Lilian Bailey ~ sitting for the British Royal Family.

[Karyn]

Lilian Bailey was born in Cardiff, Wales and moved to London with her parents when she was nine years old. She had some psychic experiences as a child, but it wasn’t until after her mother’s death that eighteen-year-old Lilian was told by a medium that she had a psychic gift. Unfortunately, World War I intervened. Lilian went to France as secretary to the Director of Transportation. After the war, she married William Bailey, and they settled in Crewe. She gave birth to their only child, Dorothy Elizabeth, a year later.

When Dorothy was just an infant, Lilian discovered a book at the library entitled, Raymond or Life and Death by Sir Oliver J. Lodge. This peeked her curiosity and she read other works. In one book, William Hope, a psychic photographer was referenced. He also lived in Crewe and she met with him to see if he could produce a spirit photograph of her dead mother. William introduced Lilian to a Spiritualist church in town where she attended open circles. During her first sitting, she went into trance for over an hour. This frightened her and she refused to do it again.

With the help of a Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, Lilian learned to overcome her fear of trance and connected with a spirit guide named Wootton who had been an English military officer. Lilian’s husband was skeptical and thought Wootton might be part of her imagination until the spirit spoke though another medium, Helen Duncan. Through Helen, he gave his full name, William Hedley Wootton, and gave enough details that Lilian was able to confirm his service with the War Office records.

Lilian’s public career began in the 1930’s.  She traveled by train to Manchester twice a week to give group séances, private sittings and public demonstrations. She became one of the most accomplished trance mediums in Britain, comparable to Helen Hughes, Bertha Harris, and Estelle Roberts. In 1941, she toured the country with Maurice Barbanell.

Gordon Adams, Lilian’s son-in-law, told Roy Stemman, “My mother-in-law had dealings with all sorts of people, such as the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and the King of Greece. So, she did not feel intimidated by royalty; it was all in a day’s work for her.”

In the 1950s, Lilian first visited Lionel Logue, King George VI’s speech therapist, and received messages which were passed on to the king. After King George’s death, Lilian received a request to give a séance at a house in Kensington in 1953. She was blindfolded and taken by limousine to the residence. As usual, she went into trance and allowed Wootton to deliver messages. It wasn’t until the end, when the blindfold was removed, that she found the Queen Mother, the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra and the Duke of Kent sitting in the séance circle.

Lilian was sworn to secrecy and did not discuss the seance with anyone outside the family until her death in 1971.

Additional Reading:

Aaron, Marjorie (2016) Lilian Bailey: The Tapestry of Life. SDU Publications, UK (reprint from 1979)

Erickson, Carolly (2004) Lilibet: An Intimate Portrait of Elizabeth II. St. Martin Press, London

Stemman, Roy (2011) Spirit Communication. Little, Brown, UK (reprint from 2005) 

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my blog collection, Treasures from the Spirit World.