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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Lil Osborn, Alice Buckton: Baha'i Mystic, bahai-library.com.
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Lil Osborn
Independent Scholar
Of the people who counted themselves as Baha’is in Britain during the early decades of the last
century, perhaps the one most well known to the public at the time was Alice Mary Buckton
(1867 – 1944). Buckton was already a published poet and playwright by the time she
encountered the Baha’i teaching s presumably around 1908 through Wellesley Tudor Pole.
However, despite being in some respects high profile, her life is not easy to piece together, this is
in part because her papers and records are not available, and because she appears to have
been involved in very many different activities often falling out with her co workers before moving
on to her next project. This paper looks at her involvement with the Baha’i Movement and
attempts to evaluate perceptions of her role from inside the Movement.
Background
Alice Buckton was born on the ninth day of March 1867, in Haselmere, Surrey. She seems to
have kept close links with the county while she worked in London, prior to her move to
Glastonbury. Her early life has been pieced together by Tracy Cutting in the short biography
Beneath the Silent Tor. Alice Buckton was the eldest of the seven children of George Bowder
Buckton and Mary Ann Olding. George Buckton was a gentleman scholar, interested in
astronomy, and later in natural history. He published a number of works on aphids and flies, his
work was beautifully illustrated and Cutting speculates his daughters may have assisted in the
colouring of these pictures (Cutting, 2004, p. 8).
One brother, George Merrick Bell Buckton, born in 1876, died only three years later, however,
the rest of Alice’s siblings, Jessie May (10th May 1868), Maud Elizabeth (10th September 1869)
Florence Emily (27th August 1870) Eveleen (30th April 1872) and William Woodyer Buckton (6th
March 1875) all lived into adulthood. Little is known about them, it seems they were educated at
home, there is evidence that both William and Florence got married (Cutting, 2004, p. 10), but
there is no information about the other siblings apart from Alice’s youngest sister Eveleen.
Eveleen Buckton RA (1872 – 1962), was an artist in a number of mediums; according to the
British Council website:
Eveleen Buckton was a pupil of Frank Short. Her works were mainly landscapes and she
exhibited with the New English Art Club and the Royal Academy. Her etchings are much
in the style of Short. http://collection.britishcouncil.org/collection/artist/5/17735
Eveleen, like Alice never married and appears to have been quiet a prolific producer of water
colour landscapes, she had a studio in Hampstead and a cottage near Salisbury. It is possible
that she and Alice, as the sisters involved in the arts may have remained close there is no
evidence to support such conjecture. Eveleen died in Hampstead aged ninety.
The area where the Buckton family lived was a centre of literary activity, in his book The Hilltop
Writers Bob Trotter lists a colony of no less than sixty five writers living in the Surrey Hills in the
later decades of the nineteenth century. These include the folklorist Rev. Sabine Bearing-Gould
(1834 – 1924), whose novel The Broomsquire was set in the area, George Bernard Shaw (1856-
1950) but most importantly Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1885) (Trotter, 2003).
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
That Alice Buckton was acquainted with Tennyson has been acknowledged by every author who
has written about her, but curiously the importance of this relationship is seemingly overlooked.
Tennyson was the person who singlehandedly repackaged King Arthur for a late Victorian and
Edwardian audience. Central to his reinvention of the Arthurian Legends were the stories around
the quest for the Holy Grail. Tennyson’s The Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and
1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems which retell the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his
love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom. The
whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom,
from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail
the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, and Balin and Balan, and
also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is little transition between Idylls, but the central figure
of Arthur links all the stories. Through Tennyson Buckton was steeped in the Arthurian world
long before she encountered Tudor Pole and the Blue Bowl he had recovered from the well in
Glastonbury.
Tennyson’s influence remained on Buckton throughout her life; the Manchester Guardian printed
a story about a gathering of Tennyson admirers visiting the poet’s home in Surrey in 1925:
TENNYSON AT ALDWORTH.
The Manchester Guardian gives the following picturesque description of the recent visit of
many of Tennyson's ad mirers to Aldworth: —
'On the bowling green where Tennyson loved to sit the visitors yesterday gathered to
listen to reminiscences of him and to readings— rather too copious—of his poems. Mr.
W. F; Rawnsley, who was actually present at Tennyson's wed ding in 1810, and who
often visited him at Aldworth, gave us some glimpses of the great man among his
friends.’1
The article goes on to assure readers that both Mr Rawnsley and “Miss Alys Buckton who also
reminisced” pointed out that Tennyson was neither “gruff nor difficult”, that Buckton was still
involved with Tennyson activities over a quarter of a century after his death, is a clear indication
of the importance of his influence in her life.
In 1899 Alice was present at a memorial service for Tennyson in her family’s parish church in
Surrey; there she would recall “His voice above everything remains with me. I have never heard
such a wonderful voice, and it was as rich and melodic a month before he died as it ever was”,
she spoke of holding a candle for him as he read and walking through the fields with him. Years
later she still wore a cloak Tennyson had given her (Chalice Well Trust, 2009, p. 28).
The main event of the service was the unveiling of a memorial window by the Bishop of Ripon. A number of
sources describe a memorial window as being by Edward Burne-Jones, and indeed it does appear to be
based upon his tapestry “The Attainment” which depicts Sir Galahad and the Grail, but according to the
“Buckton Family Website”:
“Eveleen also designed a Stained Glass Window for Haslemere Church, as part of the Tennyson
Memorial there. The window was unveiled on 8th August 1899, and depicts the Holy Grail.”
The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Saturday 17 October 1925, page 4
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
http://bucktonfamily.co.uk/interesting-bucktons/eveleen-buckton
However an advertisement for a “Tennyson Weekend, Part of the Haslemere Festival 22nd -
24th May 2009 A celebration of the life of Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his Surrey home of
Haslemere” ascribes the design of the window to John Henry Dearle:
“In 1899 a Memorial Window by J.H.Dearle, after the Grail Tapestry by Burne-Jones, was
placed in St Bartholomew’s Church, Haslemere.”
http://www.haslemere.com/tennyson/booking.pdf
Dearle is the most likely designer of the window as following Morris's death in 1896, he was
appointed Art Director of the Morris & Co, and became its principal stained glass designer on the death of
Burne-Jones in 1898. It is quite possible that Eveleen Buckton may have been involved in the
commissioning and procurement of the window, certainly the Buckton family were represented at the
memorial service and as a leading local family would have contributed financially (probably substantially) to
the memorial. The choice of subject the window depicts suggests the Grail legends were a subject of
interest in the Buckton family long before Alice went to Glastonbury.
Sesame House
It was also in 1899 that the Sesame Child Garden opened with Buckton, then aged thirty two as
vice principal and her partner Annette Schepel as the senior mistress, teaching the child garden
pupils. It is known that Alice Buckton worked for a time with Octavia Hill in her work amongst the
poor of London, what her role was and the dates of her involvement are not recorded. However,
it seems her interest moved on from direct settlement work to education and in particular the
ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (Fröbel) (1782 – 1852) who pioneered the concept of
early years education and “child gardens” where children’s creativity could grow. Buckton’s
interest in Frobelian educational theory is addressed in Stephanie Mathivet’s Alice Buckton
(1867 – 1944): The Legacy of a Frobelian in the Landscape of Glastonbury, which examines the
influence of Frobel on Buckton’s work in Glastonbury (Mathivet, March 2006).
The Sesame Child Garden was the project of the Sesame League, the institution was not simply
a nursery school or playgroup, the child garden was only part of its function. The underlying
purpose was the training of women in the kind of skills they would need for the changing role of
women in modern life. The role of women in both the spiritual and mundane spheres was
something that interested Buckton throughout her life.
The Sesame Club provided a platform for various forms of progressive education ... By
1899 the Sesame Club had nine hundred members, but there were associated with it
people who were interested in its educational aims but did not want to belong to a
social club: they formed the Sesame League, and resolved to open a house for Home
Life Training on the lines of Pestalozzi Froebel Haus in Berlin, and persuaded Fraulein
Schepel, ... to come over from Berlin to become its first Principal2.
http://www.friedrichfroebel.com/sesame.html
This may not be entirely accurate as the prospectus for the school names Miss Emily Last as the
principal and Schepel as a “certified mistress” http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/digital-
collection/froebel-archive/froebel-extracts/Extract%207.pdf
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
It may be significant that Professor Geddes and his wife were both on the committee of the
school; Geddes was the publisher of Fiona Macleod, the female alter-ego of William Sharpe, he
was also acquainted with Thomas Pole, the father of Wellesley Pole through the Garden City
Movement. Geddes would later play an important role in the visit of Abdul Baha to Edinburgh.
