Dear Raymond: The Story of Spirituality and the First World War

by Sophie Jackson

Overview

Raymond Lodge's death from shell shrapnel in 1915 was unremarkable in a war where many young men would die, but his father's response to his untimely death was. Sir Oliver Lodge, physicist, scientist, part inventor of the wireless telegraph and the spark plug, could not let go of Raymond and went on a controversial and bizarre journey into the realm of life after death. Following Sir Oliver's journey, Dear Raymond, explores the untapped topic of spirituality pre- and postwar, the influence that a national tragedy can have on a nation's belief system and the long lasting effects from this time that we still feel today. Alongside Lodge were some of the great names of the day, as a member of the Ghost Club and the Fabian Society he was in contact with famous men such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who went on his own mission into the afterlife after losing a son. Lodge's exploration and the controversy it exploded opens our eyes to how modern religion has been shaped and changed by the conflicts of the Twentieth Century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781552193
Publisher:	Fonthill Media
Publication date:	04/02/2015
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

SOPHIE JACKSON has worked as a freelance journalist since 2003 specialising in social history. For two years, she was the editor of The History Magazine and has written numerous articles and books, her last three being on the Second World War. Jackson’s first book for Fonthill Media was Death by Chocolate: The Serial Poisoning of Victorian Brighton.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

1 A Death Among Millions 9

2 The Soldiers' War 37

3 God's Work Under Fire 48

4 Sir Oliver Lodge and his Heart's Desire 63

5 What Makes a Medium? 85

6 The Dark Side 104

7 Proof in a Picture 123

8 An Age to Believe 136

9 Fairies, Pixies and Ghoulies, Oh My! 145

10 Mysteries of War 160

Appendix 1 171

Bibliography 173