Arthur Conan Doyle by Walter Benington, 1914

The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (the SAGB) is a British spiritualist organisation. It was established ion 10th July 1872.

History

The SAGB grew out of the Marylebone Spiritualist Association (founded 1872). The story of the association's early struggles "to propagate spiritual truths in the

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

area of London" is told in an SAGB publication, "One Hundred Years of Spiritualism", which also states that

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

allegedly held several séances after the death of the Prince Consort. A famous and outspoken supporter of the SAGB was Arthur Conan Doyle, who (according to his obituary in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'') in later years "often expressed a wish that he should be remembered for his psychic work rather than for his novels". Serving the principles of the

Spiritualist movement Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

, and open to members and non-members alike, the SAGB offers rooms where the public, whether Spiritualist or not, may sit for readings with spirit

mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

. Sunday services are free and include a public Demonstration of mediumship. Private 30-minute sittings are available daily during opening hours for a fee. They may be recorded if the client wishes. The nature of the sittings is strictly limited by a policy which states that the mediums are "to try to provide evidence of survival f the spirit after deathand not to predict the future." The library of the SAGB was named after the spiritualist

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing t ...

. The SAGB's current headquarters is at the Victoria Charity Centre at 11 Belgrave Road, London."History of the SAGB (1872-2015)"
Spiritualist Association of Great Britain.

Beliefs

As an organization, the SAGB describes their goals as: The SAGB and its mediums abide by the following seven principles of belief: * That there is an Infinite Intelligence, Who governs all * That personal identity and all sentient forms of life survive physical death * That continuous existence and eternal progress occur for all in the Hereafter * That there is communion with the spiritual realms * That all of humanity is spiritually linked * That in the Hereafter, all must account for their actions on earth and will judge themselves accordingly * That all are responsible for the way they conduct their earthly lives.

Notable members and supporters

Emma Hardinge Britten Emma Hardinge Britten (2 May 1823 – 2 October 1899) was an English advocate for the early Modern Spiritualist Movement. Much of her life and work was recorded and published in her speeches and writing and an incomplete autobiography edite ...

* Doris Collins *

Lord Dowding Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally ...

* Arthur Conan Doyle * Thomas Everitt * James Manby Gully *

G. Wilson Knight George Richard Wilson Knight (1897–1985) was an English literary critic and academic, known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature, and ''The Wheel of Fire'', a collection of essays on Shakespeare's plays. He was a ...

Florence Marryat Florence Marryat (9 July 1833 – 27 October 1899) was a British author and actress. The daughter of author Capt. Frederick Marryat, she was particularly known for her sensational novels and her involvement with several celebrated spiritual me ...

* Estelle Roberts * W. T. Stead *

Ena Twigg Ena Twigg (1914-1984) was a British psychic medium. Born in Gillingham in Kent on 6 January 1914, Twigg claimed psychic ability from an early age. She married Harry Twigg a soldier in the Royal Navy. Twigg became a minister of a Spiritualist Churc ...

Controversy surrounding Headquarter relocation

The SAGB historic headquarters at 33

Belgrave Square Belgrave Square is a large 19th-century garden square in London. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and its architecture resembles the original scheme of property contractor Thomas Cubitt who engaged George Basevi for all of the terraces fo ...

was sold in 2010 for 6 million pounds. It relocated to a new home in the Victoria Charity Centre at 11 Belgrave Road, London, near Victoria Station. In 2013, the Charity Commission for England and Wales launched an investigation in to the sale of the property, after discovering that the subsequent owners sold the property for 21 million pounds shortly after purchasing it from the SAGB. The Committee published a report of its findings on 30 March 2017. The Commission's report concluded SAGB's

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...

s had failed to fulfil their legal duties and responsibilities towards the charity, and that ‘the failures and breaches were not minor or technical in nature’ but ‘amount to basic and serious mismanagement’. The charity responded to the Commission's report claiming that they "could not have foreseen what would happen in future" regarding property prices."Regulator finds serious mismanagement at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain"
ThirdSector.co.uk, Accessed 30 March 2017 S.A.G.B headquarters are now at 341,Queens town Road, Battersea, London SW8 4LH

References

External links