Daniel Dunglas Home

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Daniel Dunglas Home

Birth
Currie, City of Edinburgh, Scotland
Death
21 Jun 1886 (aged 53)
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France
Burial
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Medium and spiritualist. Born in Currie, near Edinburgh. When he was nine years old, he was taken with his aunt and uncle to the United States. In 1850, his mother died, and soon after his aunt's house was troubled by rappings and knockings similar to those that occurred two years earlier at the home of the Fox sisters. His aunt, afraid that the boy had called in the Devil, cast Home out. He then lived by staying at the homes of friends who wished to witness his powers as a medium. This way of life lasted for 20 years as he never directly required money for the séances, managing very well on gifts and donations from admirers.
He came to England in 1855 although seriously ill with consumption. Guests there included scientist Sir David Brewster, the novelists Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Anthony Trollope, the socialist Robert Owen, and the Swedenborgian James John Garth Wilkinson. Home seemed to have a talent for converting most sceptics, but Robert Browning, the poet, proved more obdurate. Browning attended a séance and subsequently gave his impression of Home in the unflattering poem Sludge the Medium.
His main claim to fame was his feats of levitation. William Crookes claimed to know of more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated, many of these at least five to seven feet above the floor, "in good light". More common feats were when he rose to around six inches.
In years to come he travelled around Europe as a guest of wealthy patrons. In France he performed Napoleon the Third and also for Queen Sophie who wrote: "I saw him four times...I felt a hand tipping my finger; I saw a heavy golden bell moving alone from one person to another; I saw my handkerchief move alone and return to me with a knot..."
In 1866 he was 'adopted' by a wealthy widow and settled £60,000 upon him, in an apparent attempt to gain introduction into higher society. Finding that the adoption did not change her social situation, she repented of her action, and brought a suit for the return of her money on the grounds that it had been obtained by spiritual influence. The money was returned.
In 1867 it was said he levitated out of the third story window of one room, and in at the window of the adjoining room.
Home married twice. In 1858 he married Alexandria de Kroll, the 17 year old daughter of a noble Russian family. They had a son, Gregoire, but Alexandria fell ill with tuberculosis, and died in 1862. In October of 1871, Home married for the second time, to Julie de Gloumeline, a wealthy Russian lady, whom he met in St Petersburg.
He died at the age of 38 and was buried along side his daughter at St. Germain-en-Laye cemetery.
Sources:
-UK, Portraits and Photographs, 1547-2018
-UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969
-Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
-Pennsylvania, US, Newspapers.com Stories and Events Index 1800's-current
-Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500's-1900's
-Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1680-1930
-New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
-London, England, Selected Poor Law Removal and Settlement Records, 1698-1930
-Great Britian Select Marriages, 1797-1988
-England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941
-Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22
-Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)
-Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889
-1881 England Census
-1861 England Census
-Newspapers.com-The Pantagraph-1924-12-01-Page 4
-Incidents in My Life, Daniel Dunglas Home, London, 1864
-D. D. Home: His Life and Mission, Madame Home, London, 1888
-Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, London, 1877
-The gift of D.D. Home, London, 1888
-Quarterly Review, October 1871
-Historical Mysteries IV: The Strange Case of Daniel Dunglas Home', Cornhill Magazine (1904), pp. 477–89, Spiritualism, Mesmerism and the Occult, 1800–1920 Vol 3
-National Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw202301/Daniel-Dunglas-Home
-The Sorcerer of Kings : Case Daniel Dunglas Home & William Crookes Spiritualism, Gordon Stein, Ph.D., Foreward by James Randi
-The Enigma of Daniel Home: Medium or Fraud? First Edition by Hall, Trevor H.
-YouTube The Strange Case of Daniel Dunglas Home: https://youtu.be/JRCbUtDqH04?si=SP5Ojx6-mGaaHK9u
-https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw202301/Daniel-Dunglas-Home
-New York Times: Profitable Poltergeists; HEYDEY OF A WIZARD: Daniel Home, The Medium. By Jean Burton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Ghosts at Dinner. https://www.nytimes.com/1944/04/16/archives/profitable-poltergeists-heydey-of-a-wizard-daniel-home-the-medium.html
-A Magician among the Spirits , Cambridge University Press, 1924, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/magician-among-the-spirits/daniel-dunglas-home/
-Mr. Sludge, the Medium being the life and Adventures of Daniel D. Home, Publisher: Geoffrey Bles, London, 1937
-The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1944/04/the-wizard-from-connecticut/656026/
-Cambridge Digital Library: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
-The Free Dictionary: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Home%2C+Daniel+Dunglas
-Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lamont_(historian)
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-Norwich Bulletin: https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/2018/10/19/daniel-dunglas-home-may-be/9508788007/
-The Shadow and the Light . A Defense of Daniel Dunglas Home , The Medium, Elizabeth Jenkins
-Magicpedia: https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-biographies/daniel-dunglas-home
-Psi-encyclopedia.com: https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/daniel-dunglas-home
-Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/170254195/print-daniel-dunglas-dd-home-portrait
-Alamy: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/daniel-dunglas-home.html?sortBy=relevant
-Calling The Spirits: A History of seances, by Lisa Morton: https://www.oaklandcemeterystore.com/product/calling-the-spirits-a-history-of-seances
-Wordpress/Once Upon A Time: https://travispsychic.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/mediums-of-history-daniel-dunglas-home-by-travis-sanders/
-https://theosophy.wiki/en/Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-http://www.societyforparanormalinvestigations.com/
-https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmNPK0JDvo/
-Evenings At Home in Spiritual Seance, Series One, Georgiana Houghton, 1881
-The Spiritual Crown of Daniel D Home, Georgiana Houghton, 1871 Exhibition, London Spiritualist Alliance
-Spiritual Athenæum, Sloane Street, London, Friday, January 4th 1867
-Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.
-Spiritual Magazine
-33rd Annual Walktober 2023, https://www.facebook.com/TheNorwichHistoricalSociety?ref=embed_page
-Norwich Historical Society - CT, https://www.facebook.com/TheNorwichHistoricalSociety
-https://thelastgreenvalley.org/directory-events/daniel-dunglas-home-medium/

