Kirjahaku

"Flinders investigates the charismatic soldier’s sexuality and religious views" India Today"…balanced and meticulously researched…a welcome addition to our understanding of Britain’s imperial history." Military History MagazineIn September 1857, a member of a religious sect killed himself on hearing the news that the object of his devout observance, Nikal Seyn, had died. Nikal Seyn was, in fact, John Nicholson, the leader of the British assault that recovered Delhi at the turning-point of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. What was it about Nicholson that prompted such devotion, not just from his religious followers, but from the general public? And why is he no longer considered a hero? The man called 'The Lion of the Punjab' by his contemporaries and compared to General Wolfe of Quebec, and even to Napoleon, has in recent times been dubbed 'an imperial psychopath' and 'a homosexual bully'. Yet his was a remarkable tale of a life of adventure lived on the very edge of the British Empire; of a man who was as courageous as he was ruthless, as loyal to his friends as he was merciless to those who crossed him. But it is also the story of how modern attitudes to race and Empire have changed in the years since he died.Previously unpublished material, including the diaries of contemporaries and personal letters, helps build a new perspective on Nicholson's personality. The book considers his sexuality and ambivalent attitude towards religion. It traces his murderous thoughts towards the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, John Lawrence, and reveals that, remarkably, the Nikal Seyni cult continued into the 21st century. This is the first book-length biography of Nicholson for over 70 years. A new account of the Irish soldier who became an Indian God, an examination of the cult of a dark hero, is long overdue.

A secluded country house. A rogue Anglican priest. Ceremonial sex and mislaid fortunes.This is the almost-forgotten story of Victorian Britain's strangest religious sect and its wealthy, mostly female, followers who believed they could ascend directly to heaven. Henry James Prince was a rogue Anglican priest with a flare for the dramatic, and the founder of the Agapemone, or 'Abode of Love'. He also claimed to be the immortal conduit of the Holy Spirit and purportedly engaged in free love and ceremonial sex with his female followers. But Prince's eventual death didn't mark the end of this strange sect... he was promptly replaced by another: John Hugh Smyth-Pigott - otherwise known as the Clapton Messiah.The Abode transformed a sleepy, rural corner of Somerset into one of England's most notorious locations. While the followers shut themselves away and waited patiently for the end of the world, outrage grew - the word 'Agapemone' became a byword for licentiousness or idleness, used by Charles Dickens and Ford Madox Ford. The reclusive Clapton Messiah became a fixture in the nation's papers, with frenzied efforts to discredit the organisation and undermine its leader. And still the cult grew.Expertly drawing on primary sources to tell the story of the Agapemonites in detail for the first time, Stuart Flinders shines a light on the people drawn to the cult - the forced marriages; the swindled fortunes; the women condemned to asylums; and those who managed to escape from the Abode. It is also the story of two extraordinary men, whose claims of divinity were at the heart of this very British cult.

A secluded country house. A rogue Anglican priest. Ceremonial sex and mislaid fortunes.This is the almost-forgotten story of Victorian Britain's strangest religious sect and its wealthy, mostly female, followers who believed they could ascend directly to heaven. Henry James Prince was a rogue Anglican priest with a flare for the dramatic, and the founder of the Agapemone, or 'Abode of Love'. He also claimed to be the immortal conduit of the Holy Spirit and purportedly engaged in free love and ceremonial sex with his female followers. But Prince's eventual death didn't mark the end of this strange sect... he was promptly replaced by another: John Hugh Smyth-Pigott - otherwise known as the Clapton Messiah.The Abode transformed a sleepy, rural corner of Somerset into one of England's most notorious locations. While the followers shut themselves away and waited patiently for the end of the world, outrage grew - the word 'Agapemone' became a byword for licentiousness or idleness, used by Charles Dickens and Ford Madox Ford. The reclusive Clapton Messiah became a fixture in the nation's papers, with frenzied efforts to discredit the organisation and undermine its leader. And still the cult grew.Expertly drawing on primary sources to tell the story of the Agapemonites in details for the first time, Stuart Flinders shines a light on the people drawn to the cult - the forced marriages; the swindled fortunes; the women condemned to asylums; and those who managed to escape from the Abode. It is also the story of two extraordinary men, whose claims of divinity were at the heart of this very British cult.