Theos-Talk Archives (July 2007 Message tt00157)

Cheers Gregory, thanks very much for the information.
Regards
Perry

--- 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
>