Mr Sludge the Medium part one
Daniel Dunglas Hume- Gifted Medium or Scoundrel ?
First came across the most famous medium Daniel Dunglas Home when reading Linda Stratmann's Mina Scarletti novels. Set in Brighton during the early 1870's, the lead character is set on a course to expose mediums, who are generally depicted as being tricksters and preying on the grief of those who were suffering bereavement. In the novel Mr Scarletti's Ghost ,Mina reads a pamphlet titled The claims of D.D.Home Refuted Containing a Very Full Account of the Lyon Case and His Disgrace by Josiah Rand M.D. I have not found this publication, though Mina could have read quite a widely circulated Illustrated Police News pamphlet on the case from 1868*. In her footnotes Linda Stratmann concedes that Home's mediumship was never fully exposed, but questions his overall credibility by citing the 'Lyon v. Home' case of 1868.
Mrs Jane Lyon was a rich widow, had few friends or close family. She decided to effectively adopt the well known medium, far younger than her, in exchange for large sums of money. Home was not generally charging fees for conducting seances. However he was meeting celebrities and needed financing to keep up appearances. Mrs Lyon most likely wanted access to the lives of the rich and famous. Mrs Lyon demanded her money back when it became clear that her husband was not prepared to offer her society 'introductions'. Moreover, Mrs Lyon claimed that Home had suggested to her that the spirit of her late husband had 'come through' to suggest their current financial arrangement, even to suggest an increase in the money that should be donated. PEARSON. As Spiritualism had only really reached Britain in the early 1850's , a lot was riding on the Court judgement. Mrs Lyon won her case, and a judge delivered a ruling that was interpreted as being quite hostile to the new movement.
But who was Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-1886), medium,author, overall advocate for Spiritualism, who even did a stint as a war correspondent during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870? Born in Curry, near, Edinburgh. His father worked in a paper mill, and was the illegitimate son of an Earl,his mother was credited as having the gift (or burden) of 'second sight'. She gave birth to eight children in total. Young Daniel was a delicate child, and was adopted by his aunt and her husband who lived at nearby Portobello without children. The three of them migrated to the USA somewhere between 1838 and 1841,settling initially in Greeneway, near Norwich,Connecticut.
Certainly a strange child, Daniel attracted what we would now call paranormal activity (such as unexplained and intrusive knocking sounds). Daniel, around the age of 13, made a pact with his closest friend Edwin,agreeing that if one of them died, the other would return from the hereafter to find them. Daniel's aunt and uncle soon took him with them in a move to a town called Troy in New York State.
Edwin moved also away with his family and then died. Daniel claimed that Edwin's spirit materialised before him. Daniel also maintained that he encountered the spirit of his own dead mother long before news of their respective demise was received.
Hume returned to Britain in March 1855, aged 22 and soon became a celebrity medium, staying with his supporters. Charles Dickens refused to meet him. Robert Browning was not impressed when he and his wife fellow poet Elizabeth Browning attended one of Hume's seances at Ealing on 22nd July 1855. Later Robert Browning threatened to throw Home down some stairs when he later called at their home in Florence. LAMONT 2005 Robert Browning wrote the famous poem Mr Sludge the Medium which is not a flattering portrait (extract from Full Text )
Elizabeth Browning praised Home. In a letter to her sister Henrietta dated August 17th 1855 : Depicting a seance conducted by Home which involved ghostly music and a pair of hands supposedly not belonging to any human were present ;
" We were touched by the invisible,heard the music and raps, saw the table moved, and had sight of the hands. Also at the request of the medium, the spiritual hands took from the table a garland which lay there, and placed it on my head .......I was perfectly calm ! not (sic) troubled in any way, and felt convinced in my own mind that no spirit belonging to me was present on the occasion." HUXLEY (Original emphasis)
Elizabeth Browning already followed the teachings of 18th century was certainly easier to convince than her husband. Robert Browning tactfully waited for his wife's death before publishing 'Mr Sludge the Medium' in Dramatis Personae in 1864.
Hume did not give public demonstrations of his mediumship, neither did he charge money for his sittings. In Britain the MP and author Edwin Bulwer-Lytton hosted seances at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire for Hume. Other Home backers included the noted physicist Sir William Crookes, who carried out extensive research into Spiritualism. LAMONT 2005 The question of how a historian can possibly verify this type of irrational phenomena ( such as Elizabeth Browning and other Home supporters claimed to have encountered) such as furniture moving, flowers materialising, has been tackled by Peter Lamont in Extraordinary Beliefs -A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem. It is not easy to resolve. Especially in the case of Daniel Dunglas Home, where his activity as a medium was never exposed, even though his behaviour in extracting money from Mrs Lyons was extremely dubious by many people's standards even though the lady in question started the deal.
But there is another angle. Home attributed his unusual powers to 'spirits'. In the 21st century magician Derren Brown has managed to reproduce at least some of the feats that Victorian Spiritualists performed, including the furniture moving. It is not necessarily the job of a historian to argue that belief in spirits is misplaced. Yet can be argued that if a magician such as Derren Brown -who is very critical of and non-accepting of Spiritualism -can reproduce such phenomena by using his own talents, then the uniqueness of alleged spirit activity has gone.
Picture Credit
The alleged levitation of Daniel Dunglas Home -lithograph from Louis Figuier 'Les Mystères de la Science' from 1887 .Courtesy of ' Wikipedia' , in the public domain .
Posts from this blog
Weblinks about Daniel Dunglas Home
Illustrated London News Victorian Popular Culture, digital entry *
Psi Encyclopedia entry about Daniel Dunglas Home
Books
Incidents in my Life (Second Series) 1872 Digital version of Daniel Dunglas HOME autobiography
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Letters to her Sister 1846-1859, edited by Leonard HUXLEY, John Murray 1929.
Extraordinary Beliefs -A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem, Peter LAMONT, Cambridge University Press, 2013
The First Psychic -The Peculiar Mystery of a Notorious Victorian Wizard , Peter LAMONT,Abacus, 2005
The Table-Rappers, Ronald PEARSALL, Michael Jones, 1972
The Days That Are No More Some Reminiscences, Princess Pauline METTERNICH, Eveleigh Nash and Grayson Ltd. 1921
Youtube
Derren Brown-Table Turning From live stage show
This post was started in 2023 and put on hold. Now uploaded on request. The follow up 'Mr Sludge the Medium part two' will look at Daniel Dunglas Home visiting the Court of Napoleon III and the Empress of Eugenie.
Welcoming and appreciating all visitors from different countries who are visiting my blog. Thank you so much.
Michael Bully
Worthing,
England
19th September 2026
Social Media
Michael Bully @bleakchesneywold.bsky.social
Mr Bleak (@MrBleak5 )
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