author
W. Whately (Walter Whately) Smith
1892–1947
Best known for writing on psychical research and spiritualism, this British investigator brought a scientific cast of mind to subjects that many of his contemporaries treated more mystically. Writing first as W. Whately Smith and later as Whately Carington, he became a notable voice in early 20th-century debates about the mind and survival after death.
2 Audiobooks
The Case Against Spirit Photographs
by C. Vincent Patrick, W. Whately (Walter Whately) Smith
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications
by W. Whately (Walter Whately) Smith
About the author
Educated at Eton and Cambridge, Walter Whately Smith was born in London in 1892 and later changed his name to Whately Carington in 1933. He served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, and his later work drew on both scientific training and a long-standing interest in psychical research.
He wrote on spiritualism, telepathy, and the possibility of survival after death, aiming to examine unusual mental phenomena in a systematic way. His books include The Foundations of Spiritualism and A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival, and he became known for trying to frame psychic claims in terms that could be discussed seriously rather than simply believed or dismissed.
Carington was associated with British psychical research circles and is remembered as part of the generation that tried to bridge psychology, philosophy, and investigations of the paranormal. He died in 1947, but his work still appears in discussions of early parapsychology and the history of spiritualist thought.