Extracts from other web sites/books on the Agapemonites
"The 19th century produced the most spectacular recent claimants to messiahship in Britain. Among these were two men, one of whom 'inherited' this claim from the other. Such a transfer of a status as unique as that of messiah must be unprecedented... and yet the group known as Agapemonites, brought into being in the 1840s by an Anglican priest, Henry James Prince, accepted after his death a new immortal messiah in the person of John Hugh Smyth-Pigott. Prince had been renowned at St David's, Lampeter, where he had studied for the Anglican priesthood, as a particularly pious student... after some time his relations with the Church of England became strained, and he opened his own chapel in Brighton. With donations from his supporters, among whom were a number of wealthy women, he bought a large house and grounds at Spraxton in Somerset, and there established his community, the Adobe of Love...
"From Brighton, Prince returned to Somerse with 30,000 pounds in his pockets, most of it contributed by his society admirers. He and his followers traveled in a long procession of carriages with liveried coachmen and postilons, and at Weymouth the entourage stayed at the Royal Hotel, where Prince held a reception and announced his plans for the setting up of an Agapemone or Abode of Love... Some 200 local people of influence, invited especially for this purpose, crowded into the ballroom and agreed to give up all or part of their worldly possessions in order to be saved. With this money, a considerable sum, Prince in 1849 bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Spaxton... The estate was self-sufficient and consisted of about 200 acres. There were at first about 60 disciples in residence, with their servants. "
"Finally, in January 1899, when he was almost 88, Brother Prince [died]... This should be the end of the story of the Abode of Love, but it is not. In 1890 and for several years afterwards there had been a remarkable revival of interest in the Agapemone. Several prominent members of the Salvation Army joined. At Clapton, London, the Children of the Resurrection, as they now called themselves, built in 1892 a magnificent church, the Ark of the Covenant, seating about 400 people... The preacher at the opening ceremony in 1896 was the Rev. J. H. Smyth-Pigott, who was to be Brother Prince's successor at Spaxton. "
"[Prince's] own death, in 1899, might have been expected to see the collapse of the Agapemonites: instead it produced a new messianic claimant. Shortly before his death, Prince had sponsored the building of a church in Clapton, London, known as the Church of the Ark of the Covenant. This development was all the more surprising since in Prince's later years the Agapemonites had done little in the way of evangelization. It is uncertain whether the founding of this church, at which non-resident sympathizers of the Spraxton community occasionally met, had any direct connection with the choice of Prince's successor, or whether Prince had any interest in the continuance of his sect after his death. But it was at this church that, in 1902, John Hugh Smyth-Pigott declared himself the messiah. "
"Smyth-Pigott moved down to Spaxton... In 1906 a male child was born to Miss [Ruth] Preece, the records at Somerset House showing that the father was John Hugh Smyth-Pigott... At this time there were nearly 100 women in the Abode, but few men... Smyth-Pigott died in March 1927 [at the age] of 75. It was reported that the servants were unpaid, working for love and receiving only a little pocket money. "
"The numbers at Spraxton, sometimes reinforced by visitors from a Norwegian sister house which Smyth-Pigott frequently visited, steadily declined, and the messiah's death in 1927 reduced the numbers further. "
"In 1955 60-year-old Miss Ruth Ranken of Barnet revealed that she had been brought up as a member of the sect, and was still one in spirit... In 1962 the house of Spaxton was sold and the story of the Abode of Love ['Agapemone'] came to an end. "
Cavendish, Richard (ed.). Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural (vol. 13). New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. (1970),
Malcolm Rigby visited the scene of Somerset's second coming, just a few miles to the west of Bridgwater
Anyone visiting the sleepy little village of Spaxton today would be unlikely to guess that for a century it was home to a strange and notorious religious sect that challenged the laws of marriage, established a harem of beautiful and wealthy young women, and was ruled over by two different 'Messiahs' who both promised immortality. The Agapemone, literally Abode of Love, was set up in a mansion on the outskirts of Spaxton in the middle of the 19th century. The main house has now been divided up and is used for private residential purposes. The front of the chapel has been boarded up and the remaining stained glass windows are in need of repair. The Lamb Inn, next door, bears some witness to their former neighbours in the form of a few newspaper cuttings and pictures adorning the walls.
