by William Thomas Stead (1849-1912) - Journalist, editor, pacifist and spiritualist. W.T. Stead was an important contributor to the evolution of today's investigative journalism.
In 1871, after a time engaged as a clerk in a Newcastle merchant's office, at the tender age of 22, he became the youngest newspaper editor in the country at the helm of the fledgling Northern Echo in Darlington.
Though he continued to dabble in spiritualism during his time in London at the Pall Mall Gazette, political and editorial contraints prevented him from over-indulging, and it was not until he became his own boss as owner and editor of the Review of Reviews in 1890, that he was able to pursue his interest further. In 1891, he published Real Ghost Stories as the Review of Reviews Christmas annual, and a year later, he followed this up with More Ghost Stories, again as a Christmas Annual.
in 1893, he founded and edited the Spiritualism quarterly, Borderland.
Stead's reputation as a clairvoyant seems to have grown after his death, due to his two fictional stories, "How the Mail Steamer went Down in Mid Atlantic" (1886) and "From the Old World to the New" (1892), both of which suggest the Titanic disaster in which, years later, he would himself ultimately perish.
Publications:
Works about him:
In 1871, after a time engaged as a clerk in a Newcastle merchant's office, at the tender age of 22, he became the youngest newspaper editor in the country at the helm of the fledgling Northern Echo in Darlington.
Though he continued to dabble in spiritualism during his time in London at the Pall Mall Gazette, political and editorial contraints prevented him from over-indulging, and it was not until he became his own boss as owner and editor of the Review of Reviews in 1890, that he was able to pursue his interest further. In 1891, he published Real Ghost Stories as the Review of Reviews Christmas annual, and a year later, he followed this up with More Ghost Stories, again as a Christmas Annual.
in 1893, he founded and edited the Spiritualism quarterly, Borderland.
Stead's reputation as a clairvoyant seems to have grown after his death, due to his two fictional stories, "How the Mail Steamer went Down in Mid Atlantic" (1886) and "From the Old World to the New" (1892), both of which suggest the Titanic disaster in which, years later, he would himself ultimately perish.
Publications:
- From the Old World to the New (1892)
- Telepathy: A Passing Note (1894)
- Clairvoyancy (1897)
- Premonitions & Second Sight (1897)
- Haunted Houses (1897)
- Speech by Stead on Spiritualism (1909)
- Stead on the death of his son, Willie (1909)
- Letter from W. T. Stead to R. J. Lees (1912)
- Letters from Julia (full text pdf) (1905)
- Stead on Madame Blavatsky (1909)
- Real Ghost Stories (full text pdf) (1921)
Works about him:
- Julia's Bureau, an Attempt to Bridge the Grave (1909)
- Ghosts of Living People (1913)
- A. G. Gardiner on Stead & Spiritualism (1913)
- The Blue Island (part I)
- The Blue Island (part II)
- The Blue Island (full text PDF)
- Sensational Stead and the Spirit World (Documentary by Dr Keith Parsons)
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