Bio by MonasMoe #47872985, KennedyChase/Ancestry, Photo Restoration: M. Kennedy
Medium and spiritualist. Born in Currie, near Edinburgh. When he was nine years old, he was taken with his aunt and uncle to the United States. In 1850, his mother died, and soon after his aunt's house was troubled by rappings and knockings similar to those that occurred two years earlier at the home of the Fox sisters. His aunt, afraid that the boy had called in the Devil, cast Home out. He then lived by staying at the homes of friends who wished to witness his powers as a medium. This way of life lasted for 20 years as he never directly required money for the séances, managing very well on gifts and donations from admirers.
He came to England in 1855 although seriously ill with consumption. Guests there included scientist Sir David Brewster, the novelists Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Anthony Trollope, the socialist Robert Owen, and the Swedenborgian James John Garth Wilkinson. Home seemed to have a talent for converting most sceptics, but Robert Browning, the poet, proved more obdurate. Browning attended a séance and subsequently gave his impression of Home in the unflattering poem Sludge the Medium.
His main claim to fame was his feats of levitation. William Crookes claimed to know of more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated, many of these at least five to seven feet above the floor, "in good light". More common feats were when he rose to around six inches.
In years to come he travelled around Europe as a guest of wealthy patrons. In France he performed Napoleon the Third and also for Queen Sophie who wrote: "I saw him four times...I felt a hand tipping my finger; I saw a heavy golden bell moving alone from one person to another; I saw my handkerchief move alone and return to me with a knot..."
In 1866 he was 'adopted' by a wealthy widow and settled £60,000 upon him, in an apparent attempt to gain introduction into higher society. Finding that the adoption did not change her social situation, she repented of her action, and brought a suit for the return of her money on the grounds that it had been obtained by spiritual influence. The money was returned.
In 1867 it was said he levitated out of the third story window of one room, and in at the window of the adjoining room.
Home married twice. In 1858 he married Alexandria de Kroll, the 17 year old daughter of a noble Russian family. They had a son, Gregoire, but Alexandria fell ill with tuberculosis, and died in 1862. In October of 1871, Home married for the second time, to Julie de Gloumeline, a wealthy Russian lady, whom he met in St Petersburg.
He died at the age of 38 and was buried along side his daughter at St. Germain-en-Laye cemetery.
Sources:
-UK, Portraits and Photographs, 1547-2018
-UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969
-Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
-Pennsylvania, US, Newspapers.com Stories and Events Index 1800's-current
-Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500's-1900's
-Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1680-1930
-New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
-London, England, Selected Poor Law Removal and Settlement Records, 1698-1930
-Great Britian Select Marriages, 1797-1988
-England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941
-Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22
-Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)
-Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889
-1881 England Census
-1861 England Census
-Newspapers.com-The Pantagraph-1924-12-01-Page 4
-Incidents in My Life, Daniel Dunglas Home, London, 1864
-D. D. Home: His Life and Mission, Madame Home, London, 1888
-Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, London, 1877
-The gift of D.D. Home, London, 1888
-Quarterly Review, October 1871