Just a handful of the village's residents will remember the final days of the movement which was by this stage no more than a nursing home for ageing women. The last leading figure, Sister Ruther, died in 1956. During the early 1950s Trudel Lederman and her family came to live in one of the Agapemonite cottages and she became one of the few outsiders permitted to attend Ruth's funeral. Trudel, who now lives in Bridgwater said: 'I certainly wouldn't call her ordinary she was somewhat eccentric and obviously thought that she was born for better things She dressed very peculiarly, I believe she had some kind of skin cancer on her nose and always wore a hat with a veil. She was always very friendly, very kind and quite interested in what we were doing to the cottage'.
That the Agapemonite community survived so long was due to the massive egos of two men and the gullibility of many other men and especially women. The founder was a doctor and clergyman of the Church of England called Henry James Prince. His first curacy was in the nearby village of Charlinch where his passionate evangelical preaching directed at women soon forced his resignation. After brief spells in Suffolk and Brighton he returned to the county to establish his own order of specially chosen spiritual brides, a task that was made financially possible by persuading a group of wealthy sisters to marry some of his male colleagues. Although the aim was to make the community self-supporting through the farm, the Agapenome was soon a wealthy society as new members to the sect were expected to donate their worldly goods. So much so that they were able to afford to build an extravagant temple, the Ark of the Covenant, at Clapton in London.
The centre of the Somerset community was the chapel, which also acted as bar, lounge and billiards room. It was here that the 'Great Manifestation' took place. Prince, who was already married, had been promising that a Bride of the Lamb, a young beautiful virgin, would have to be chosen if the society was to be truly purged of sin. And one day, in a dramatic pseudo-religious ceremony, he chose a sixteen-year-old orphan called Sister Zoe. To his embarrassment she later became pregnant. The Agapemonites lived well - eating drinking and playing billiards in the company of attractive young ladies, but despite the actions of their beloved leader, the rest of the community, including the married couples lived in chastity. In l 899 the impossible happened, the man who had promised immortality to his followers, himself died - it is claimed that he was buried standing up to aid resurrection.
The sect was now both confused and leaderless. So Douglas Hamilton, a member who had taken on the business responsibili-ties of the Agapemonites, took it upon himself to go out into the world to discover a new Messiah - he found John Hugh Smyth-Pigott in Dublin. This was a man who was good-looking, charming and delighted in the company of women; he was a curate who was determined to use religion to satisfy his own ambitions and desires. In the cruellest sense, he was the perfect replacement. Douglas Hamilton told him that the 'sisters' were awaiting a new 'Heavenly bridegroom', and Smyth-Pigott replied that their 'sour-husband' would be coming. Smyth-Pigott went first to the Agapemonite church in London, where his proclamations that he was 'God not man' soon resulted in riots and he escaped to the Abode of Love in Spaxton.
Here he made subtle changes to reinvigorate the order: new members were brought in, equipment was modernised, the farm prospered and relations with the local village were improved, largely through the work of his wife Catherine. But all the time he maintained the myth of the Bride of the Lamb, reduced the influence and status of the men, and the upper class of the community (those who did not work) became accessible to only the most beautiful 30-50 women, from which he would choose seven 'spiritual brides' each week. To the community's surprise, in 1904, he chose an outsider to become his 'Bride of the Lamb' or his 'Chief Soul Bride', a position the new Sister Ruth took unhesitatingly and with no apparent protest from Catherine. The precise nature of the relationship was soon revealed - three children called Glory, Power and Life were born within a few years. The response of the Church of England was to defrock Smyth-Pigott, but his reaction was: 'I am God. It does not matter what they *do'. as the years passed and Ruth aged, the dictator of the predominantly female community began to look for a new and younger 'Bride of the Lamb' and a Sister Grace was courted under the guise of religious instruction. Ruth resolved not to give in without a fight and challenged Smyth-Pigott in his private quarters. The consequence of this argument was that the poor woman was publicly derobed in the chapel and replaced by Sister Grace.