The report on the first year of the school’s work states:
This training college, which is planned on the lines of the Pestalozzi Froebel Haus in
Berlin was opened in July 1899 by the Marchioness of Ripon, under the auspices of the
Sesame Club, Piccadilly. The aims of the training at Sesame House have been fully
explained elsewhere. Suffice it here to say that its general purpose is to fit girls and
women more fully for the woman’s life – a life whose natural character has been
somewhat outweighted in these days by an excessive attention to intellectual
accomplishment, and whose real charm and power lies in other as important things.
http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/digital-collection/froebel-archive/froebel-
extracts/Extract%204.pdf
The skills taught were supposed to be those of a German farmer’s wife, although the syllabus
suggests that rather more was actually taught, the mornings were devoted to cookery,
needlework, house management and gardening. The afternoons concentrated on psychology,
botany, zoology, singing, elocution, geometry and the work of educational reformers, as well as
walks in London and Epping Forest (Chalice Well Trust, 2009, p. 29).
The school part of the enterprise seems to have been successful, as it was deemed “efficient”
some four years after it’s founding:
SESAME HOUSE Acacia Road. Listed in 1903 by the London School Board as an
efficient elementary school.
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/workspace/assets/publications/
Schools-in-Marylebone-Paddington-1243691873.pdf
The school closed in 1916, three years after Buckton and Schepel departed for Somerset, this
may have been due to a general distrust of anything with German antecedents at that time or
simply that many young women would have been involved in war work.
The importance of Sesame House is that it was in some senses the forerunner of the
establishment that Buckton and Schepel would set up in Glastonbury. It signifies the apex of
Buckton’s involvement with the Frobelian educational movement.
How much time Buckton actually spent working at Sesame House is unclear, as it is also the
period in which she was most productive as a writer. In 1901 she published her first book of
poems, Through Human Eyes. She must also have been working on her most famous play,
Eager Heart, around this time, as it was first produced in 1904. It was also in 1904 that her The
Burden of Engela: A Ballad-epic was published, this was a narrative verse sequence about the
Boer war, which took place from October 1899 to November 1902. The central characters are
Engela and Piet de Waal, her husband and their son Geert, whose death at the hands of the
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
British is central to an eponymous poem in the sequence. It is an indication of both Buckton’s
independence of thought and courage that she published a pro-Boer poem at a time when such
sentiments would have been deeply unpopular. The same year Masques and Dances was
published, followed a year later by the Pastor of Wydon Fell another ballad sequence.
A letter dated 24th January 1906 addressed to Lucy Broadwood, a collector of folk songs from
Alice Buckton at Sesame House, 43A Acacia Road, St John’s Wood, is listed in the Broadwood Archive.
In it, Buckton reintroduces herself to Lucy, recalling the latter's performance of 'When the Thorn is
White with Blossom' in the old assembly rooms at Haslemere. She goes on to say that she has written
a sacred play cast in an old form for which Gustav von Holst is preparing the music and she hopes Lucy
will attend the play reading to take place shortly and participate in the discussion afterwards.3 This
letter is significant for a number of reasons; it shows Buckton was still active in cultural events in
Surrey and that she was aware of but not involved with the folk music and song revival at this time.
A Fateful Meeting
In July 1907 a meeting took place which had life changing consequences for Alice Buckton, she
was one a large gathering at the home of Basil Wilberforce who heard Wellesley Tudor Pole
explain the finding of the bowl in the well at Glastonbury. How she knew Wilberforce is not
apparent, but he was a well known figure in numerous radical movements and their paths could
have crossed in a number of ways. There is no record of Buckton’s reaction to the presentation
by Pole but her interest in Arthurian legends and feminism would seem to have made the grail
and it’s triad of maidens irresistible as on the 23rd of September she visited Glastonbury for the
first time.
In 1908 Pole encountered the Baha’i teachings on his first visit to Constantinople; he must have
shared them with Buckton and Schepel on his return. What they made of them can only be
guessed at, clearly they all accepted them in so far as the information they had allowed and it
seems to have left them thirsting for further information. The period between being introduced to
the Baha’i teachings and the first visit of Abul Baha to the British Isles appears to have been one
on intense activity for Buckton. In 1908 she published Songs of Joy. Sometime in 1909 an article
by Buckton appeared in the Havelock Journal "The Forerunner". Havelock North was the town in
which another Baha’i with esoteric interest, Robert Felkin would settle.
The1910 June Star of the West reports on Buckton and Shepel’s visit to the Holy Land, which
suggests the visit, took place in early 1910.
The BAHAI NEWS comes to us with refreshing tidings of progress in all lands.
Our hearts have been made glad with the supremest joy in hearing the verbal messages
brought us by Miss Buckton and Miss Schepel who have spent a few weeks at Acca.
Miss Buckton is a strong club woman here and her return has been the means of
spreading the "Glad-tidings" among many who otherwise would have waited long for this
Message. 1-6-13
Pole visited Abdul Baha in 1910, during the winter of that year, probably to finalise arrangements
for Abdul Baha’s visit to the United Kingdom. Buckton visited the United States early in 1911,
Alice M Buckton, to Lucy Broadwood; 2185/LEB/1/318 24 Jan 1906
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the main reason for her visit was to promote her play Eager Heart, and for example she is
reported in the Harvard Crimson of 26th January 1911:
Miss Buckton of England, will read her mystery-play, "Eager Heart," under the auspices of
the Dramatic Club in Emerson A this afternoon at 4.30 o'clock. The play, which has met
with great success in England, is to be given a trial performance under the auspices of a
committee of Boston men and women on February 11. Miss Buckton wishes to obtain the
aid of Harvard men in acting it. The reading will be open to the public.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1911/1/26/miss-buckton-to-read-eager-heart/
She took the opportunity to meet the American Baha’is and further spread the words of Abdul
Baha. Tthe 1911 March Star of the West reported her visit:
BOSTON, MASS.--During the recent visit to Boston of Miss Alice Mary Buckton, of London, England, the
Bahai teachings were presented to hundreds of eager listeners. God's blessings have been manifest on every
hand and in His power alone will be the “increase” to the seeds thus sown.
A question that Abdul-Baha asked Miss Buckton during her stay in Acca is one that might well be asked of
every Bahai. He said: “Do you not say in the West that this is the ‘Day of the Comforter?’” To which she
replied in the affirmative. He then said: “Are you comforting? Are you doing the work of the Comforter?” - SW,
Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 7
It was also in 1911 that the First Universal Races Congress was held at the University of London
from July 26 to 29. This was an important event and it was hoped that Abdul Baha would attend.
In the event that proved impossible, however, a letter from Abdul Baha was read out by Tudor
Pole. Many Baha’i s attended the Conference, including Louise Waite, an American who had
written a number of Baha’i hymns and published them.
Waite later recounted her experience with Buckton:
When I was in London in 1911 at the Races Congress, Miss B-was very anxious for me to
make changes in our hymns, that they might be "universally used" and also sell generally
and bring in more money for the Temple. She took one of the hymn books and some of
her blue pencil changes were: "Songs of Peace and Praise", not "Bahai Hymns of Peace
and Praise". The hymn of the "Greatest Name" was left out entirely (after such a
wonderful Tablet about it). Then, "Tell the Wondrous story, tell it far and near of the loving
Father, holy Name so dear" not "of Baha'u'l-lah". Also, in "Softly His Voice Is Calling" not
"Abdul Baha we turn to Thee", etc., but "Love is the power which giveth life, Love is the
perfect way." There were many other changes writ-ten in, but these were the most
important. I told her I would pray over it.
I returned to America and prayed and thought deeply over it, but it seemed as if my heart
would be hurt to change those hymns, written to the Beloved Himself. Yet I wanted to
cooperate in every way possible with Miss B.
When 'Abdu'l-Baha was in Chicago, Waite had an interview with him on 5 May 1912. She
showed him the copy of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise that Buckton had marked and
asked him what she should do. He asked who had requested such changes. When Waite
replied that it was Buckton, he explained that she was very ''young' ' in the Faith and that
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Waite should only make changes if he told her to do so. (Armstrong-Ingram, 1987, p.
91/92)
This is a really interesting insight; it is rare to come across evaluations of individuals by their
peers yet alone by Abdu’l Baha. Buckton, it seems was trying to be helpful and she wanted to
maximise sales of Waite’s book by playing down the Baha’i references and making it more all
encompassing. It would appear this was not simply a casual suggestion but a full edit making
significant changes, one gets the impression that Buckton lacked a certain subtlety in dealing
with others. This incident demonstrates her attitude to and understanding of Bahaism, for her it
was subsidiary to unity; contrast her attitude to that of Waite for whom the most important thing
was that the Baha’i teachings shone through the pages of her book. I have written elsewhere
about the Baha’i Movement being a supplementary religious movement and compared it to the
modern Baha’i Faith which is an independent religion and argued that the degree to which the
individual found relevance in the Baha’i message was he factor which determined whether or not
they internalised the message and the Baha’i Faith became their religion. Here we have a good
example of these tensions; Waite perceives Baha’i as her dominant belief system, while for
Buckton it is merely an addition to her other interests and one which she is prepared to subsume
for the sake of a wider audience. Waite was somewhat discombobulated; she desperately
wanted to do the “right Baha’i thing” but the force of Buckton as an individual of prominence both
inside and outside of the Baha’i Movement intimidated her enough to cause her to question her
own poetry and how it should be presented. Waite asked Abdu’l Baha for advice; by 1912 he
would have met Buckton on numerous occasions on his visit to the British Isles as well as the
two pilgrimages she had made to Egypt, so his evaluation was based on sound knowledge,
despite her high profile as a public speaker for the Baha’i Movement and the respect she
commanded, Abdu’l Baha describes her as “young in the Faith”, it suggests he saw something in
her that was not apparent to everyone, what that was will be discussed later.
