UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION James Ingall Wedgwood was an English Theosophist associated with the Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India who was the first Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church.
He is a descendant of the Wedgwoods of pottery fame. His grandfather, Hensleigh Wedgwood, was one of the founders of the London Spiritualist Alliance and of the Society for Psychical Research (it is thought that he was one of the general committee who passed the report condemning H. P. B.). His mother, who knew H. P. B., was an extremely good clairvoyant, and is mentioned in some of the Myers, Gurney and Podmore books.[1]
Wedgwood had an early interest in becoming an analytical chemist.[2] He studied at University College, Nottingham, but after completing his studies changed direction to learn how to play the church organ at York Minster. After four years he began preparing for Holy Orders in the Anglican Church. when he discovered Theosophy through a lecture by Annie Besant, he lost his position at York Minster.
Theosophical Society involvement
Wedgwood was admitted to the Theosophical Society in Yorkshire, England on September 7, 1904. [3]
In one account of his life:
He thought to enter the Episcopal Church. Coming into a knowledge of Theosophy and falling under the cold intellectualism of that time, he became somewhat impatient of the limitations of orthodoxy; a deeper insight, however, that came with the founding of the Order of the Star in the East and the Temple of the Rosy Cross, made the Power of the Christ a living reality to him; he was led back to Christianity by his study of Theosophy and was ordained priest and later consecrated as a bishop. This connection with the church, he says, has been a wonderful aid to him in his theosophical work.[4]
The Bishop is also Grand Secretary of the Supreme Council of Universal Co-Masonry.[5]
Wedgwood was an accomplished organist and had considerable expertise in organ construction. He wrote at least three books on the subject. A Comprehensive Dictionary of Organ Stops is still considered to be authoritative and is widely available.
Later years
Bishop Wedgwood died on March 13, 1951 in Camberley, Surrey Heath Borough, Surrey, England.
Some of Wedgwood's works were translated into Dutch, German, French, Russian, Swedish, Polish, and Spanish.
On church organs
A comprehensive dictionary of organ stops: English and foreign, ancient and modern, practical, theoretical, historical, aesthetic, etymological, phonetic. London: Vincent Music Co., 1905. At least seven editions. 194 pages, illustrations. Available at Internet Archive (1900 edition), Hathitrust, and Google Books.
Some continental organs (ancient and modern) and their makers. London: William Reeves, 1910. 69 pages. Still in print.
Tonal design in modern organ building: embodying a reply to Mr. R. Meyrick-Roberts. London: Haughton & Co., 1904. 29 pages. Reprinted from the London "Musical Opinion." [In answer to R. Meyrick-Roberts' articles "On Modern Tendencies in Organ-Building" published in the same journal].
The Collected Works of James Ingall Wedgwood. San Diego, CA: St. Alban Press, 2004. 260 pages.
Spiritualism and the Great War. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1919.
The Beginnings of the Liberal Catholic Church: February 13, 1916. London, Sydney: The St Alban Press, 1976. 3rd edition, revised. 17 pages. Also Lakewood, N.J.: Ubique, 1966.
The Larger Meaning of Religion. London, Sydney: The St. Alban Press, 1929. 2nd edition, 1980. 77 pages.
The Distinctive Contribution of Theosophy to Christian Thought. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1926. 23 pages. Blavatsky Lecture. 1926. Available at Internet Archive.
The Place of Ceremonies in the Spiritual Life. London, St. Alban Press, 1927. 16 pages. Subtitle: being the substance of two sermons preached at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Huizen, Holland, 1927.
The facts regarding the episcopal succession in the Liberal Catholic Church. 15 pages.
↑C. H. "James Ingall Wedgwood: an Introduction" The Messenger 5 no.3 (August, 1917): 461. Data partly taken from Theosophy in New Zealand, December, 1916.
↑C. H. "James Ingall Wedgwood: an Introduction" The Messenger 5 no.3 (August, 1917): 461. Data partly taken from Theosophy in New Zealand, December, 1916.
↑Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at http://tsmembers.org/. See book 3, entry 26458 (website file: 3A/14).
↑C. H. "James Ingall Wedgwood: an Introduction" The Messenger 5 no.3 (August, 1917): 461. Data partly taken from Theosophy in New Zealand, December, 1916.
↑C. H. "James Ingall Wedgwood: an Introduction" The Messenger 5 no.3 (August, 1917): 461. Data partly taken from Theosophy in New Zealand, December, 1916.
