1. Hester Dowden, known as Hester Travers Smith, was an Irish spiritualist medium who is most notable for having claimed to contact the spirits of Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare and other writers.
19 Facts About Hester Dowden
1. 2.
Hester Dowden wrote Voices from the Void, an account of her life as a medium, and Psychic Messages from Oscar Wilde.
3.
Hester Dowden used both her maiden name and her married name Hester Travers Smith.
4.
Hester Dowden was probably the model for the medium in Yeats's play, The Words upon the Window Pane.
5.
When her father remarried in 1895, Hester Dowden clashed with his new wife.
6.
Hester Dowden moved back to London, becoming a professional medium in 1921.
7.
Hester Dowden was closely associated with William Fletcher Barrett, the psychical researcher.
8.
Hester Dowden was responsible for introducing Geraldine Cummins to mediumship.
9.
Hester Dowden set up as a professional medium after she became convinced of her powers.
10.
Hester Dowden claimed to communicate with the spirit of Oscar Wilde and published her "conversations" in 1923.
11.
Hester Dowden is so anxious to prove himself honest and outspoken that he utters a great deal more than he is able to think.
12.
Hester Dowden is ever ready to call upon his audience to admire his work, and his audience admires it from sheer sympathy with his delight.
13.
Hester Dowden dismissed Thomas Hardy as a "harmless rustic" but admired George Meredith for his appreciation of beauty.
14.
Hester Dowden loathed James Joyce's novel Ulysses, which was a "great bulk of filth" and "heated vomit".
15.
Hester Dowden claimed Wilde demonstrated that he had no homosexual inclinations, but instead revealed his utter adoration of womankind.
16.
Hester Dowden was later contacted by Percy Allen who wanted to prove that Shakespeare's works were written by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, not Bacon.
17.
The "spirit of Bacon" told Allen that he had been misquoted when Hester Dowden had received the messages she passed on to Dodd, but that Hester Dowden was not to blame because another spirit had garbled the message on that occasion.
18.
In 1941 Hester Dowden, who was living in Chelsea, London at the time, claims to have received messages from "Johannes" commenting on the personalities of the principal national leaders during World War II.
19.
Hester Dowden is not fond of adventure, as Churchill is, but he would not shirk risks if he felt they might set things in the right direction.