We begin at the Bookroom last Wednesday; where knee-deep in knitting and reading over again-'A Town Like Alice'- which I am swallowing whole as I do believe this book speaks the truth about a lot I knew wasn't set at Freshwater- and couldn't previously identify to satisfy my mind during the research thus far.
So, I'm a happy bunny, and thought my next post would be all about this- But no!
Another tangent presented itself- and what a tangent!
It's got me rather amazed, and I very much look forwards to what may transpire...
A lady popped into the Bookroom, and asked me if I would like to buy some books. I told her that it was my boss who bought- and called him and see. He couldn't do it- as the Lady needed it done by friday latest. She looked rather dismayed and I asked ended up agreeing to pop over after work. Armed with two days wages as payment- I asked what I could take for this. I picked, she agreed, then all of a sudden things changed. She was clearly up against things and needed some help. So, I agreed to clear everything for her- which was a mammoth task, and over the next few days running over early morning, unloading and doing the same again for 5 days- my aching arms and the lack of space, left me feeling I'd bitten off a bit more than I could chew.
Anyhow, got it all home and began the big sort through. About half went to the Lifeboat shop. and still having heaps to sift through I began my toil...
Amongst it all was some fascinating stuff, and I set about who should have what. Coming across some military papers- regarding the Battle of Gallipoli and a Captains account of this immediately thinking of someone who would be interested I put them aside.
Then, I gorged myself on old Penguins which I'm uploading for a new Etsy shop- this one's my favourite Em-for obvious reasons!
C'est votre Grand-mere avec Pantoufle n'est pas Emily? ( actually, rather thought you'd like a piccie by now to hold your interest dear girl. )
However- back to the plot. There I am a photographing and describing the books- which becomes a little tedious I must admit. I glance at the military stuff- thinking I will contact the fellow who could be interested, and I see a paper at the end- with the surname 'Wilberforce' catching my eye. Having personally no interest in the military I'd only partly read this through. This particular item, came with the other and is written by the same chap- Captain Farmar in 1939, recounting a very strange tale indeed.
Here it is verbatim ;-
An Appendix
'My Godfather Basil Wilberforce was Archdeacon of Westminster Chaplain to the House of Commons and held in the living of S.John's Westminster at the time he took the marriage service for my wife and myself in S.Pauls, Knightsbridge on the 31st July 1907.
Not long afterwards we were asked by Mrs.Wilberforce to lunch at 20 Deans Yard, Westminster and found the only other guest to be Mr.Daly a member of the Company which was then performing the Play by Bernard Shaw 'John Bulls' Other Island' and who was also a member of the Psychical Research Society.
Mr. Daly had been acting in Dublin and so prevented from accepting the invitation of the Wilberforces to come to 20 Deans Yard the previous Saturday when 24 guests including Lord Balfour and other members of the Society came to hear the narrative to which we listened as it was repeated for the benefit of M.Daly.
The Archdeacon told us that some twenty years previously when he was Rector of St.Mary Southampton he had made the acquaintance of a wealthy Corn-merchant Mr.Richmond who lived near Bristol. He had a private Chapel and used it. Both his family and friends found him to be a little difficult owing to inequalities of temperament and spiritual disturbances: so much so in the case of himself Basil Wilberforce that he discouraged communications and did not hear from Mr. Richmond for some 17 or 18 years. Then suddenly he began to receive letters written ina quiet and restrained manner but which indicated that he was in possession of some thing of mystical value and which he wished to show and talk of to and be advised by Basil Wilberforce.
The result was the gathering at 20 Deans Yard already referred to. A woman medium was present without knowledge of what was to take place or of any of the circumkstances. There were also members of the British Museum staff and a member of the firm of Murano of Venice.
Mr Richmond had told Basil Wilberforce that earlier in the year his mind had frequently been filled with thoughts of Glastonbury and eventually with a clear vision of a locality in which there is a short upright stone near a wall. He was impressed with the idea that there was something there of which he was intended to take care. He described the mental vision to his daughter aged 18 and asked her to go with a friend one Sunday which she did. She recognised the locality and the stone and in the head of this found a hollow covered with a slab and in the cavity a shallow dish or plate wrapped in a modern unmarked napkin. She brought this to her Father who placed it on the Altar of his Chapel.
The vessel was described as round with a centre of deep clear sapphire colour the outer rims shading in concentric circles to the palest blue and being of a different material to the shallow depression of the middle in which there was silver leaf within the substance. It had the appearance of a jewel.