Around this time Buckton and Schepel were deeply immersed in Baha’i activities in London, their
work seems to have centred on the Passmore Edwards Settlement, quiet what their connection
was with this institution is unclear. The settlement was linked originally to the Non Conformist
University College of the University of London, two men who wrote about the Baha’i Faith; J.
Estlin Carpenter and Phillip Wicksteed who were both connected to the Settlement through
Manchester New College, Oxford. The Settlement was important for a host of reasons, one of
which was that it was home to the Esperance Morris Team, an all female Morris dance team that
was led by Mary Neal, one of the most influential people in the revival of English folk dance.
According to an article entitled The Baha’i Message by Harrold Johnson in The Christian
Commonwealth, of September 6, 1911 it seems that Baha’is had started meeting there during the
Universal Races Congress, which was held in the nearby University of London and were building
on interest generated by the conference to run regular study meetings, it is noteworthy that Annet
Schepel is given as the secretary and contact:
Last Friday, at 37, Tavistock Place, W. C., the Bahá’í Community of London opened a
new centre and reading-room, which will be open daily from 11 a. m. to 6 p. m. The
friends present at the gathering hailed from Egypt, Syria, West Africa, United States,
Mexico, Holland, etc. The opening of this centre is the direct outcome of the series of
public meetings held at the Passmore Edwards Settlement and at Caxton Hall, at the time
of the first Universal Races Congress. A study-circle is held every Friday at 4.45 p. m.
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
All information may be had of the hon. sec. Miss Annet Hamminck Schepel.
The meetings were doubtless used to develop interest immediately prior to the visit to the British
isles of Abdu’l Baha. He arrived on the 4th September 1911 and stayed until the 3rd October,
during this time he addressed numerous meetings, both large formal public events and informal
“at home” style gatherings in the homes of supporters. On the 9th September he visited Vanners,
the country home of Buckton and Shepel (Hammond, 1912, p. p.84). The story of Abdu’l Baha’s
visits to the West has been recounted many times and thus only the role of Buckton in relation to
these visits will be touched upon here. She is visible in photographs taken at the Pole family
guest house in Clifton, Bristol, where Abdu’l Baha stayed between 23rd and 25th and where he
encountered both the Blue Bowl and the women who along with Tudor Pole had found the
vessel. (Hammond, 1912) (1911) (CC 27th Sept 1911& SW Vol. 2, No 12 p.7,8-11). At the end of
the month on 28th September Abdu’l Baha returned to Byfleet to again enjoy Buckton’s hospitality
and mix informally with the people of the village.
That Buckton and her concerns remained with Abdu’l Baha after he returned to the Middle East
is evidenced by the pilgrim notes of Harriet M. Wise who visited between 9th and 21st June, 1912.
These note form part of a collection of four hundred and seventy eight translated tablets and
other English documents from the library of American collector Dwight Barstow. Notes numbered
351-B(3) and 356 refer to Allice Buckton:
Date, Jul. 9-21, 1912, 6 pp Words (pilgrim notes) to Harriet M. Wise, Cooper & Goodall--
notes by Wise
3) 351-B: He told Miss Buckton to not tamper with the psychic forces in this world. It
hampers & retards the condition of the body, both in this world & especially the world to
come. Same as 356
Clearly, Abdul Baha was so concerned about what he perceived as Buckton’s tampering with
psychic forces, whatever that may mean, and the danger it posed, that months after seeing her
he felt compelled to send a warning through a third party. This may explain his rather cryptic
remark to Louise Waite describing Buckton as “young in the faith”.
Abdu’l Baha made a second visit to Britain from the 12th December 1912 to January 21st 1913;
this visit took place after a long sojourn in the United States. The second visit was different in
style from the first, with more emphasis on meetings with officials and rather less press
coverage.
On the 12th December ‘Abdu’l Baha addressed his first major public meeting of his second visit in
London, Alice Buckton was prominent, she addressed the hall; she read from the Hidden Words
and described the circumstances of their revelation. She talked about peace and a recent peace
conference and then “emphasised the fact that this was no new religion, it sought the unity of all
religions, shutting out none of them, but finding a common meeting place for all. She likened it to
a garden of flowers where vast variety did away with monotony and made an interesting unity.”
The next speaker was Charlotte Despard, president of the Woman’s Freedom League, she and
Buckton seem to have been closely associated. Mrs. Despard spoke of ‘The Master’ and the
message he was bringing the world. Despard referred to the unrest in the world but concluded it
was a healthy symptom of change and that the “mighty movements—the women’s movement,
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the religious movement, the spiritual movement” were all part of a unifying force for change. It is
clear that for Despard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is relevant as “one of the great Masters,” in other words, not
unique, and the leader of one of the great movements. Another interesting point she made was
to refer to “the presence here in our western isle of this eastern Master,” a reference to the
revival of the Western magical traditions in which she and Alice Buckton were steeped. SW Vol.
3, 19,4
Two days later, after spending the afternoon walking in the park with some of his followers, which
included Buckton and in the evening ‘Abdu’l Baha attended a performance of Buckton’s play
Eager Heart. There are several accounts of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s reaction to the play and the
discussion about it amongst his friends and followers. The play was based on medieval mystery
plays, Buckton had laid down strict conditions for its performance, for example the names of the
actors were not to be revealed and the ownership of the play was put in the hands of a
committee which met annually to discuss its progress. The plot was simple; it concerns Eager
Heart and her sisters Eager Fame and Eager Sense and their reactions to their meeting with the
Christ Child. This play is the only one of Buckton’s numerous works which she controlled in this
way; she seems to have believed it was uniquely powerful and possibly perceived its
performance as a ritual. She would have been delighted with and seen much significance in
‘Abdu’l Baha’s positive reaction to the performance.
The longest period Abdu’l-Bahá spent outside of London was the week he spent in Edinburgh,
from Friday, 3 January to Friday, 10 January. Whilst he was in Scotland he met Professor
Geddes who had been involved with the Sesame House activities of Buckton as well as being
known to the Pole family. According to Ahmad Sohrab’s diary and interesting conversation took
place on the train back to London:
Since his return to London he is anxious that teachers may go to Edinburgh and
yesterday the name of Miss Buckton]was mentioned in the train; that is she knows how to
speak with Church people, she is certainly the one to go there for awhile and try to teach
and water the seeds that the Master has sown; for there were many people who have
expressed their desire to join the Bahai movement. Therefore this morning when Miss
Chapel and Miss Buckton came in, the Master called them in and after greeting them and
inquiring about their health said {to the latter}, Thou must go to Scotland. The people are
immensely interested. Edinburgh has great capability. There are many people who are
interested.
Sorab’s Diary 11th January 1913
http://bahai-library.com/sohrab_diary_edinburgh_1913
Thus we have another insight into the perceptions of the Baha’is and Abdu’l Baha of Alice
Buckton, she is acknowledged as someone who can “speak with Church people”, clearly an
organiser and public speaker, despite being “young” in the Faith and over fond of psychic forces.
She is, like Pole a public face, however, she does not seem to have the same intimacy with
Abdu’l Baha and his family that Pole had even before his service in the war.
It should be noted that Buckton often spoke on subjects close to her own interests, mainly the
role of women. On the 11th January Abdu’l Baha addressed a large public meeting at Caxton
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Hall, Buckton also spoke.‘Abdu’l-Bahá made another trip to the Clifton Guest House in Bristol,
leaving London on Thursday, 16 January; Buckton was part of his entourage. He addressed a
meeting of about one hundred and fifty persons that evening and returned to London the
following day.
Glastonbury
Buckton had great plans for her new venture in Glastonbury; but she was not alone in choosing
to relocate there, Glastonbury had become a centre for artistic and spiritual
It is unclear exactly when it was that Alice Buckton bought Tor House and with it the Chalice
Well, some sources say 1912 others early 1913, there is anecdotal evidence that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
encouraged her to make the purchase. There is nothing to substantiate this, however, it was the
period in which Buckton was most deeply involved with the Baha’is and when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, if not
actually in England would have been easily contactable in Europe when news the property was
on the market reached Buckton. It would seem unlikely she would have made such an important
decision without consulting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and impossible for her to go ahead unless he had been
supportive. According to her biographer, Buckton’s bid was unlikely to succeed as a wealthy
American and an industrialist were both keen to acquire the site, providentially the American was
delayed and against the odds Buckton’s bid was accepted (Cutting, 2004, pp. 20-21). It is
noticeable that Pole does not seem to be involved in this venture, many years later he wrote:
The Belgian Order of the Sacred Heart sold the Chalice Well property as a whole in 1909,
after it had been empty for a while, Alice Buckton bought it and ruled there for many
years. Results were mixed and ultimately the good lady became deranged and eccentric
to a degree. (Pole, 1979, p. 138)
Pole points out that the de-consecration of the site by the departing Roman Catholic Order led to
a spiritual void and implies that this was at least in part, the cause of Buckton’s eccentricity.
