THE ABODE OF LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3133, 9 March 1909, Page 5

THE ABODE OF LOVE.

SMYTH PIGOTT UNFROCKED. Received March 8, 9 a.m. LONDON, March 7. An impressive ceremony took place yesterday at Wells, Somerset, when the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Rev. George Wyndham Kennion, unfrocked the Rev. Smyth Pigott, head of the Agapemonites, a "religious" sect, the headquarters of which is the "Abode of Love," at Spaxton. Pigott did not appear. It was a sombre and impressive ceremony, the first of its kind held at Wells for a thousand years. LIFE AT SPAXTON RETREAT. The Rev. J. H. Smyth Pigott, an unbeneficed clergyman of the Church of England and head of the Agapemone, or Abode of Love, at Spaxton, Somerset, was found guilty in the Consistory Court sitting in the chapter house of Wells Cathedral on January 20th of charges of immorality. The proceedings were instituted by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Chancellor, MrChadwyck Healey, K.C., announced that he would repurt the finding to the Bishop in order that sentence might be pronounced. The defendant did not apnear, and the citation bad to be served by registered post. He was once a sailor betore the mast, went to Oxford, was ordained, held a curacy in London and afterwards in Dublin, and was a Salvation Army official before succeeding in 1902 "Brother Prince," head of the Agapemone. Mr Vachell, the barrister who , opened the case, said that Smyth Pigott claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God. He claimed that ho and i the members of their community, having received the Spirit of God, , were lifted above the ordinary code of morality, and that their practices were the highest form of spiritual worship. There would be nothing in the nature of inquiry as to how large sums of money were obtained to keep up the luxuries of the Agapemone at Spaxton. On August 14th, ISB6, Pigott married Mis 3 Catherine Reynolds, sister of the Rev. Alfred Phillips Reynolds, of Kingsley Vicarage, Cheshire. The bride's aga was given as thirty-five, and Smyth Pigott's age as thirty-four. An extraordinary feature of the case was that Mrs Smyth Pigott was now living wirU her husband at the Agapemone. In November, 1886, he was licensed to the curacy of a mission church at Dublin. There was no doubt that while th'jre he came in touch either with Brother Prince himself or with some followers. In 1887 in London he appeared to have conducted services in the interests of the doctrines of Brother Prince, and was enabled to build a conventicle at Clapton, | which was called the Ark of the ; Covenant. \ In September, 1902, Smyth Pigott • proclaimed himself at the Ark of the j Covenant as being the Messiah. That | resulted in a great number of brick- | bats being thrown, and something in j the nature of a riot took place Sunday j after Sunday. Shortly afterwards ; he withdrew from the dangerous , ground at Clapton and was installed j as head and successor to Brother [ Prince of the Agapemone at Bridg- j water. One of the attendants- at the Ark j of the Covenant was a Miss Ruth j Annie Preece, who seemed to have j become infatuated with Smyth Pigott, and accompanied him to the Agapemone as his "spiritual wife," whatever that might be. On June 25th, 1903, Miss Preece gave birth ! to a female child, and on July 24th, Mr White, the registrar, was sum- j moned by Mr Read, secretary to the defendant, to the Agapemone to i register the birth oE the child, which I was named "Glory," and of whom j Smyth Pigott and Miss Preece de* clared themselves to be the parents, j Mr Vachell also dealt with the circumstances surrounding the subsequent birth of the male child "Power." Naturally the Bishop desired that steps should be taken to cleanse this cesspool ot blasphemy and profanity in his diocese. Mr William H. White, retired registrar, described the scene at the registration of the birth of the child "Glory" on July 24th, 1905: "In the chapel were a lot of ladies; there was also a person there who I was told was Ruth Annie Preece. She was reclining on a lounge, dressed beautifully in whit? satin, and sitting beside her was Mr Pigott. I said, 'Will you give me the informa tion as the father of the child?' and he said 'Yes.' He first wished to sign himself as'priest.' I said that was not sufficient. He then suggested 'priest of the Agapemone,' but again I said it would not do. Eventually he signed 'clerk in holy orders.' He offered a blessing, and then the company sang a joyful hymn." Were you invited to kiss the baby? (And you did so—Yes (smiling). )Was it referred to as divine—Yes, some such expression was used. Mr Frank Edward Farncombe stated that in February, 1908, he obtained admission to the Agapemone and had some conversation with Pigott. Did you ask him how he established his claim to the godhead?— Yes; he replied something about a sacred light. I said it seems incomprehensible, and he replied: "The things which we deal with are a mystery unless to the initiated." I asiced him if he considered him- ! sekf above sin, and he proceeded to expound what he called the doctrine j of sinless affection. He said that their relationship "is the highest form of spiritual worship." "What about your wife?" I asked, and his reply was: "My wife is no more my ; wife thun any other woman here. I We are all brothers and sisters in the s: irit. Years before the comine of Glury I knew by the spirit of pro-

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phecy she would come; she is a woman marked out for Divine favour." The Chancellor, who refused to hear Mr Read, Pigott's secretary, said that to his mind all three articles had been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and he condemned him to pay the costs of the case.