Charles Maurice Davies

Born in Wells, Somerset, in 1828, Charles Maurice Davies studied at University College, Durham, graduating in classics before being ordained in the Church of England. Early in his career he moved in high-church circles and was one of the founders of the Society of the Holy Cross in 1855, though he later shifted toward much broader and more liberal religious views.

Davies lived an unusually varied literary life. He worked as a clergyman, schoolmaster, novelist, and journalist, and became known for writing on the religious and social oddities of Victorian London. His best-known book, Mystic London (1875), grew out of his interest in spiritualism and urban religious life, subjects he approached with both fascination and a reporter’s eye.

In later years he described himself as a broad churchman, and even after leaving holy orders he continued to see Christianity and spiritualism as compatible. Alongside his original writing, he also supervised a large translation project of sources used by Edward Gibbon. He died in 1910.