Clearly, at least in retrospect, he was not supportive of her venture, although he purchase the
site himself in 1959, when presumably the spiritual void had been dealt with. It is suggestive that
Pole and Buckton, although publically working together for the Baha’i Cause, had started to
diverge in their respective understandings of Glastonbury.
Her project of “The Chalice Well Training College for Women and Pilgrims’ Hostel” which opened
its doors in May 1913 was in many ways a continuation of the work begun at Sesame House; its
curriculum included "gardening, bee-keeping, book binding, weaving, and needlework, combined
with the study of heraldry, elocution and legendary drama, however it could also be seen as a
Baha’i inspired venture. Baha’is prioritise the education and training of women, there is also a
strong tradition of hospitality, both of which were present in Buckton’s vision of her college.
The following year 1914 saw the first Glastonbury festival, as well as another venture by Buckton
which may have been inspired by contact with the Baha’is, this was a play entitled “The Meeting
in the Gate: A Christmas interlude” first published in The Challenge4 magazine, it concerns a
conversation between Muslims and Christians during the First Crusade, the title is a pun on the
title of the forerunner of Baha’u’llah, whose title - The Bab, means “The Gate” in Arabic. In that
summer of that year war broke out and Europe would be engulfed in conflict for several years.
Christmas number, December 24th, 1915."p.11
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Buckton’s college concept would have struggled in favourable circumstances, Glastonbury,
although it had a railway station at that time, was still remote from most large urban centres, and
what had worked well in St John’s Wood was less attractive in remote Somerset. With the
disruption of the War and many potential trainees entering war work, the likelihood of the college
being a financial success was severely diminished. Buckton gradually dropped the training
college aspect and the property became a guest house, she continued to purchase other
properties as they came on the market until financial constraints caused her to sell off her
portfolio, the reasons for this will be discussed later.
During the First World War Buckton was resident in Glastonbury, while the conflict may have
impacted negatively on her attempts to set up a training college for women and hostel for
pilgrims, one very significant visitor to her establishment in 1915 was the archaeologist Margaret
Murray. Murray wrote that she chose to go to Glastonbury because she knew nobody there
(Murrray, 1963, p. 104), however, Buckton was the god mother of one of Finders Petrie’s two
children and Petrie was Murray’s mentor in the Archaeology Department of University College
London, it is likely that it was through Petrie that Murray was introduced to Alice Buckton. In her
autobiography Murray commented:
One cannot stay in Glastonbury without becoming interested in Joseph of Arimathea and
the Holy Grail. As soon as I got back to London I did a careful piece of research, which
resulted in a paper on Egyptian Elements in the Grail Romance. (Murrray, 1963, p. 104)
Murray goes on to explain that most of her research for The Witch Cult in Western Europe was
done during the war, she claims to have forgotten who it was who first piqued her interest in
witches but as she had written nothing on the subject before the war, it is very possible that
conversations which took place in Glastonbury were the spark which caused her to turn her
attention to witches after she had explored the Grail legends in the context of Ancient Egypt.
Murray was not the only important figure in the resurgence of magick to stay with Alice. In 1921
Dion Fortune (1890-1946) stayed at Alice Buckton’s community guest house in Glastonbury,
before purchasing her own property in the town. Fortune, who was arguably the most important
figure in the revival of occultism in Britain, wrote extensively about Buckton in her book about
Glastonbury, Avalon of the Heart.
Although based mainly in Glastonbury, both Buckton and Schepel appear on the voting list of the
London electors of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom,
unlike Pole it seems they chose to remain within the Baha’i community when it began to
organise. In my opinion Pole’s decision to remain outside demonstrates a deeper understanding
than that of Buckton and Schepel, who I would argue chose to be included because they did not
grasp the full significance of the development. They certainly cease to be involved in Baha’i
activities from this point on and dedicate themselves to their work in Glastonbury.
Pageant and pilgrimage , cinema and radio
Notwithstanding her interest in ancient forms of drama, she was also instrumental in making a
film, The History of Glastonbury, for which she wrote a scenario presenting the town’s
development by means of pageant. Though the film proved technically inadequate, it is
interesting to see her then turning her creative energies to the new technology of radio, creating
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the first Arthurian play designed for the medium. Her scheme was ambitious and employed
music specially written by Warwick Braithwaite, the conductor of the Cardiff Station Orchestra
(and later conductor of the National Orchestra of Wales). The play was called Arthurian Legends
1. The Wooing of Guinevere (c 28th June 1925), and was performed by the 5WA Radio Players
and the station SO conducted by Braithwaite. ….
According to a preview in the Western Mail, Buckton had planned a series of six works on this
theme to be given at monthly intervals. No trace is extant of these intended sequels. (Simpson,
2008, pp. 17 -18)
The Final Years
The last reference I can find to Buckton in a Baha’i context is a mention of her in Balyuzi’s
biography of ‘Abdu’l Baha:
The present writer met both Mrs Whyte and Alice Buckton sometime in the early thirties, at the
home of Lady Blomfield, 8, Burgess Hill, London NW2. Both were then noticeably aged. Mrs
Whyte had moved to London and lived very quietly at 22, Church Row, Hampstead. Alice
Buckton was still active, particularly for the Chalice Well, Glastonbury. (Balyuzi, 1971, p. 355n)
It is purely speculation but two possibilities occur from Balyuzi’s reminiscence, firstly that it is
possible that Buckton was visiting her sister Eveleen, who was also a resident of Hampstead and
secondly, that the death of Buckton’s long time partner, Annette Schepel in 1931 may have been
significant in her drifting away from the Baha’is. Little is known of Schepel, no writings in English
exist, although, she may have been writing in her native German. She certainly accompanied
Buckton in her work for the Baha’i cause and it is possible that she was the more deeply
committed of the two and that after her death Buckton’s interest waned. A list of “isolated
believers” published in the February 1938 Baha’i Journal does not include Alice Buckton, I can
find no obituary in any Baha’i publication, this suggests that for some years prior to her death she
had not been active in the Baha’i community.
In the final years of her life Buckton was facing financial difficulties and wrestling with the
problem of the future of her work in Glastonbury after her death. She expended a great deal of
energy attempting to set up a limited company that would safeguard her work financially, with the
hope that it would preserve the well and the properties she had acquired as single unit. After her
death in December 1944, the estate was gradually broken up and her work would have appeared
to be doomed to oblivion, however, the Chalice Well aspect at least was revived by her sometime
friend and fellow Baha’i Wellesley Tudor Pole who established the Chalice Well Trust in 1959
and purchased the Well and some of the land around it, enabling it to be turned into the present
garden and visitor centre.
Buckton’s funeral service was held in Wells Cathedral and a few days later a memorial service
took place at St John’s church in Glastonbury, an indication she remained at least technically
loyal to the Anglican Church until the end of her life. Cutting gives a list of people who attended,
the funeral and although it might not be complete, it does not include any known Baha’is, another
indication she had drifted away. A memorial to her exists within the church, her ashes were
scattered on the Tor. Perhaps the last word should be to the Rev Lionel Lewis, the Vicar of St.
John’s whose eulogy, spoken at her funeral was printed in the parish magazine:
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
There passed away early in the morning of Sunday, Dec.13th, a great soul, a great mind, and a
great heart, Alys Mary Buckton. She was a genius, a most remarkable personality. Her mind was
as wide as her heart. Gifted also with musical voice, a strong will, the keenest intelligence, an
extraordinary critical judgment, and an extraordinary capacity for forgiveness, an unfailing
enthusiasm. She managed to accomplish things where other people would have been daunted.
Twenty years ago it would have been a waste of time to have told Glastonbury, which she loved
so dearly, what she had done for Glastonbury. But men come and go, so the writer, who had the
privilege of being her parish priest, for nearly the last quarter century of her life (a period to be
looked back upon without one ruffled thought) would fain bear one tiny testimony. When he came
here, he found Chalice Well and Miss Buckton, a centre of art, music, drama, crafts and lofty
thought, to which she had attracted the most intelligent and good-living youth of the place.
That good work continued until increasing years made her give up her hostel. But her influence
lives on in the hearts and minds of her pupils whom she illumined. Her whole outlook on life was
great, and here was an ever-ready sympathy. It is needless to speak of her years of work for the
poor in the slums under Miss Octavia Hill, and her unfailing passion for education, or of her
powers as a dramatist. The authoress of ‘Eager Heart’ is world-famed. Being so great she had
the power of attracting great minds.
http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/index.cfm/glastonbury/HistoricalArchive.Article/article_id/1
Conclusions
Buckton remains something of an enigma, although she wrote and published a great deal, much
of her thinking and beliefs remain obscure. I have addressed
• What was her connection with Finders Petrie?
• What was she doing at the Passmore Edwards Settlement?
• Who and what was behind the move to Glastonbury?
• When did she and WTP drift apart?
• Why did she end up so isolated?
• What happened to distance her from the Baha’is?
