James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence, journalist, writer and folklorist, is one of those artists whose memory still exists in a kind of limbo, sixty plus years after his death in Edinburgh in 1955. A prolific author, whose most popular books (though perhaps not his best) are repeatedly reprinted, he remains an elusive figure, perhaps because the concerns of his generation are now mostly ill remembered. He was born in Darlington Cottage in Broughty Ferry on 25th November 1874, the son of James Edward Kendall Spence and Barbara Charlotte Chalmers. Though this James Spence (born in Edinburgh in 1848) was primarily involved in the insurance business, his father, another James Spence (1812-1882) was an eminent professor of surgery in Edinburgh and Surgeon on Scotland to Queen Victoria. This family tradition perhaps influenced Lewis to study the allied subject of dentistry at Edinburgh University after going to Higher Ongar School in Essex. The writer's father died when Lewis was fourteen, drowned on a voyage to America. Lewis's brother was an actor-manager, Kendall Chalmers Spence, who used the stage name Kendall Chalmers. On his mother's side of the family (she was Barbara Charlotte Chalmers), Spence was related to that other Angus luminary, James Chalmers (1782-1853), inventor of the adhesive postage stamp.
But soon the calling of writing made Lewis Spence settle first into a career in journalism, becoming a sub-editor at The Scotsman, in 1899, the year in which he married Helen Bruce (the marriage produced one son, Toby, and three daughters: Rhoda, Claire and Madge). The Scotsman years overlapped with a period as editor of The Edinburgh Magazine (1904-1905), then Spence moved on to become editor of The British Weekly (1906-1909), based in London. It was during this period that folklore and mythology, also with a fascination for some areas of occultism, set his imagination alight. His first published book was Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain Restored (1905). This was followed by more than forty books, with his studies of mythology alone ranging from Babylonia and Egypt, to the Rhine and Spain and Native North and Central America.
While he was nearly as prolific as his near contemporary and fellow Scot Andrew Lang, this writing of mythology has stood the test of commercial reading taste well while Lang's works on fairies and folklore has largely not. This is an unfair trick of time, as Lang is undoubtedly the better writer. The incipient mysticism Spence shared with a whole set of other writers including W. B. Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, Fiona McLeod. Although Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and Vice-President of the Scottish Anthropological and Folklore Society, he was also given an honorific title as 'Presider' of the Ancient Druid Order. It is evident he was not a practising druid, let alone an occultist or neo-magician. (Recognition by the druidical order was probably prompted by books such as The History and Origins of Druidism (1938).) In fact, his friend Richard Cammell describes him as a highly coventional,albeit very cultured man, who did not have the least trace of anything bohemian about him. He was a highly effective synthethiser rather than a mystically inclined creative genius.
The classes of Spence's works include several notable firsts, including the ground-breaking Encylclopedia of the Occult (1920) and the first book to delve into the murky world of Nazi fascination with esoteric lore, The Occult Causes of the Present War (1940). But the fever which Lewis Spence caught most profoundly was the once alluring mystery of the lost continent of Atlantis (and its obscure sister continent Lemuria). Always a left-field area, the allure of Atlantis began to swell in the late Victorian age and flourished in the early part of the 20th century. Spence jumped into this probably lucrative area of knowledge with both feet and his books on the subject came thick and fast. There was The Problem of Atlantis (1924, also known as Atlantis Discovered), Atlantis in America (1925), The Problem of Lemuria (1932), Will Europe Follow Atlantis? (1942), and The Occult Sciences in Atlantis (1943), plus his editorship of the journal Atlantis Quarterly (1932). If Atlantean studies was a niche market during his time, it has shrunk to a very limited stump now, though these works too have been frequently reissued.
An interesting light on Lewis's studies on Atlantis and how they related to his views on the anthropology of the Scottish 'race' was given by S. B. Tucker in his article 'Warlords of Maclantis: Scottish Nationalism's Undersea Kingdom' (The Fortean Times, 17th September 2015). This well-researched piece tied in Spence's beliefs that the original stock of Scotland were linked to the lost continent. This tied in Spence with the wilder fringes of nationalism, not only in Scotland, but also in Europe in the 1930s, though Tucker quite rightly refutes any suggestion that Lewis Spence had fascist tendencies. In fact he seems to have been an ardent, if moderately right-wing Scottish nationalist of the type which was later cruelly characterised as 'tartan Tory'. He was certainly and consistently opposed to the damage which he perceived had been been done by Scotland by the 'Saxon' cultural forced of England. According to Juliette Wood, 'In many ways his national consciousness drove his other interests, and he maintained a lifelong dedication to Scottish national politics until his death in 1955.'
In 1924, was a founder member of the Scottish National Movement and the National Party of Scotland, the forerunners of the Scottish National Party, serving as vice-chairman of the NPS. He was this party's first parliamentary candidate, standing at the Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election in January1929 against three other candidates. But he polled only 842 votes (4.5% of the vote), losing his deposit.
