Emma Hardinge Britten

Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899)

1829 England- The demure, somber girl moved like a wraith through the old churchyard in the misty morning. She was used to this, and preferred it, actually. If she should happen by a man or woman walking on the road, she would be sure to keep to herself, often pushing herself against a hedgerow or behind a gravestone. She certainly would not draw the person’s attention to the shadowy incorporeal figures that walked beside them. People would become alarmed and often cross with her when she did things like that.

1834 France- Emma’s father, the sea captain, was dead. Her mother had brought her here to Paris in order for her to flourish as a musician. She sat in the large reception room, feeling very small among the adults that murmured and stirred about her. She waited for instructions. Someone wanted to hear a song, and her master told her the name of the piece. She had never heard it, but yet, she could, in her inner ear, begin to hear the small notes and refrains that gave the song a body. She glanced at the man who had requested the song. He was smirking slyly. When her graceful, pale fingers began to tap out the melody of the song, his face paled and one could hear gasps between the adults. She finished strongly, and then looked to her mother who was only looking with worried apprehension at her little girl. My mother thinks that the devil is working through me, Emma thinks. We will be going home now.

1855 New York- Emma looks down at the playbill, looks for her name once again, and not finding it anywhere, sighs. She and her mother had come all the way from England so that she might try her hand at acting. She didn’t understand it. Emma had worked so hard, and the write-ups from the critic men had all had glowing things to say of her, and yet her parts had shrivelled and her perspective star had dimmed. It was as if some force beyond knowing was working against her career as an actress.

“Emma, don’t fret over that!” her friend assured her. “You must come with me to see the medium I was telling you about. Perhaps she can give you some advice.”

1856- Emma stopped talking and opened her eyes. The women seated about the table were all looking at her with rapt wonder. Some had wet eyes that even yet brimmed with potential tears.

“You have the gift, Emma!” Kate Fox declared. “You most certainly have the gift.”

“What did I say?” Emma asked.

“You can’t remember?” Leah asked. Emma shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. If you can put yourself in such a trance at will, then you will have one of the greatest careers spiritualism has ever yet produced!”

That same year in 1856, Emma would announce during a trance that a merchant vessel had floundered and sank at sea. Her voice dropped as she summoned the register of one of the sailors, confused in finding himself on the other side of the briny veil. The shipping company would threaten litigation, until the truth was learned and Emma had foretold the terrible tragedy of this lost ship. Emma would even go on to help the police solve crimes.

Emma toured through America and Canada, and was beset by a great flock of admirers and sometimes mobs of angry discreditors that hated her for growing critique of organized Christianity and her progressive politics. In the American south, it was particularly difficult, and stones were thrown through windows where she performed for an audience, and mobs threatened her and her audience with lynching. In fact, some southern states made the practice of spiritualism illegal. Despite this, Emma would continue to tour and promote the election of Abraham Lincoln, a man who was more than a little interested in spiritualism.

During the American Civil War, Emma and her mother were frequent guests at the home of Leah Fox (Now Mrs. Leah Underhill) in New York City. On one occasion, a seance was conducted with Leah, Emma, Emma’s mother, Henry Lloyd Garrison (the famous abolitionist), and a few others. Also in attendance was Robert Dale Owen, the son of the famous Welsh father of Utopian Socialism. The Senior Mr. Owens had passed on, but not before meeting the American medium Maria B. Hayden. Having witnessed one of her sessions, Owen had been completely and enthusiastically converted from materialism to a fervent spiritualist. His son had bemoaned that his father had gone mad in his old age, however, after a spiritual experience of his own abroad, Robert Dale Owen had become a spiritualist after his father.

During the seance, the spirit of Robert Owen the senior came through, and requested to speak through Emma. Emma complied and through her, Owen gave the 10 rules of spiritualist right, which his son transcribed. Emma then went on to play “John Brown” and other Civil War songs, and the room shook and the entire audience was moved to tears. Garrison had long before been converted to Spiritualism when the spirits told him: “Spiritualism will work miracles in the cause of reform”. (Simon)

Owen on another occasion spoke through Emma to give the seven principles of Spiritualism which are not rules or commandments, but principles through which the faithful spiritualist rests his or her faith. They have been adopted to be the central principles of the Spiritualists National Union of the UK, and helped inspire the central tenets of The National Association of Spiritualist Churches in the United States.

1.The Fatherhood of God

2.The Brotherhood of Man

3.The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels

4.The continuous existence of the human soul

5.Personal responsibility

6.Compensation and retribution hereafter for all the good and evil deeds done on earth

7.Eternal progress open to every human soul

Emma married late in life, to a man who was very much a suitable and amenable partner to her. She published lots of works about spiritualism and helped codify and spread the message. She published Two Worlds which is a spiritualist publication that is still available today. Emma and her husband went to Australia and New Zealand in 1878 as spiritualist Missionaries. In the 20th century, spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes creator) was delighted to find the spiritualist communities still thriving there. It was through the writings of Emma Hardinge Britten that later spiritualists would learn about their new faith and those who had once pioneered the movement.

Below are listed links to primary sources from Britten. The first is her autobiography, the second is a speech she gave after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln that was attended by over three thousand people. In the speech she gives full account of her feelings on slavery and iniquity as it existed at the time. The third is her famous chronicling of the spiritualist movement.

Emma died in 1899 in Manchester, England.

The Autobiography of Emma Hardinge Britten

“The Great Funeral Oration on Abraham Lincoln."

Nineteenth Century Miracles or Spirits and Their Work in Every Country on Earth (1883)