-Historical Mysteries IV: The Strange Case of Daniel Dunglas Home', Cornhill Magazine (1904), pp. 477–89, Spiritualism, Mesmerism and the Occult, 1800–1920 Vol 3
-National Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw202301/Daniel-Dunglas-Home
-The Sorcerer of Kings : Case Daniel Dunglas Home & William Crookes Spiritualism, Gordon Stein, Ph.D., Foreward by James Randi
-The Enigma of Daniel Home: Medium or Fraud? First Edition by Hall, Trevor H.
-YouTube The Strange Case of Daniel Dunglas Home: https://youtu.be/JRCbUtDqH04?si=SP5Ojx6-mGaaHK9u
-https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw202301/Daniel-Dunglas-Home
-New York Times: Profitable Poltergeists; HEYDEY OF A WIZARD: Daniel Home, The Medium. By Jean Burton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Ghosts at Dinner. https://www.nytimes.com/1944/04/16/archives/profitable-poltergeists-heydey-of-a-wizard-daniel-home-the-medium.html
-A Magician among the Spirits , Cambridge University Press, 1924, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/magician-among-the-spirits/daniel-dunglas-home/
-Mr. Sludge, the Medium being the life and Adventures of Daniel D. Home, Publisher: Geoffrey Bles, London, 1937
-The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1944/04/the-wizard-from-connecticut/656026/
-Cambridge Digital Library: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
-The Free Dictionary: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Home%2C+Daniel+Dunglas
-Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lamont_(historian)
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-Norwich Bulletin: https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/2018/10/19/daniel-dunglas-home-may-be/9508788007/
-The Shadow and the Light . A Defense of Daniel Dunglas Home , The Medium, Elizabeth Jenkins
-Magicpedia: https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-biographies/daniel-dunglas-home
-Psi-encyclopedia.com: https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/daniel-dunglas-home
-Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/170254195/print-daniel-dunglas-dd-home-portrait
-Alamy: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/daniel-dunglas-home.html?sortBy=relevant
-Calling The Spirits: A History of seances, by Lisa Morton: https://www.oaklandcemeterystore.com/product/calling-the-spirits-a-history-of-seances
-Wordpress/Once Upon A Time: https://travispsychic.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/mediums-of-history-daniel-dunglas-home-by-travis-sanders/
-https://theosophy.wiki/en/Daniel_Dunglas_Home
-http://www.societyforparanormalinvestigations.com/
-https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmNPK0JDvo/
-Evenings At Home in Spiritual Seance, Series One, Georgiana Houghton, 1881
-The Spiritual Crown of Daniel D Home, Georgiana Houghton, 1871 Exhibition, London Spiritualist Alliance
-Spiritual Athenæum, Sloane Street, London, Friday, January 4th 1867
-Samuel Carter Hall, F.S.A.
-Spiritual Magazine
-33rd Annual Walktober 2023, https://www.facebook.com/TheNorwichHistoricalSociety?ref=embed_page
-Norwich Historical Society - CT, https://www.facebook.com/TheNorwichHistoricalSociety
-https://thelastgreenvalley.org/directory-events/daniel-dunglas-home-medium/

Bio by MonasMoe #47872985, KennedyChase/Ancestry, Photo Restoration: M. Kennedy

Gravesite Details

Large white marble cross on a triple level pedestal.



  • Maintained by: MonasMoe
  • Originally Created by: Medora
  • Added: Jan 23, 2007
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • MonasMoe
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17656501/daniel_dunglas-home: accessed ), memorial page for Daniel Dunglas Home (20 Mar 1833–21 Jun 1886), Find a Grave Memorial ID 17656501, citing Saint Germain-en-Laye Old Communal Cemetery, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France; Maintained by MonasMoe (contributor 47872985).