British National Association of Spiritualists
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
A society formed in 1873, mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. Dawson Rogers, to promote the interests of spiritualism in Great Britain . It numbered among its original vicepresidents and members of council the most prominent spiritualists of the day-Benjamin Coleman, Mrs. Makdongall Gregory, Sir Charles Isham, Messrs. Jacken, Dawson Rogers, and Morell Theobald, Drs. Wyld, Stanhope Speer, and many others-while many eminent people of other lands joined the association as corresponding members. The B.N.A.S. in 1882 decided to change its name to "The Central Association of Spiritualists." Among its committees was one for systematic research into the phenomena of spiritualism, in which connection some interesting scientific experiments were made in 1878. Early in 1882 conferences were held at the Association's rooms, presided over by Professor Barrett, which resulted in the formation of the Society for Psychical Research . Many members of the latter society were recruited from the council of the B.N.A.S., such as the Rev. Stainton Moses, Dr. George Wyld, Messrs. Dawson Rogers, and Morell Theobald. The B.N.A.S. was at first associated with the Spiritualist , edited by W. H. Harrison, but in 1879 the reports of its proceedings were transferred to Spiritual Notes, a paper which, founded in the previous year, came to an end in 1881, as did also the Spiritualist. In the latter year Dawson Rogers founded Light , with which the society was henceforth associated. From the beginning of its career, the B.N.A.S. has held itself apart from religious and philosophical dogmatism, and has included among its members spiritualists of all sects and opinions.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When the Encyclopaedia of Occultism described the society in 1920 it wrote of the B.N.A.S. in the present tense, but the body had in fact already moved on twice: renamed the Central Association of Spiritualists in 1882, it was reconstituted in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance, and in 1970 took its present name, the College of Psychic Studies, still based in South Kensington. Light, the paper Dawson Rogers founded in 1881, passed to the Alliance and is still issued by the College, one of the longest-running psychical journals in the world. The Society for Psychical Research, born out of the 1882 conferences in the Association's own rooms under Professor W. F. Barrett, likewise survives, and the mainstream British spiritualist churches were instead gathered into the Spiritualists' National Union, founded in 1901. The legal setting has changed too: mediumship was policed under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 until the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 replaced it.
Written for this edition, 2026.