Ruth left the community without her children. After the departure of Ruth, Smyth-Pigott gave up all pretence of a Chief Soul Bride and the outside world turned aggressively towards the Agapemonites. Demonstrations outside the gates were not uncommon and in one of the most brutal attacks a male member of the sect was mistaken for Smyth-Pigott and was beaten, tarred and feathered. A little later the man died. The leader took one more official soul-bride but it was thought that there were many others. At times of heavy press attention he would take holidays abroad to other Agapemonite branches, mainly in Norway. These visits also won converts who would then come to Spaxton as paying guests. Despite the manner of Ruth's departure, Smyth-Pigott had always regretted that she had left. So he hired private investigators to track her down and then implored her to return. When she eventually agreed to come back it was not as a Chief Soul Bride, but with pity rather than love, as a dignified woman who bore the marks of intense suffering. During the mid 1920s the health of the 'Messiah' began to decline, as did the financial well-being of the sect due to some injudicious building extensions and the world slump. And in March 1927 the second 'immortal' leader died - many mourners joined Catherine and Ruth at the graveside of a man who must be one of Somerset's greatest charlatans.
Unchallenged, the leadership switched to Douglas Hamilton who did not have the youth or the charisma to enable the movement to grow. By l 929 numbers had dwindled to thirty women and three men (Hamilton and a couple of gardeners). Eventually, the meaningless leadership title fell to Ruth in her old age. Before she died at the age of 90 she willed that the chapel should be consecrated and the movement at Spaxton folded completely two years later.
English religious community of men and women, holding all goods in common. It was founded (c.1850) at the village of Spaxton, Somerset, by Henry James Prince (1811–99), Samuel Starky, and others. Prince and Starky were clergymen who had left (c.1843) the Church of England after Prince claimed that the Holy Ghost had taken up residence in his body. The Agapemonites proclaimed the imminent second coming of Christ. Riotous conditions at the community caused scandal, and after Prince lost a lawsuit brought by two disenchanted followers in 1860, the community slipped from public notice. There was a period (c.1890) of renewed activity when J. H. Smyth-Pigott, who believed himself to be Jesus reincarnated, conducted meetings at an Agapemonite branch establishment in Clapton, London. He succeeded Prince as leader of the sect, which soon vanished.
Two extraordinary messiahs of the 19th century were Henry James Prince (1811-99) and
John Hugh Smyth-Pigott (d.1927). Prince was an Anglican priest with a gift for great
oratory and for attracting women. He became convinced that his sermons owed their force to
the "Holy Spirit." Prince took to preaching in the open, and soon announced that
we, in fact, the prophet Elijah reincarnated. He established his own chapel in the English
coastal resort of Brighton.
Enough people of means believed in Prince to
buy him a large house with some 200 acres of land at Spraxton in Somerset. There, in 1846,
he established the "Abode of Love," or Agapemone. The group soon became known as
the Agapemonites (from the Greek word for love). Prince took the title of "the
Beloved One" and eventually, "the Messiah."
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As he was the will of God on earth, Prince
suffered no questions from his disciples about the luxurious lifestyle he enjoyed at their
expense. On at least one occasion he drove in his carriage through the Somerset town of
Bridgewater with his footman sounding a trumpet and proclaiming him as the Messiah. Soon
he began taking successive disciples as his "bride of the Lamb," a feature of
his "church" which other cult leaders, like David Koresh or Waco for example,
would later emulate.Prince was "above sin" and so free to
live as he pleased. Not so his followers, who were expected to lead chaste lives. This
double standard did not deter believers and even when funds ran low the needs of the
Messiah were met. One wealthy merchant contributed all his worldly goods, amounting to
about $15,000, a large sum in those days, and came to work in the Abode of Love as a
butler.The facts of the ex-Anglican priest's
defrocking and several lawsuits - brought by families keen to prevent relatives handing
over money and possessions - did not harm his cause, and the Abode of Love flourished. It
even raised the funds to build a Church of the Ark of the Covenant in Clapton, London.
Believing the end of the world to be near, Prince granted his followers immortality. Those
who died had "lapsed into sin," and were buried standing up under the lawn, a
fate which awaited Prince himself in 1899.Three years later the spiritual vacuum left by
Prince's death was filled by John Smyth-Pigott, who declared himself "the Son of
Man," the new Messiah, at the Clapton Church. He continued Prince's practice of
selecting "soul brides," who also bore his children. This eventually led to his
defrocking as an Anglican clergyman. At any one time, there were as many as 100 women at
the Abode of Love. |