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Lil Osborn
Independent Scholar
Of the people who counted themselves as Baha’is in Britain during the early decades of the last
century, perhaps the one most well known to the public at the time was Alice Mary Buckton
(1867 – 1944). Buckton was already a published poet and playwright by the time she
encountered the Baha’i teaching s presumably around 1908 through Wellesley Tudor Pole.
However, despite being in some respects high profile, her life is not easy to piece together, this is
in part because her papers and records are not available, and because she appears to have
been involved in very many different activities often falling out with her co workers before moving
on to her next project. This paper looks at her involvement with the Baha’i Movement and
attempts to evaluate perceptions of her role from inside the Movement.
Background
Alice Buckton was born on the ninth day of March 1867, in Haselmere, Surrey. She seems to
have kept close links with the county while she worked in London, prior to her move to
Glastonbury. Her early life has been pieced together by Tracy Cutting in the short biography
Beneath the Silent Tor. Alice Buckton was the eldest of the seven children of George Bowder
Buckton and Mary Ann Olding. George Buckton was a gentleman scholar, interested in
astronomy, and later in natural history. He published a number of works on aphids and flies, his
work was beautifully illustrated and Cutting speculates his daughters may have assisted in the
colouring of these pictures (Cutting, 2004, p. 8).
One brother, George Merrick Bell Buckton, born in 1876, died only three years later, however,
the rest of Alice’s siblings, Jessie May (10th May 1868), Maud Elizabeth (10th September 1869)
Florence Emily (27th August 1870) Eveleen (30th April 1872) and William Woodyer Buckton (6th
March 1875) all lived into adulthood. Little is known about them, it seems they were educated at
home, there is evidence that both William and Florence got married (Cutting, 2004, p. 10), but
there is no information about the other siblings apart from Alice’s youngest sister Eveleen.
Eveleen Buckton RA (1872 – 1962), was an artist in a number of mediums; according to the
British Council website:
Eveleen Buckton was a pupil of Frank Short. Her works were mainly landscapes and she
exhibited with the New English Art Club and the Royal Academy. Her etchings are much
in the style of Short. http://collection.britishcouncil.org/collection/artist/5/17735
Eveleen, like Alice never married and appears to have been quiet a prolific producer of water
colour landscapes, she had a studio in Hampstead and a cottage near Salisbury. It is possible
that she and Alice, as the sisters involved in the arts may have remained close there is no
evidence to support such conjecture. Eveleen died in Hampstead aged ninety.
The area where the Buckton family lived was a centre of literary activity, in his book The Hilltop
Writers Bob Trotter lists a colony of no less than sixty five writers living in the Surrey Hills in the
later decades of the nineteenth century. These include the folklorist Rev. Sabine Bearing-Gould
(1834 – 1924), whose novel The Broomsquire was set in the area, George Bernard Shaw (1856-
1950) but most importantly Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1885) (Trotter, 2003).
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
That Alice Buckton was acquainted with Tennyson has been acknowledged by every author who
has written about her, but curiously the importance of this relationship is seemingly overlooked.
Tennyson was the person who singlehandedly repackaged King Arthur for a late Victorian and
Edwardian audience. Central to his reinvention of the Arthurian Legends were the stories around
the quest for the Holy Grail. Tennyson’s The Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and
1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems which retell the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his
love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom. The
whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom,
from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail
the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, and Balin and Balan, and
also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is little transition between Idylls, but the central figure
of Arthur links all the stories. Through Tennyson Buckton was steeped in the Arthurian world
long before she encountered Tudor Pole and the Blue Bowl he had recovered from the well in
Glastonbury.
Tennyson’s influence remained on Buckton throughout her life; the Manchester Guardian printed
a story about a gathering of Tennyson admirers visiting the poet’s home in Surrey in 1925:
TENNYSON AT ALDWORTH.
The Manchester Guardian gives the following picturesque description of the recent visit of
many of Tennyson's ad mirers to Aldworth: —
'On the bowling green where Tennyson loved to sit the visitors yesterday gathered to
listen to reminiscences of him and to readings— rather too copious—of his poems. Mr.
W. F; Rawnsley, who was actually present at Tennyson's wed ding in 1810, and who
often visited him at Aldworth, gave us some glimpses of the great man among his
friends.’1
The article goes on to assure readers that both Mr Rawnsley and “Miss Alys Buckton who also
reminisced” pointed out that Tennyson was neither “gruff nor difficult”, that Buckton was still
involved with Tennyson activities over a quarter of a century after his death, is a clear indication
of the importance of his influence in her life.
In 1899 Alice was present at a memorial service for Tennyson in her family’s parish church in
Surrey; there she would recall “His voice above everything remains with me. I have never heard
such a wonderful voice, and it was as rich and melodic a month before he died as it ever was”,
she spoke of holding a candle for him as he read and walking through the fields with him. Years
later she still wore a cloak Tennyson had given her (Chalice Well Trust, 2009, p. 28).
The main event of the service was the unveiling of a memorial window by the Bishop of Ripon. A number of
sources describe a memorial window as being by Edward Burne-Jones, and indeed it does appear to be
based upon his tapestry “The Attainment” which depicts Sir Galahad and the Grail, but according to the
“Buckton Family Website”:
“Eveleen also designed a Stained Glass Window for Haslemere Church, as part of the Tennyson
Memorial there. The window was unveiled on 8th August 1899, and depicts the Holy Grail.”
The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Saturday 17 October 1925, page 4
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
http://bucktonfamily.co.uk/interesting-bucktons/eveleen-buckton
However an advertisement for a “Tennyson Weekend, Part of the Haslemere Festival 22nd -
24th May 2009 A celebration of the life of Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his Surrey home of
Haslemere” ascribes the design of the window to John Henry Dearle:
“In 1899 a Memorial Window by J.H.Dearle, after the Grail Tapestry by Burne-Jones, was
placed in St Bartholomew’s Church, Haslemere.”
http://www.haslemere.com/tennyson/booking.pdf
Dearle is the most likely designer of the window as following Morris's death in 1896, he was
appointed Art Director of the Morris & Co, and became its principal stained glass designer on the death of
Burne-Jones in 1898. It is quite possible that Eveleen Buckton may have been involved in the
commissioning and procurement of the window, certainly the Buckton family were represented at the
memorial service and as a leading local family would have contributed financially (probably substantially) to
the memorial. The choice of subject the window depicts suggests the Grail legends were a subject of
interest in the Buckton family long before Alice went to Glastonbury.
Sesame House
It was also in 1899 that the Sesame Child Garden opened with Buckton, then aged thirty two as
vice principal and her partner Annette Schepel as the senior mistress, teaching the child garden
pupils. It is known that Alice Buckton worked for a time with Octavia Hill in her work amongst the
poor of London, what her role was and the dates of her involvement are not recorded. However,
it seems her interest moved on from direct settlement work to education and in particular the
ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (Fröbel) (1782 – 1852) who pioneered the concept of
early years education and “child gardens” where children’s creativity could grow. Buckton’s
interest in Frobelian educational theory is addressed in Stephanie Mathivet’s Alice Buckton
(1867 – 1944): The Legacy of a Frobelian in the Landscape of Glastonbury, which examines the
influence of Frobel on Buckton’s work in Glastonbury (Mathivet, March 2006).
The Sesame Child Garden was the project of the Sesame League, the institution was not simply
a nursery school or playgroup, the child garden was only part of its function. The underlying
purpose was the training of women in the kind of skills they would need for the changing role of
women in modern life. The role of women in both the spiritual and mundane spheres was
something that interested Buckton throughout her life.
The Sesame Club provided a platform for various forms of progressive education ... By
1899 the Sesame Club had nine hundred members, but there were associated with it
people who were interested in its educational aims but did not want to belong to a
social club: they formed the Sesame League, and resolved to open a house for Home
Life Training on the lines of Pestalozzi Froebel Haus in Berlin, and persuaded Fraulein
Schepel, ... to come over from Berlin to become its first Principal2.
http://www.friedrichfroebel.com/sesame.html
This may not be entirely accurate as the prospectus for the school names Miss Emily Last as the
principal and Schepel as a “certified mistress” http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/digital-
collection/froebel-archive/froebel-extracts/Extract%207.pdf
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
It may be significant that Professor Geddes and his wife were both on the committee of the
school; Geddes was the publisher of Fiona Macleod, the female alter-ego of William Sharpe, he
was also acquainted with Thomas Pole, the father of Wellesley Pole through the Garden City
Movement. Geddes would later play an important role in the visit of Abdul Baha to Edinburgh.
The report on the first year of the school’s work states:
This training college, which is planned on the lines of the Pestalozzi Froebel Haus in
Berlin was opened in July 1899 by the Marchioness of Ripon, under the auspices of the
Sesame Club, Piccadilly. The aims of the training at Sesame House have been fully
explained elsewhere. Suffice it here to say that its general purpose is to fit girls and
women more fully for the woman’s life – a life whose natural character has been
somewhat outweighted in these days by an excessive attention to intellectual
accomplishment, and whose real charm and power lies in other as important things.
http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/digital-collection/froebel-archive/froebel-
extracts/Extract%204.pdf
The skills taught were supposed to be those of a German farmer’s wife, although the syllabus
suggests that rather more was actually taught, the mornings were devoted to cookery,
needlework, house management and gardening. The afternoons concentrated on psychology,
botany, zoology, singing, elocution, geometry and the work of educational reformers, as well as
walks in London and Epping Forest (Chalice Well Trust, 2009, p. 29).
