1. Frank Podmore was an English author and founding member of the Fabian Society as well as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research.
16 Facts About Frank Podmore
1. 2.
Frank Podmore is known for his interest in spiritualism, which he eventually developed a sceptical attitude towards, specifically the claims of mediumship which he attacked in his history of mediumship, The New Spiritualism.
3.
Frank Podmore was educated at Haileybury and Pembroke College, Oxford.
4.
Frank Podmore suggested that the group should be named after the Roman General, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who advocated weakening the opposition by harassing operations rather than becoming involved in pitched battles.
5.
Frank Podmore was a member of the Oxford Phasmatological Society which dissolved in 1885.
6.
Frank Podmore married Eleanore Bramwell in 1891 the marriage was a failure and they separated.
7.
Frank Podmore's major work was a detailed study of the life and ideas of Robert Owen.
8.
Frank Podmore resigned from a senior post in the Post Office in 1907.
9.
Frank Podmore separated from his wife, and went to live with his brother Claude, rector of Broughton, near Kettering.
10.
Frank Podmore died by drowning at Malvern, Worcestershire, in August 1910.
11.
Researcher Ronald Pearsall wrote that it was generally believed that Frank Podmore was a homosexual and that it was "very strange" that his brother Claude, his wife or any member of the Society for Psychical Research did not attend his funeral.
12.
Frank Podmore gave a report on a poltergeist case Worksop which he believed to be genuine, but reassessed the case in 1896 finding it fraudulent.
13.
Frank Podmore's books, giving non-paranormal explanations from much of the psychical research that he studied, received positive reviews in science journals.
14.
Frank Podmore who considered most mediums fraudulent, was open minded about the telepathic hypothesis for Leonora Piper's seances.
15.
Frank Podmore was critical of Helena Blavatsky and her claims of Theosophy.
16.
Frank Podmore evaluated poltergeist cases and concluded they are best explained by deception and trickery.