Myers, Frederic William Henry (1843-1901), psychical researcher and essayist

Person

Myers, Frederic William Henry (1843-1901), psychical researcher and essayist

1843-1901

Frederic William Henry Myers was born in Keswick on 6 February 1843, son of Frederic Myers and his wife Susan nee Marshall. After the death of his father Myers was taken to live first in Blackheath and then in Cheltenham, where he attended Cheltenham College. While still a youth he showed a great aptitude for poetry, winning school prizes and coming second in a national competition for a Robert Burns centenary poem. In 1860 he was admitted to Trinity College Cambridge. His university career was stellar, he was Bell Scholar in 1861, Craven Scholar in 1863, Chancellor's English Medallist 1861 and 1863, Camden Medallist 1862 and Members' Prizeman 1863, 1864 and 1865. He graduated BA in 1864 as 2nd Classic joint with H. C. G. Moule and later that year took a first in the Moral Sciences Tripos.

Unsurprisingly he was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1865 and remained a Fellow until 1874 and held the posts of assistant tutor and college lecturer in classics until 1869, but did not feel suited to teaching. However, in 1872 he became an inspector of schools and performed the job until just before his death.

In the early 1870s Myers became interested in the study of spiritualism, which he pursued with the help of Henry Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour and others. In 1882 he was part of a group including Sidgwick that established the Society for Psychical Research. He proved to be not only an able and enthusiastic organiser and promoter of the Society's interests but also a keen researcher in many aspects of the paranormal.

In 1880 Myers married Eveleen Tennant, daughter of Charles Tennant, and together they lived from 1881 to 1901 at Leckhampton House on Grange Road in Cambridge. Eveleen collaborated in Myers' psychical research and developed a career as a photographer. Their eldest son, Leopold Hamilton Myers (1881-1944) became a poet and novelist. F. W. H. Myers died in 1901.

Myers, Leopold Hamilton (1881-1944), novelist (1881-1944)

Myers, Harold Hawthorn (1886-1952), stockbroker (1886-1952)

Myers, Frederic (1811-1851), Church of England clergyman and author (1811-1851)

Myers, Susan Harriet (1811-1896), wife of Frederic Myers, sister of Cordelia Whewell (1811-1896)

Myers, Arthur Thomas (1851-1894), physician (1851-1894)

Myers, Ernest James (1844-1921), poet and translator (1844-1921)

Myers, Eveleen (1856-1937), photographer (1856-1937)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography