I have always been intrigued by the Cottingley Fairies and the beautifully composed photos. What I didn't know until I entered the Doylean world is the role that Arthur Conan Doyle played in bringing these photos to the world through articles in the Strand Magazine, and ultimately his book titled 'The Coming of the Faeries'.
I was recently reminded of the fairies when reviewing ACD's memoir of his Australian spiritualist tour titled 'Wanderings of a Spiritualist'. That trip to Australia began in September 1920. Before departure Doyle had submitted his article revealing the photographs to the world. He took slides of the Cottingley fairies with him to Australia too: "I have the famous fairy photos also, which will appear in England in the Christmas number of the Strand. I feel as if it were a delay-action mine which I had left behind me. I can imagine the cry of "Fake!" which will arise. But they will stand investigation."
They did stand investigation.
The photographs were taken in the village of Cottingley in Yorkshire were cousins Elsie Wright (1901–1988) and Frances Griffiths (1907–1986). Quite remarkably, the two young girls who took the five photographs in 1917 and 1920 using cardboard cutout fairies (and a goblin) maintained that the photographs were genuine from the time they were taken until 1983.
It is frustrating that a publication such as this is relatively uncommon. It is certainly ACD-adjacent and an intriguing event for so many reasons. The personal story shared by Frances is wonderful. Her writing is presumably unedited as her draft never went through an editing process in her lifetime. I sincerely hope that a re-print is possible at some stage.
The photographs brought an incredible amount of attention on the young cousins. As Doyle relates on his return leg to the UK from Australia in 1921: "At Colombo I was interested to receive a Westminster Gazette, which contained an article by their special commissioner upon the Yorkshire fairies. Some correspondent has given the full name of the people concerned, with their address, which means that their little village will be crammed with chars-à-banc, and the peace of their life ruined."
Of course, the story is complex, but the girls had taken the first two photos to convince their parents they'd seen fairies. It was meant to end there, but later the photos were shown to a local group of theosophists, and news spread. Conan Doyle latched onto the news and worked with others to provide a camera for the girls to reunite and take more photos, which they did (the girls never met Conan Doyle). Sworn to secrecy, the two girls did not admit the trick, and were soon not in control of circumstances.
This attention followed the two women as the Cottingley fairies were occasionally re-visited by the media - first newspapers, and then television into the 1970s. In the early 1980s a few events intersected: a photographic expert showed that the original photos had been manipulated to improve their quality (probably by Edward Gardner) ; the younger cousin Frances began to write a memoir that included revealing the secret truth about the photos ; and in doing so Frances corresponded with a Professor of Sociology named Joe Cooper. Cooper jumped the gun and published his own article blowing open the news that the girls had faked the photos in 1982, and how they had done this.
This TV pieces provides a nice summary of Cottingley fairies, how they were faked, and includes interviews with both Elsie and Frances:
When Cooper published his article, Frances abandoned her memoirs, and died shortly afterwards in 1986. The manuscript stayed with the family, and Frances' daughter Christine Lynch coordinated the publication of Frances' account in 2009.
The book itself is composed of two main sections, along with an excellent series of photographs.
The first section of approximately 72 pages is a memoir-style narrative written by Frances. Aside from the Cottingley incident, or perhaps it is better to say preceding it, Frances provides a wonderful description of the uncertainty of life as a young girl in England (transplanted from South Africa) living in a village during the First World War. Frances' father was on the Western Front, and she and her mother lived with Elsie's family in one small house. There are some incredibly poignant moments, such as the friendship Frances made with a young man home from the war who she'd visit each afternoon, till he finally succumbed to TB. Frances relates how she was in trouble for playing in the beck (a type of stream) and getting wet, and explained to the adults that she went to play with the fairies. The parents joked about this, and so her cousin Elsie created a fake set of fairies for Frances to pose with - the joke was meant to end there. In the next few years as they gained attention of theosophists, spiritualists, and Conan Doyle, Frances relates the strain of media attention, being followed by reporters, and the feeling of simply being used to serve the end goals of others. The section ends abruptly as Frances describes renewed media attention in the 1970s (when she decided to stop writing after her story was leaked). The narrative is one of a lie told, a promise kept, and a situation totally out of the control of two young girls.
Perhaps the most remarkable point to make is that while the girls both freely admitted in the 1980s that they had faked the photos, Frances explains in her memoirs that she really did see 'little people' in the beck. They were mainly seen out of the corner of the eye (not directly), and largely were made up of small people in regimental file. Given the strain of her father at war, one wonders at the psychological circumstances at play in a very lonely child's mind.
The second section of about 42 pages is a series of recollections of Frances and the fairies related by Frances' daughter Christine (who arranged for the book to be published). Christine describes how the story and events cropped up in her mother's life from time to time - a very unwelcome and stressful event. This section includes sections of letters including from people in Conan Doyle's circle of friends. This section is highly illuminating, shares anecdotes her mother related, reinforced that her mother saw fairies (not the ones that were faked), and her frustration at her cousin Elsie for enjoying the attention that the Cottingley fairies brought.
Arthur Conan Doyle receives mention in the book. Christine states that "Frances constantly expressed amazement that the creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes did nothing to encourage the girls to find out more, other than look for more photographs. Doyle never knew that it was Frances and Frances alone who saw fairies. This is because it was Polly Wright (Elsie's mother) who had made the photographs known. Most correspondence was conducted through her and her husband (Frances' aunt and uncle), so it was thought that Ms Elsie, as Doyle called her, saw fairies too, and Elsie did nothing to enlighten them!"
Cover page of Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies - Frances Griffiths - In Her Own Words, with additional material by her daughter Christine. Foreword by Patrick Fitzsimons. The cover image is a close-up on a single fairy from the fifth and final photograph taken by the girls, 'The Fairy Bower'.
Title page of Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies - Frances Griffiths - In Her Own Words. The illustration is shows three individuals from Claude Arthur Shepperson's illustrations of dancing girls, from Princess Mary's Gift Book. It was this original illustration that Elsie traced to adapt into the fairies used in the photographs. Through an interesting twist, a story by ACD was included in this book,
Top: Frances' cousin Elsie aged 15 (just prior to the first photograph being taken). Bottom: Illustration from Princess Mary Gift Book that Elsie adapted to create her fairy cut-outs (used in the photo immediately below).
Comparison of two versions of the first Cotingley Fairies photo, with Frances as the subject (well, technically ONE of the subjects along with the fairies).
Frances Griffiths aged 9 in 1917, aroumd the time the first two photos were taken. This photo is a poignant demonstration of just how young Frances was. Her cousin Elsie was around 16 at the time.
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