The school part of the enterprise seems to have been successful, as it was deemed “efficient”
some four years after it’s founding:
SESAME HOUSE Acacia Road. Listed in 1903 by the London School Board as an
efficient elementary school.
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/workspace/assets/publications/
Schools-in-Marylebone-Paddington-1243691873.pdf
The school closed in 1916, three years after Buckton and Schepel departed for Somerset, this
may have been due to a general distrust of anything with German antecedents at that time or
simply that many young women would have been involved in war work.
The importance of Sesame House is that it was in some senses the forerunner of the
establishment that Buckton and Schepel would set up in Glastonbury. It signifies the apex of
Buckton’s involvement with the Frobelian educational movement.
How much time Buckton actually spent working at Sesame House is unclear, as it is also the
period in which she was most productive as a writer. In 1901 she published her first book of
poems, Through Human Eyes. She must also have been working on her most famous play,
Eager Heart, around this time, as it was first produced in 1904. It was also in 1904 that her The
Burden of Engela: A Ballad-epic was published, this was a narrative verse sequence about the
Boer war, which took place from October 1899 to November 1902. The central characters are
Engela and Piet de Waal, her husband and their son Geert, whose death at the hands of the
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
British is central to an eponymous poem in the sequence. It is an indication of both Buckton’s
independence of thought and courage that she published a pro-Boer poem at a time when such
sentiments would have been deeply unpopular. The same year Masques and Dances was
published, followed a year later by the Pastor of Wydon Fell another ballad sequence.
A letter dated 24th January 1906 addressed to Lucy Broadwood, a collector of folk songs from
Alice Buckton at Sesame House, 43A Acacia Road, St John’s Wood, is listed in the Broadwood Archive.
In it, Buckton reintroduces herself to Lucy, recalling the latter's performance of 'When the Thorn is
White with Blossom' in the old assembly rooms at Haslemere. She goes on to say that she has written
a sacred play cast in an old form for which Gustav von Holst is preparing the music and she hopes Lucy
will attend the play reading to take place shortly and participate in the discussion afterwards.3 This
letter is significant for a number of reasons; it shows Buckton was still active in cultural events in
Surrey and that she was aware of but not involved with the folk music and song revival at this time.
A Fateful Meeting
In July 1907 a meeting took place which had life changing consequences for Alice Buckton, she
was one a large gathering at the home of Basil Wilberforce who heard Wellesley Tudor Pole
explain the finding of the bowl in the well at Glastonbury. How she knew Wilberforce is not
apparent, but he was a well known figure in numerous radical movements and their paths could
have crossed in a number of ways. There is no record of Buckton’s reaction to the presentation
by Pole but her interest in Arthurian legends and feminism would seem to have made the grail
and it’s triad of maidens irresistible as on the 23rd of September she visited Glastonbury for the
first time.
In 1908 Pole encountered the Baha’i teachings on his first visit to Constantinople; he must have
shared them with Buckton and Schepel on his return. What they made of them can only be
guessed at, clearly they all accepted them in so far as the information they had allowed and it
seems to have left them thirsting for further information. The period between being introduced to
the Baha’i teachings and the first visit of Abul Baha to the British Isles appears to have been one
on intense activity for Buckton. In 1908 she published Songs of Joy. Sometime in 1909 an article
by Buckton appeared in the Havelock Journal "The Forerunner". Havelock North was the town in
which another Baha’i with esoteric interest, Robert Felkin would settle.
The1910 June Star of the West reports on Buckton and Shepel’s visit to the Holy Land, which
suggests the visit, took place in early 1910.
The BAHAI NEWS comes to us with refreshing tidings of progress in all lands.
Our hearts have been made glad with the supremest joy in hearing the verbal messages
brought us by Miss Buckton and Miss Schepel who have spent a few weeks at Acca.
Miss Buckton is a strong club woman here and her return has been the means of
spreading the "Glad-tidings" among many who otherwise would have waited long for this
Message. 1-6-13
Pole visited Abdul Baha in 1910, during the winter of that year, probably to finalise arrangements
for Abdul Baha’s visit to the United Kingdom. Buckton visited the United States early in 1911,
Alice M Buckton, to Lucy Broadwood; 2185/LEB/1/318 24 Jan 1906
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the main reason for her visit was to promote her play Eager Heart, and for example she is
reported in the Harvard Crimson of 26th January 1911:
Miss Buckton of England, will read her mystery-play, "Eager Heart," under the auspices of
the Dramatic Club in Emerson A this afternoon at 4.30 o'clock. The play, which has met
with great success in England, is to be given a trial performance under the auspices of a
committee of Boston men and women on February 11. Miss Buckton wishes to obtain the
aid of Harvard men in acting it. The reading will be open to the public.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1911/1/26/miss-buckton-to-read-eager-heart/
She took the opportunity to meet the American Baha’is and further spread the words of Abdul
Baha. Tthe 1911 March Star of the West reported her visit:
BOSTON, MASS.--During the recent visit to Boston of Miss Alice Mary Buckton, of London, England, the
Bahai teachings were presented to hundreds of eager listeners. God's blessings have been manifest on every
hand and in His power alone will be the “increase” to the seeds thus sown.
A question that Abdul-Baha asked Miss Buckton during her stay in Acca is one that might well be asked of
every Bahai. He said: “Do you not say in the West that this is the ‘Day of the Comforter?’” To which she
replied in the affirmative. He then said: “Are you comforting? Are you doing the work of the Comforter?” - SW,
Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 7
It was also in 1911 that the First Universal Races Congress was held at the University of London
from July 26 to 29. This was an important event and it was hoped that Abdul Baha would attend.
In the event that proved impossible, however, a letter from Abdul Baha was read out by Tudor
Pole. Many Baha’i s attended the Conference, including Louise Waite, an American who had
written a number of Baha’i hymns and published them.
Waite later recounted her experience with Buckton:
When I was in London in 1911 at the Races Congress, Miss B-was very anxious for me to
make changes in our hymns, that they might be "universally used" and also sell generally
and bring in more money for the Temple. She took one of the hymn books and some of
her blue pencil changes were: "Songs of Peace and Praise", not "Bahai Hymns of Peace
and Praise". The hymn of the "Greatest Name" was left out entirely (after such a
wonderful Tablet about it). Then, "Tell the Wondrous story, tell it far and near of the loving
Father, holy Name so dear" not "of Baha'u'l-lah". Also, in "Softly His Voice Is Calling" not
"Abdul Baha we turn to Thee", etc., but "Love is the power which giveth life, Love is the
perfect way." There were many other changes writ-ten in, but these were the most
important. I told her I would pray over it.
I returned to America and prayed and thought deeply over it, but it seemed as if my heart
would be hurt to change those hymns, written to the Beloved Himself. Yet I wanted to
cooperate in every way possible with Miss B.
When 'Abdu'l-Baha was in Chicago, Waite had an interview with him on 5 May 1912. She
showed him the copy of Bahai Hymns of Peace and Praise that Buckton had marked and
asked him what she should do. He asked who had requested such changes. When Waite
replied that it was Buckton, he explained that she was very ''young' ' in the Faith and that
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Waite should only make changes if he told her to do so. (Armstrong-Ingram, 1987, p.
91/92)
This is a really interesting insight; it is rare to come across evaluations of individuals by their
peers yet alone by Abdu’l Baha. Buckton, it seems was trying to be helpful and she wanted to
maximise sales of Waite’s book by playing down the Baha’i references and making it more all
encompassing. It would appear this was not simply a casual suggestion but a full edit making
significant changes, one gets the impression that Buckton lacked a certain subtlety in dealing
with others. This incident demonstrates her attitude to and understanding of Bahaism, for her it
was subsidiary to unity; contrast her attitude to that of Waite for whom the most important thing
was that the Baha’i teachings shone through the pages of her book. I have written elsewhere
about the Baha’i Movement being a supplementary religious movement and compared it to the
modern Baha’i Faith which is an independent religion and argued that the degree to which the
individual found relevance in the Baha’i message was he factor which determined whether or not
they internalised the message and the Baha’i Faith became their religion. Here we have a good
example of these tensions; Waite perceives Baha’i as her dominant belief system, while for
Buckton it is merely an addition to her other interests and one which she is prepared to subsume
for the sake of a wider audience. Waite was somewhat discombobulated; she desperately
wanted to do the “right Baha’i thing” but the force of Buckton as an individual of prominence both
inside and outside of the Baha’i Movement intimidated her enough to cause her to question her
own poetry and how it should be presented. Waite asked Abdu’l Baha for advice; by 1912 he
would have met Buckton on numerous occasions on his visit to the British Isles as well as the
two pilgrimages she had made to Egypt, so his evaluation was based on sound knowledge,
despite her high profile as a public speaker for the Baha’i Movement and the respect she
commanded, Abdu’l Baha describes her as “young in the Faith”, it suggests he saw something in
her that was not apparent to everyone, what that was will be discussed later.
