Fifty Years a Medium – Chapter 7, 7/16 by Estelle Roberts

These two Acts, which had the effect of making séances illegal and denying religious freedom to Spiritualists, were still on the State Book at the end of the Second World War. A campaign to repeal the sections which affected mediums began to gather momentum, and a vigorous attempt was made to end this archaic legislation.

A Spiritualist Member of Parliament, Mr. T. J. Books, invited me to attend the first of a series of all-party dinners in the House of Commons, the purpose of the gatherings being to enlist the cooperation of M.P’s in redressing our grievances. This function was attended by a large number of wellknown men and women from political and social spheres.

After coffee had been served I was called upon to recount some of my psychic experiences. I did so and followed my words by a practical demonstration of some of the things I had been talking about.

One man, a sceptical Scotsman seated next to Maurice Barbanell, was vocally convinced by my opening preamble, and sat back to receive my demonstration of clairvoyance in the same sceptical frame of mind. A few minutes later, however, I unwittingly gave him more food for thought in this direction than he had believed possible.

Among the spirit messages I transmitted came one for the Scotsman – from his son. The boy had ended his earthly life in a burning aircraft and this I told the father, together with the words of comfort that the son offered. I am sure that he left the dinner table in a far less sceptical frame of mind than when he had arrived

Mrs. Helen Hughes was the guest-medium at another dinner, and I was present at a third. It is impossible to estimate to what extent the minds of the M.P.’s who came were influenced by these demonstrations, though some thing may be read into the fact that several of them attended more than once. The fact remains that not long afterwards Parliament amended the Witchcraft and Vagrancy Acts replacing them by the Fraudulent Mediums’ Act of 1951.