SNU Minister Douglas Ronald Lawrence MBE
Douglas Lawrence (1903-1982} was for three decades President of the York Lodge SNU Spiritualist Church in Reading, Berkshire. He was the driving force behind moving the church from the hired Crown St building to the current location in Baker St. The church members acquired the redundant GP surgery with a loan from the SNU and Douglas’ prodigious enthusiasm inspired the members to convert and expand the building into a splendid church capable of seating 300 or so. Fortunately, one of the church members was a professional surveyor who guided their building work. Much of the physical building work was undertaken by Douglas and church members. The building opened in October 1966.[4].
Douglas Lawrence also played a significant role in helping with the administration of the Spiritualists’ National Union. In 1976 he was the Secretary to the National Executive Committee, the Council of the Union and the Building Fund Pool. Additionally, in August 1976 he was appointed Acting General Secretary of the SNU and served until November 1977 when the full-time position was successfully filled [5].
Douglas had a life-long earnest interest in physical mediumship and sat many times with famous physical mediums such as Helen Duncan, Leslie Flint, Jimmy Gardener and Gordon Higginson, plus several other lesser-known physical mediums. With a professional Brenell Mk 5 reel-to-reel tape recorder, and latterly, an additional Mk 5 Series 2, he was able to record seances, services and lectures by prominent spiritualists including the world renown spiritual healer, Harry Edwards. Once he had acquired the second recorder, he was able to distribute copies of the recordings of general interest to various Spiritualists and organisations such as the Arthur Findlay College. As many of the recordings are of historic interest, the whole set of recordings will be available to researchers and Spiritualists alike [6].
In spite of Douglas Lawrence’s life-long dedication to serving his Church and Spiritualism nationally, Douglas did not neglect his full-time employment by any means – far from it. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s 1969 New Year Honours List for his work as a clerical officer with the Royal Corps of Signals at Caversham, near Reading. Due to the nature of the work that he was involved in, no other information concerning his duties with the Royal Corps of Signals was ever divulged by him, not even to his family. The Psychic News, in announcing the award, described Lawrence as a “…vigorous campaigner and one of Spiritualism’s most practical advocates…”.[7]
For parapsychologists with an interest in the psychology of mediumship, an insight into the personality and motivations of this dedicated, dynamic, and gifted man with mediumistic ability may be gained by listening to his off-the-cuff remarks in his addresses, lectures and in chairing public meetings. But maybe more so at Leslie Flint séances by listening to the general chatter on the occasions with longish periods before independent direct voice communication commenced. Lawrence was sometimes the most vocal of the sitters. Particularly when Leslie Flint joined in with the banter, sometimes playfully teasingly, in discussions with Lawrence. Their warm friendship extended over decades. Flint was normally conscious throughout his seances, and in later years, coughed quite badly even whilst communication by independent direct voice was occurring. These banters between Flint and Lawrence also give an additional insight of the personality of Leslie Flint, who was in his time, the most well-known Independent Direct Voice medium of the Western World. When cassette recorders became available, audio copies of his seances were posted world-wide and his autobiography first published in 1971 titled Voices in the Dark: my Life as a Medium.
Douglas Lawrence was greatly supported in his work for Spiritualism by his wife Doreen, known by all as Dorrie, who continued with the distribution of the recordings after his passing. Other members of his family also served in various ways at the York Lodge church.
Lew Sutton I.Eng MIET GSSNU
- 1906 -1966 Diamond Jubilee of Spiritualism in Reading: Dedication and Opening of New Building. Plus, York Lodge 21st Anniversary: A brief history of York Lodge and Early Spiritualism in Reading. Saturday 8th October 1966. Both in-house publications.
- Paul Gaunt. General Secretaries of the SNU. SNU Pioneer Vol 1, No. 5.
- Complete sets these recordings hopefully to be held by: the AFC library, Stansted Hall; the Society for Psychical Research Archives Library; The Spiritual Truth Foundation Trust; and the Leslie Flint Educational Trust.
- This Spiritualist’s MBE makes good reading. Psychic News, 11th January 1969, p3. One suspects that Lawrence’s position as a ‘clerical officer’, as reported in PN, was a security screen to disguise the true nature of his work as it seems he was on first name terms with several high-ranking military officers. Even his close family were unaware of his employment activities. That is, apart from seeing photos of him with various high ranking military officers! (see below)