Theos-Talk Archives (July 2007 Message tt00156)

In fairness I think it should be added that in Wedgwood's day it
wasn't yet as well established as it is today what the effects of
cocaine use are. If I'm not mistaken it was thought to have positive
effects, even. 

Katinka Hesselink 
--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, gregory@... wrote:
>
> James Ingall Wedgwood contracted syphilis as a result of homosexual
> contact. He refused to accept that he was so infected (since as an
> Initiate he obviously could not be!) and refused to seek treatment. The
> disease developed in its characteristically horrible way, leading to the
> tertiary stage and manifestations which included generalized paresis of
> the insane, resulting in personality changes, changes in emotional
affect,
> and hyperactive reflexes. All of these manifestations are described by
> those who witnessed Wedgwood's behaviour in his later years,
although most
> of them did not admit, or actually denied the cause.
> Wedgwood's health ? both physical and psychological ? was made worse by
> the ongoing consequences of a long addiction to cocaine which had,
amongst
> other effects, caused severe damage to the inside of his nasal passages.
> The principal source of my information was Rex Henry, who served as
> Wedgwood's secretary in the 1920's; he even identified and gave me a
group
> photograph of a group of Liberal Catholic clergy which included the
young
> man who had been the source of Wedgwood's infection. The young man ? who
> claimed variously to be a Prince or a Count but who was neither ? more
> rationally obtained treatment.
> I interviewed Mr. Henry (who had been ordained a Liberal Catholic Priest
> by Wedgwood) at length at Adyar, at Mijas (Spain) and in France, and
> recorded a lengthy interview with him about Wedgwood, which I
subsequently
> transcribed, and which he signed, after adding additional material
in his
> own hand.
> I had second-hand information about Wedgwood's illness from various
people
> who had been told about it by Oscar Kollerstrom (with whom Wedgwood had
> fallen in love in Sydney, and who had gone to Europe with him),
including
> one of Mr Kollerstrom's wives, and by a Liberal Catholic Priest in
> Australia who had been given the information by F.W. Pigott (Wedgwood's
> successor as Regionary Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church in Great
> Britain). Likewise, the same information came from E.L. Gardner (who had
> lived at the Tekels Park Theosophical Estate during Wedgwood's period
> there).
> Wedgwood did not die from the effects of syphilis; he died as a
result of
> a fall which fractured a number of his ribs and led to bleeding into his
> lungs. I have a copy of his death certificate.
> 
> Dr Gregory Tillett
>