lord Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of su ...

and Louis Pasteur. The founder of the

Aetherius Society The Aetherius Society is a new religious movement founded by George King in the mid-1950s, also in the "Marburg Journal of Religion"link to the article/ref> as the result of what King claimed were contacts with extraterrestrial intelligences, to ...

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was complimentary of his healing powers. Harry Edwards died in December 1976 aged 83. A website still takes money in 2021.

Skeptical reception

A study in the '' British Medical Journal'' (Rose, 1954) investigated

therapeutic touch Therapeutic touch (commonly shortened to "TT"), known by some as "non-contact therapeutic touch" (NCTT), is a pseudoscientific energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. "Therapeutic Touch" is a regi ...

and

faith healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

. In a hundred cases that were investigated, no single case revealed that the healer's intervention alone resulted in any improvement or cure of a measurable organic disability. Edwards claimed he had cured about a hundred thousand people in Britain but Rose could not verify a single cure by Edwards. Rose visited a healing session held by Edwards and observed that an old lady had claimed to have been cured during the session and had walked without her sticks, but by the time the session was over was walking with two sticks out of the hall. John Sladek. (1974). ''The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult Beliefs''. Panther. pp. 120–124.

Bibliography

* Edwards, Harry ''Harry Edwards: Thirty Years a Spiritual Healer'' Jenkins (1968) * Edwards, Harry '' A Guide for the Development of Mediumship'' Spiritualist Aszon, .d.* Edwards, Harry ''The Science of Spirit Healing'' Rider & Co, New York (1943) * Edwards, Harry ''The Mediumship of Jack Webber'' Rider & Co, New York (1940) * Edwards, Harry ''A Guide to the Understanding and Practice of Spiritual Healing'' The Healer Publishing Company Limited (1974) * Edwards, Harry ''The Mediumship of Arnold Clare'' Rider & Co, New York (1941) * Edwards, Harry ''Psychic Healing'' Spiritualist Press Ltd., London (1946) * Edwards, Harry ''Life in Spirit : with a Guide for the Development of Mediumship'' Healer Publishing Co. Ltd (1976) * Edwards, Harry ''The Power of Healing'', Tandem Publishing (1967) * Edwards, Harry with Paul Miller '' The Science, Art and Future of Spirit Healing'' Healer Publishing Company, Ltd (1975) * Edwards, Harry, " ''The Healing Intelligence"'' * Edwards, Harry, " ''A Guide for the Development of Mediumship"'' * Newman, F Terry, "The Spiritual Healer" journal, Editor.

Select bibliography

*Branch, Ramus ''Harry Edwards : the Story of the Greatest Healer Since the Time of Christ'' Guildford (1982) *Miller, Paul ''Harry Edwards, the Healer'' The Spiritualist Press, London (1948) *Miller, Paul ''Born to Heal : a Biography of Harry Edwards, the Spirit Healer'' The Spiritualist Press, London (1962) *Barbanell, Maurice ''Harry Edwards and His Healing'' The Spiritualist Press, London (1953)

References

External links

Website of the Harry Edwards Healing SanctuaryWebsite of the Harry Edwards Healing CollegeEdwards on Spiritualist Mediums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Harry 1893 births 1976 deaths British Home Guard soldiers English spiritual mediums Faith healers