Around this time Buckton and Schepel were deeply immersed in Baha’i activities in London, their
work seems to have centred on the Passmore Edwards Settlement, quiet what their connection
was with this institution is unclear. The settlement was linked originally to the Non Conformist
University College of the University of London, two men who wrote about the Baha’i Faith; J.
Estlin Carpenter and Phillip Wicksteed who were both connected to the Settlement through
Manchester New College, Oxford. The Settlement was important for a host of reasons, one of
which was that it was home to the Esperance Morris Team, an all female Morris dance team that
was led by Mary Neal, one of the most influential people in the revival of English folk dance.
According to an article entitled The Baha’i Message by Harrold Johnson in The Christian
Commonwealth, of September 6, 1911 it seems that Baha’is had started meeting there during the
Universal Races Congress, which was held in the nearby University of London and were building
on interest generated by the conference to run regular study meetings, it is noteworthy that Annet
Schepel is given as the secretary and contact:
Last Friday, at 37, Tavistock Place, W. C., the Bahá’í Community of London opened a
new centre and reading-room, which will be open daily from 11 a. m. to 6 p. m. The
friends present at the gathering hailed from Egypt, Syria, West Africa, United States,
Mexico, Holland, etc. The opening of this centre is the direct outcome of the series of
public meetings held at the Passmore Edwards Settlement and at Caxton Hall, at the time
of the first Universal Races Congress. A study-circle is held every Friday at 4.45 p. m.
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
All information may be had of the hon. sec. Miss Annet Hamminck Schepel.
The meetings were doubtless used to develop interest immediately prior to the visit to the British
isles of Abdu’l Baha. He arrived on the 4th September 1911 and stayed until the 3rd October,
during this time he addressed numerous meetings, both large formal public events and informal
“at home” style gatherings in the homes of supporters. On the 9th September he visited Vanners,
the country home of Buckton and Shepel (Hammond, 1912, p. p.84). The story of Abdu’l Baha’s
visits to the West has been recounted many times and thus only the role of Buckton in relation to
these visits will be touched upon here. She is visible in photographs taken at the Pole family
guest house in Clifton, Bristol, where Abdu’l Baha stayed between 23rd and 25th and where he
encountered both the Blue Bowl and the women who along with Tudor Pole had found the
vessel. (Hammond, 1912) (1911) (CC 27th Sept 1911& SW Vol. 2, No 12 p.7,8-11). At the end of
the month on 28th September Abdu’l Baha returned to Byfleet to again enjoy Buckton’s hospitality
and mix informally with the people of the village.
That Buckton and her concerns remained with Abdu’l Baha after he returned to the Middle East
is evidenced by the pilgrim notes of Harriet M. Wise who visited between 9th and 21st June, 1912.
These note form part of a collection of four hundred and seventy eight translated tablets and
other English documents from the library of American collector Dwight Barstow. Notes numbered
351-B(3) and 356 refer to Allice Buckton:
Date, Jul. 9-21, 1912, 6 pp Words (pilgrim notes) to Harriet M. Wise, Cooper & Goodall--
notes by Wise
3) 351-B: He told Miss Buckton to not tamper with the psychic forces in this world. It
hampers & retards the condition of the body, both in this world & especially the world to
come. Same as 356
Clearly, Abdul Baha was so concerned about what he perceived as Buckton’s tampering with
psychic forces, whatever that may mean, and the danger it posed, that months after seeing her
he felt compelled to send a warning through a third party. This may explain his rather cryptic
remark to Louise Waite describing Buckton as “young in the faith”.
Abdu’l Baha made a second visit to Britain from the 12th December 1912 to January 21st 1913;
this visit took place after a long sojourn in the United States. The second visit was different in
style from the first, with more emphasis on meetings with officials and rather less press
coverage.
On the 12th December ‘Abdu’l Baha addressed his first major public meeting of his second visit in
London, Alice Buckton was prominent, she addressed the hall; she read from the Hidden Words
and described the circumstances of their revelation. She talked about peace and a recent peace
conference and then “emphasised the fact that this was no new religion, it sought the unity of all
religions, shutting out none of them, but finding a common meeting place for all. She likened it to
a garden of flowers where vast variety did away with monotony and made an interesting unity.”
The next speaker was Charlotte Despard, president of the Woman’s Freedom League, she and
Buckton seem to have been closely associated. Mrs. Despard spoke of ‘The Master’ and the
message he was bringing the world. Despard referred to the unrest in the world but concluded it
was a healthy symptom of change and that the “mighty movements—the women’s movement,
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the religious movement, the spiritual movement” were all part of a unifying force for change. It is
clear that for Despard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is relevant as “one of the great Masters,” in other words, not
unique, and the leader of one of the great movements. Another interesting point she made was
to refer to “the presence here in our western isle of this eastern Master,” a reference to the
revival of the Western magical traditions in which she and Alice Buckton were steeped. SW Vol.
3, 19,4
Two days later, after spending the afternoon walking in the park with some of his followers, which
included Buckton and in the evening ‘Abdu’l Baha attended a performance of Buckton’s play
Eager Heart. There are several accounts of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s reaction to the play and the
discussion about it amongst his friends and followers. The play was based on medieval mystery
plays, Buckton had laid down strict conditions for its performance, for example the names of the
actors were not to be revealed and the ownership of the play was put in the hands of a
committee which met annually to discuss its progress. The plot was simple; it concerns Eager
Heart and her sisters Eager Fame and Eager Sense and their reactions to their meeting with the
Christ Child. This play is the only one of Buckton’s numerous works which she controlled in this
way; she seems to have believed it was uniquely powerful and possibly perceived its
performance as a ritual. She would have been delighted with and seen much significance in
‘Abdu’l Baha’s positive reaction to the performance.
The longest period Abdu’l-Bahá spent outside of London was the week he spent in Edinburgh,
from Friday, 3 January to Friday, 10 January. Whilst he was in Scotland he met Professor
Geddes who had been involved with the Sesame House activities of Buckton as well as being
known to the Pole family. According to Ahmad Sohrab’s diary and interesting conversation took
place on the train back to London:
Since his return to London he is anxious that teachers may go to Edinburgh and
yesterday the name of Miss Buckton]was mentioned in the train; that is she knows how to
speak with Church people, she is certainly the one to go there for awhile and try to teach
and water the seeds that the Master has sown; for there were many people who have
expressed their desire to join the Bahai movement. Therefore this morning when Miss
Chapel and Miss Buckton came in, the Master called them in and after greeting them and
inquiring about their health said {to the latter}, Thou must go to Scotland. The people are
immensely interested. Edinburgh has great capability. There are many people who are
interested.
Sorab’s Diary 11th January 1913
http://bahai-library.com/sohrab_diary_edinburgh_1913
Thus we have another insight into the perceptions of the Baha’is and Abdu’l Baha of Alice
Buckton, she is acknowledged as someone who can “speak with Church people”, clearly an
organiser and public speaker, despite being “young” in the Faith and over fond of psychic forces.
She is, like Pole a public face, however, she does not seem to have the same intimacy with
Abdu’l Baha and his family that Pole had even before his service in the war.
It should be noted that Buckton often spoke on subjects close to her own interests, mainly the
role of women. On the 11th January Abdu’l Baha addressed a large public meeting at Caxton
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Hall, Buckton also spoke.‘Abdu’l-Bahá made another trip to the Clifton Guest House in Bristol,
leaving London on Thursday, 16 January; Buckton was part of his entourage. He addressed a
meeting of about one hundred and fifty persons that evening and returned to London the
following day.
Glastonbury
Buckton had great plans for her new venture in Glastonbury; but she was not alone in choosing
to relocate there, Glastonbury had become a centre for artistic and spiritual
It is unclear exactly when it was that Alice Buckton bought Tor House and with it the Chalice
Well, some sources say 1912 others early 1913, there is anecdotal evidence that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
encouraged her to make the purchase. There is nothing to substantiate this, however, it was the
period in which Buckton was most deeply involved with the Baha’is and when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, if not
actually in England would have been easily contactable in Europe when news the property was
on the market reached Buckton. It would seem unlikely she would have made such an important
decision without consulting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and impossible for her to go ahead unless he had been
supportive. According to her biographer, Buckton’s bid was unlikely to succeed as a wealthy
American and an industrialist were both keen to acquire the site, providentially the American was
delayed and against the odds Buckton’s bid was accepted (Cutting, 2004, pp. 20-21). It is
noticeable that Pole does not seem to be involved in this venture, many years later he wrote:
The Belgian Order of the Sacred Heart sold the Chalice Well property as a whole in 1909,
after it had been empty for a while, Alice Buckton bought it and ruled there for many
years. Results were mixed and ultimately the good lady became deranged and eccentric
to a degree. (Pole, 1979, p. 138)
Pole points out that the de-consecration of the site by the departing Roman Catholic Order led to
a spiritual void and implies that this was at least in part, the cause of Buckton’s eccentricity.