Later disagreements with the redoubtable left-leaning Hugh MacDiarmid and others led to his withdrawal from active politics altogether. Right from the start of political nationalism in Scotland there were two wings: one advocating complete independence and the other a form of limited Home Rule. Spence fell firmly in the second group. There were further wings comprised of republicans and monarchists and Spence's advocacy of the British monarchy brought a vote of censure which prompted his resignation from post, and though he retained membership of the party, his interest in active nationalism withered away. The literary involvement of Scottish nationalism, involving Spence, Compton Mackenzie, Hugh MacDiarmaid and R. B. Cunningham-Graham, has yet to be fully chronicled.
As well as turning his hand to magazine pieces, plays and stories, Lewis also found time to write poetry in Scots and English, published in volumes such as The Phoenix (1923), The Plumes of Time (1926), and Weirds and Vanities (1927). Many of his verses celebrated various places and themes concerning Edinburgh, where he made his home, first in Arden Street and latterly at 34 Howard Place (Inverleith Row). It is reckoned by some that his Collected Poems, which appeared shortly before his death, omitted some of his best work. A picture of the writer's remarkable discipline and work rate was given by his friend Charles Richard Cammell in his book Heart of Scotland (1956) [a summary of which,written by Philip Carr-Gomm, can be read at the Druidry.org website.]
In retrospect, Spence's most enduring legacy seems to be his volumes on British insular mythology and tradition. Particularly good is The Fairy Tradition in Britain (1948), but other admirable works in this category include The Magical Arts in Celtic Britain (1945), British Fairy Origins (1946) and The Minor Traditions of British Mythology (1948) and Fairy Tradition in Britain (also 1948).
Anyone who has unwanted copies of Scottish Ghosts and Goblins (1952) or any of the above works can readily donate them to me!
In the end, Lewis Spence, despite his voluminous body of works and 80 years on this planet remains an elusive character these days. A search of the internet for images of him reveals a scanty few, including the photo below. Lewis Spence died in Edinburgh on the 3rd March 1955. Gone but not forgotten.
* pp. 19-211 in Fantasical Imaginations: The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture, ed. Lizanne Henderson (John Donald, Edinburgh, 2009).
 |
| View of Broughty Ferry in the early 1900s |
But soon the calling of writing made Lewis Spence settle first into a career in journalism, becoming a sub-editor at The Scotsman, in 1899, the year in which he married Helen Bruce (the marriage produced one son, Toby, and three daughters: Rhoda, Claire and Madge). The Scotsman years overlapped with a period as editor of The Edinburgh Magazine (1904-1905), then Spence moved on to become editor of The British Weekly (1906-1909), based in London. It was during this period that folklore and mythology, also with a fascination for some areas of occultism, set his imagination alight. His first published book was Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain Restored (1905). This was followed by more than forty books, with his studies of mythology alone ranging from Babylonia and Egypt, to the Rhine and Spain and Native North and Central America.
While he was nearly as prolific as his near contemporary and fellow Scot Andrew Lang, this writing of mythology has stood the test of commercial reading taste well while Lang's works on fairies and folklore has largely not. This is an unfair trick of time, as Lang is undoubtedly the better writer. The incipient mysticism Spence shared with a whole set of other writers including W. B. Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, Fiona McLeod. Although Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and Vice-President of the Scottish Anthropological and Folklore Society, he was also given an honorific title as 'Presider' of the Ancient Druid Order. It is evident he was not a practising druid, let alone an occultist or neo-magician. (Recognition by the druidical order was probably prompted by books such as The History and Origins of Druidism (1938).) In fact, his friend Richard Cammell describes him as a highly coventional,albeit very cultured man, who did not have the least trace of anything bohemian about him. He was a highly effective synthethiser rather than a mystically inclined creative genius.
One of the best recent encapsulations of his interests and capabilities is in the essay entitled 'Lewis Spence: Remembering the Celts,' by Juliette Wood*. Wood highlights Spence's extraordinary industry and versatility and also his psychology and artistic limitations. 'He often had these startling revelations,' she says, but never really worked through them, and unfortunately this very lively, but quirky intellect became more rigid with time.'
The classes of Spence's works include several notable firsts, including the ground-breaking Encylclopedia of the Occult (1920) and the first book to delve into the murky world of Nazi fascination with esoteric lore, The Occult Causes of the Present War (1940). But the fever which Lewis Spence caught most profoundly was the once alluring mystery of the lost continent of Atlantis (and its obscure sister continent Lemuria). Always a left-field area, the allure of Atlantis began to swell in the late Victorian age and flourished in the early part of the 20th century. Spence jumped into this probably lucrative area of knowledge with both feet and his books on the subject came thick and fast. There was The Problem of Atlantis (1924, also known as Atlantis Discovered), Atlantis in America (1925), The Problem of Lemuria (1932), Will Europe Follow Atlantis? (1942), and The Occult Sciences in Atlantis (1943), plus his editorship of the journal Atlantis Quarterly (1932). If Atlantean studies was a niche market during his time, it has shrunk to a very limited stump now, though these works too have been frequently reissued.