Mr.Richmond and some of his friends had experiences during times of prayer which impelled him to write to Basil Wilberforce.
The vessel was brought to 20 Deans Yard for the seance and at first kept covered. The guests knew mo details when the Medium was entranced. She described the scene of the last Supper and ended by saying 'the door is opened and a woman comes in... and I see it as Our Lady'.
An examination of the Chalice by Experts showed the centre of it to be a kind of clear cloisonne paste which Murano reported to be known as antiquity even in the life time of Joseph of Arimithea and very valuable then. The setting was of glass. Colour deep blue paling to almost white in the outside ring. Mr.Richmond asked that the dish or chalice should be placed in S.Johns Westminster but the Archdeacon thought it should remain in the keeping of Mr.Richmond.
All those to whom these happenings had been confided had been asked to treat them as confidential. However a garbled account was published in the Daily Mail. Following on this Archdeacon Wilberforce received a letter from a Doctor Roberts then practising in Cheltenham to ay that he had placed the chalice where it had been found by Mr.Richmond.
At this juncture a report was received by the Archdeacon to the effect that research is in the archives of Glastonbury had resulted in a possible clue. There is a list of particular valuables which were sent to Italy when the dissolution of the Abbey was thought to be imminent in the reign of Henry V111, and at the head of the list is the entry:
'The Sapphire of Glastonbury".
The dish given by Joseph of Arimithea for Christ to use at the last Supper in the first Communion Service and entrusted by Joseph to the members of the Abbey which he founded at Glastonbury.
The story which came from Dr.Roberts was this:-
His Father was a student of modern occulties, a man of deep religious sense. Qualified as a Doctor, he had ceased to do any medical work when Dr.Roberts began to practise in Cheltenham. They lived together and travelled together when opportunities offered.
Some twenty years previous to the finding of the chalice by Miss Richmond at Glastonbury the two Roberts were at Bordighera. The Elder found the sapphire dish in a Shop and bought it. The seller told him that he himself had only just bought the dish, and almost immediately after it had been in Lombardy, where it must have lain hidden for very many years in the secure hiding place from which it was carefully packed. A farmer had split a boulder to move it from a furrow and secure a long straight line for his plough. In a rather deep fissure in the boulder had been the package containing the chalice.
The elder Roberts said little to his son beyond the fact that he attached mystical importance to the dish. He put it in a cupboard in his room at Cheltenham and for some years it was never seen by the younger man and in his busy life he did not think about it.
After his Father's death Dr. Roberts was called to Paris on business. Arrived at a Hotel he went to his room with his mind full of what had brought him. He was well and vigorous. Suddenly he suffered from a feeling which he could only describe as complete bodily paralysis while his mind was very alert. He collapsed onto his bed.
For some twenty minutes he lay still while his thoughts dwelt on the subject of the Sapphire chalice. He connected it for the first time in his mind with Glastonbury. And then into his mind came the picture of the place where he intended to lay it.
When his business was done in Paris the memory of the chalice was vivid. The first free week end he used to take the Chalice wrapped in one of his napkins to Glastonbury. He recognised the place of his vision. He hid the Chalice in it. And returned to Cheltenham saying nothing to anyone; as he did not wish his sanity to be questioned.
After absence abroad I saw Mrs.Wilberforce again and asked her if there had been further developments as to the Chalice. Her reply was to the effect that the Archdeacon did not wish to be asked any questions on that subject, it having led to complications, and at the moment he must not be worried.
21.v.1939
Well, Emily- sounds like a 'likely story'! But- one that's fairly easy to corroborate at least down to the details. I await contact from the archivist at today's SPR, having had a lengthy chat with the Society today by phone. A story that involves a Prime Minister, and Archdeacon, a Captain, and a mystical bowl holds some interest for me.
Wilberforce is still ringing bells- thoough not this one- I shall report back from the Bookroom when back at the weekend...
And of course, our good old Charles Dodgson was a member of this Society- as indeed was Arthur Conan Doyle at the same time as Balfour.
How could I fail to be interested. Oh, this investigation of dead people takes you on a twisty-turney ride Em.
Suffice to say, I shan't be calling the fellow who I thought might be interested in the Military papers on our Captain Farmer- these papers need to stay together!
A tout-a-l'heure ma petite,
Your ever-loving Grand-mother, GiGi xxx
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