Clearly, at least in retrospect, he was not supportive of her venture, although he purchase the
site himself in 1959, when presumably the spiritual void had been dealt with. It is suggestive that
Pole and Buckton, although publically working together for the Baha’i Cause, had started to
diverge in their respective understandings of Glastonbury.
Her project of “The Chalice Well Training College for Women and Pilgrims’ Hostel” which opened
its doors in May 1913 was in many ways a continuation of the work begun at Sesame House; its
curriculum included "gardening, bee-keeping, book binding, weaving, and needlework, combined
with the study of heraldry, elocution and legendary drama, however it could also be seen as a
Baha’i inspired venture. Baha’is prioritise the education and training of women, there is also a
strong tradition of hospitality, both of which were present in Buckton’s vision of her college.
The following year 1914 saw the first Glastonbury festival, as well as another venture by Buckton
which may have been inspired by contact with the Baha’is, this was a play entitled “The Meeting
in the Gate: A Christmas interlude” first published in The Challenge4 magazine, it concerns a
conversation between Muslims and Christians during the First Crusade, the title is a pun on the
title of the forerunner of Baha’u’llah, whose title - The Bab, means “The Gate” in Arabic. In that
summer of that year war broke out and Europe would be engulfed in conflict for several years.
Christmas number, December 24th, 1915."p.11
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
Buckton’s college concept would have struggled in favourable circumstances, Glastonbury,
although it had a railway station at that time, was still remote from most large urban centres, and
what had worked well in St John’s Wood was less attractive in remote Somerset. With the
disruption of the War and many potential trainees entering war work, the likelihood of the college
being a financial success was severely diminished. Buckton gradually dropped the training
college aspect and the property became a guest house, she continued to purchase other
properties as they came on the market until financial constraints caused her to sell off her
portfolio, the reasons for this will be discussed later.
During the First World War Buckton was resident in Glastonbury, while the conflict may have
impacted negatively on her attempts to set up a training college for women and hostel for
pilgrims, one very significant visitor to her establishment in 1915 was the archaeologist Margaret
Murray. Murray wrote that she chose to go to Glastonbury because she knew nobody there
(Murrray, 1963, p. 104), however, Buckton was the god mother of one of Finders Petrie’s two
children and Petrie was Murray’s mentor in the Archaeology Department of University College
London, it is likely that it was through Petrie that Murray was introduced to Alice Buckton. In her
autobiography Murray commented:
One cannot stay in Glastonbury without becoming interested in Joseph of Arimathea and
the Holy Grail. As soon as I got back to London I did a careful piece of research, which
resulted in a paper on Egyptian Elements in the Grail Romance. (Murrray, 1963, p. 104)
Murray goes on to explain that most of her research for The Witch Cult in Western Europe was
done during the war, she claims to have forgotten who it was who first piqued her interest in
witches but as she had written nothing on the subject before the war, it is very possible that
conversations which took place in Glastonbury were the spark which caused her to turn her
attention to witches after she had explored the Grail legends in the context of Ancient Egypt.
Murray was not the only important figure in the resurgence of magick to stay with Alice. In 1921
Dion Fortune (1890-1946) stayed at Alice Buckton’s community guest house in Glastonbury,
before purchasing her own property in the town. Fortune, who was arguably the most important
figure in the revival of occultism in Britain, wrote extensively about Buckton in her book about
Glastonbury, Avalon of the Heart.
Although based mainly in Glastonbury, both Buckton and Schepel appear on the voting list of the
London electors of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom,
unlike Pole it seems they chose to remain within the Baha’i community when it began to
organise. In my opinion Pole’s decision to remain outside demonstrates a deeper understanding
than that of Buckton and Schepel, who I would argue chose to be included because they did not
grasp the full significance of the development. They certainly cease to be involved in Baha’i
activities from this point on and dedicate themselves to their work in Glastonbury.
Pageant and pilgrimage , cinema and radio
Notwithstanding her interest in ancient forms of drama, she was also instrumental in making a
film, The History of Glastonbury, for which she wrote a scenario presenting the town’s
development by means of pageant. Though the film proved technically inadequate, it is
interesting to see her then turning her creative energies to the new technology of radio, creating
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
the first Arthurian play designed for the medium. Her scheme was ambitious and employed
music specially written by Warwick Braithwaite, the conductor of the Cardiff Station Orchestra
(and later conductor of the National Orchestra of Wales). The play was called Arthurian Legends
1. The Wooing of Guinevere (c 28th June 1925), and was performed by the 5WA Radio Players
and the station SO conducted by Braithwaite. ….
According to a preview in the Western Mail, Buckton had planned a series of six works on this
theme to be given at monthly intervals. No trace is extant of these intended sequels. (Simpson,
2008, pp. 17 -18)
The Final Years
The last reference I can find to Buckton in a Baha’i context is a mention of her in Balyuzi’s
biography of ‘Abdu’l Baha:
The present writer met both Mrs Whyte and Alice Buckton sometime in the early thirties, at the
home of Lady Blomfield, 8, Burgess Hill, London NW2. Both were then noticeably aged. Mrs
Whyte had moved to London and lived very quietly at 22, Church Row, Hampstead. Alice
Buckton was still active, particularly for the Chalice Well, Glastonbury. (Balyuzi, 1971, p. 355n)
It is purely speculation but two possibilities occur from Balyuzi’s reminiscence, firstly that it is
possible that Buckton was visiting her sister Eveleen, who was also a resident of Hampstead and
secondly, that the death of Buckton’s long time partner, Annette Schepel in 1931 may have been
significant in her drifting away from the Baha’is. Little is known of Schepel, no writings in English
exist, although, she may have been writing in her native German. She certainly accompanied
Buckton in her work for the Baha’i cause and it is possible that she was the more deeply
committed of the two and that after her death Buckton’s interest waned. A list of “isolated
believers” published in the February 1938 Baha’i Journal does not include Alice Buckton, I can
find no obituary in any Baha’i publication, this suggests that for some years prior to her death she
had not been active in the Baha’i community.
In the final years of her life Buckton was facing financial difficulties and wrestling with the
problem of the future of her work in Glastonbury after her death. She expended a great deal of
energy attempting to set up a limited company that would safeguard her work financially, with the
hope that it would preserve the well and the properties she had acquired as single unit. After her
death in December 1944, the estate was gradually broken up and her work would have appeared
to be doomed to oblivion, however, the Chalice Well aspect at least was revived by her sometime
friend and fellow Baha’i Wellesley Tudor Pole who established the Chalice Well Trust in 1959
and purchased the Well and some of the land around it, enabling it to be turned into the present
garden and visitor centre.
Buckton’s funeral service was held in Wells Cathedral and a few days later a memorial service
took place at St John’s church in Glastonbury, an indication she remained at least technically
loyal to the Anglican Church until the end of her life. Cutting gives a list of people who attended,
the funeral and although it might not be complete, it does not include any known Baha’is, another
indication she had drifted away. A memorial to her exists within the church, her ashes were
scattered on the Tor. Perhaps the last word should be to the Rev Lionel Lewis, the Vicar of St.
John’s whose eulogy, spoken at her funeral was printed in the parish magazine:
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Alice Buckton - Baha’i Mystic
There passed away early in the morning of Sunday, Dec.13th, a great soul, a great mind, and a
great heart, Alys Mary Buckton. She was a genius, a most remarkable personality. Her mind was
as wide as her heart. Gifted also with musical voice, a strong will, the keenest intelligence, an
extraordinary critical judgment, and an extraordinary capacity for forgiveness, an unfailing
enthusiasm. She managed to accomplish things where other people would have been daunted.
Twenty years ago it would have been a waste of time to have told Glastonbury, which she loved
so dearly, what she had done for Glastonbury. But men come and go, so the writer, who had the
privilege of being her parish priest, for nearly the last quarter century of her life (a period to be
looked back upon without one ruffled thought) would fain bear one tiny testimony. When he came
here, he found Chalice Well and Miss Buckton, a centre of art, music, drama, crafts and lofty
thought, to which she had attracted the most intelligent and good-living youth of the place.
That good work continued until increasing years made her give up her hostel. But her influence
lives on in the hearts and minds of her pupils whom she illumined. Her whole outlook on life was
great, and here was an ever-ready sympathy. It is needless to speak of her years of work for the
poor in the slums under Miss Octavia Hill, and her unfailing passion for education, or of her
powers as a dramatist. The authoress of ‘Eager Heart’ is world-famed. Being so great she had
the power of attracting great minds.
http://www.chalicewell.org.uk/index.cfm/glastonbury/HistoricalArchive.Article/article_id/1
Conclusions
Buckton remains something of an enigma, although she wrote and published a great deal, much
of her thinking and beliefs remain obscure. I have addressed
• What was her connection with Finders Petrie?
• What was she doing at the Passmore Edwards Settlement?
• Who and what was behind the move to Glastonbury?
• When did she and WTP drift apart?
• Why did she end up so isolated?
• What happened to distance her from the Baha’is?
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