Ghostly Guild (Hermes Guild)

"In 1851, was founded at Cambridge a Society to conduct a serious and earnest inquiry into the nature of the phenomena vaguely called supernatural,and a number of distinguished persons became members." (20)

The Ghost Society is also described in the biography of one of its founding members, The Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, by Arthur Hort.

"Two other societies...were started...in both of which Hort seems to have been the moving spirit...the other called by its members The Ghostly Guild.The object was to collect and classify authenticated instances of what are now called psychical phenomena'...the Bogie Clubas scoffers called it, aroused a certain amount of derision, and even some alarm; it was apparently born too soon." (21)

The Society for Psychical Research: An Outline of its History and the Life of Edward White Benson by his son, Arthur, present further documentation of the distinguished founders of the Cambridge Ghost Society:

"Among the numerous persons and groups who in the middle of the nineteenth century were making enquiries into psychical occurrences may be mentioned a society from which our own can claim direct descent. In the Life of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, by his son, A. C. Benson, will be found, under the year 18512, the following paragraph:

Among my fathers diversions at Cambridge was the foundation of a Ghost Society,the forerunner of the Psychical Society [meaning the S.P.R.] for the investigation of the supernatural. Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort were among the members. He was then, as always, more interested in psychical phenomena than he cared to admit.

"Lightfoot and Westcott both became bishops, and Hort Professor of Divinity. The S.P.R. has hardly lived up to the standard of ecclesiastical eminence set by the parent society." (22)

Canon J.B. Lightfoot, Bishop B.F. Westcott, and Professor of Divinity F.J.A. Hort also served on the Revision Committee for the English Revised Version of 1881. Drs. Westcott and Hort produced a New Greek Text and created a new theory of textual criticism for this revision of the Authorized Version of 1611. Edward White Benson, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883, married Mary Sidgwick. Edward and Mary became the parents of Robert Hugh Benson, who converted to

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Roman Catholicism during the Oxford Movement led by John Henry Newman. (23) Marys brother, Henry Sidgwick married Eleanor Balfour, the sister of Arthur Balfour, who became a future Prime Minister of England. Gauld reflects

"To say that the Sidgwicks had friends in high places would be an enormous understatement. They were also, I should guess, among the most intellectual couples of the century." (24)