An interesting light on Lewis's studies on Atlantis and how they related to his views on the anthropology of the Scottish 'race' was given by S. B. Tucker in his article 'Warlords of Maclantis: Scottish Nationalism's Undersea Kingdom' (The Fortean Times, 17th September 2015). This well-researched piece tied in Spence's beliefs that the original stock of Scotland were linked to the lost continent. This tied in Spence with the wilder fringes of nationalism, not only in Scotland, but also in Europe in the 1930s, though Tucker quite rightly refutes any suggestion that Lewis Spence had fascist tendencies. In fact he seems to have been an ardent, if moderately right-wing Scottish nationalist of the type which was later cruelly characterised as 'tartan Tory'. He was certainly and consistently opposed to the damage which he perceived had been been done by Scotland by the 'Saxon' cultural forced of England. According to Juliette Wood, 'In many ways his national consciousness drove his other interests, and he maintained a lifelong dedication to Scottish national politics until his death in 1955.'
In 1924, was a founder member of the Scottish National Movement and the National Party of Scotland, the forerunners of the Scottish National Party, serving as vice-chairman of the NPS. He was this party's first parliamentary candidate, standing at the Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election in January1929 against three other candidates. But he polled only 842 votes (4.5% of the vote), losing his deposit.
Later disagreements with the redoubtable left-leaning Hugh MacDiarmid and others led to his withdrawal from active politics altogether. Right from the start of political nationalism in Scotland there were two wings: one advocating complete independence and the other a form of limited Home Rule. Spence fell firmly in the second group. There were further wings comprised of republicans and monarchists and Spence's advocacy of the British monarchy brought a vote of censure which prompted his resignation from post, and though he retained membership of the party, his interest in active nationalism withered away. The literary involvement of Scottish nationalism, involving Spence, Compton Mackenzie, Hugh MacDiarmaid and R. B. Cunningham-Graham, has yet to be fully chronicled.
 |
| First public meeting of the National Party of Scotland in 1928. Lewis Spence is conspicuous by his absence. |
As well as turning his hand to magazine pieces, plays and stories, Lewis also found time to write poetry in Scots and English, published in volumes such as The Phoenix (1923), The Plumes of Time (1926), and Weirds and Vanities (1927). Many of his verses celebrated various places and themes concerning Edinburgh, where he made his home, first in Arden Street and latterly at 34 Howard Place (Inverleith Row). It is reckoned by some that his Collected Poems, which appeared shortly before his death, omitted some of his best work. A picture of the writer's remarkable discipline and work rate was given by his friend Charles Richard Cammell in his book Heart of Scotland (1956) [a summary of which,written by Philip Carr-Gomm, can be read at the Druidry.org website.]
The desk was a model of tidiness...nothing used or useless lying about...Before commencing a book, he planned every part of it, every chapter or section of chapter...He next marshalled his material, pigeon-holing the references...he worked with a minimum of fatigue, and almost without the wearisome labour of revision, and brought his work to its predestines conclusion in an astonishingly short space of time. [The Heart of Scotland, p. 36.]
In retrospect, Spence's most enduring legacy seems to be his volumes on British insular mythology and tradition. Particularly good is The Fairy Tradition in Britain (1948), but other admirable works in this category include The Magical Arts in Celtic Britain (1945), British Fairy Origins (1946) and The Minor Traditions of British Mythology (1948) and Fairy Tradition in Britain (also 1948).
Anyone who has unwanted copies of Scottish Ghosts and Goblins (1952) or any of the above works can readily donate them to me!
In the end, Lewis Spence, despite his voluminous body of works and 80 years on this planet remains an elusive character these days. A search of the internet for images of him reveals a scanty few, including the photo below. Lewis Spence died in Edinburgh on the 3rd March 1955. Gone but not forgotten.
Postscript
I have not read as many as Spence's works as I would like to, particularly his more obscure books. His popular books on national and regional mythology and traditions are highly readable, but possibly unreliable. They were dashed off by the author with remarkable speed, based on a highly polished research methodology and - with lack of revision- suffered from flaws. His poetry I have hardly seen, but the following is an excerpt from his Weird o' Wallace, described as 'the inspired Hymn of Scottish resurgence':
I was on Sidlaw side
And sank intae a sleep,
Sae saft was simmer's tide
Where silence is maist deep,
And doon the loans o' dream
I wandered till yon airt
Whase banks unearthly seem
The richtt warld o' the hairt.
Till, seated by a shaw
Abune yon eerie braes,
A shade o' micht I saw
Frae the heroic days.
Forrit he strode like Daith,
As meikle and as grim,
I kent him Wallace' wraith,
E'en tho' the form was dim...
* pp. 19-211 in Fantasical Imaginations: The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture, ed. Lizanne Henderson (John Donald, Edinburgh, 2009).
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