Leonard, Gladys Osborne

Gladys Osborne Leonard was one of the most respected and rigorously tested trance mediums of the twentieth century. Her long association with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and her extensive séances with both private and scientific sitters produced a wealth of material considered by many to provide substantial evidence for survival after death.

Leonard’s gentle, disciplined approach to mediumship, her cooperation with leading psychical researchers, and her work through her spirit control Feda made her one of the central figures of British Spiritualism between 1915 and 1950.

Early Life and Awakening

Gladys Osborne Leonard was born on 28 May 1882, in Lytham, Lancashire, England. Her early years were marked by a deep, instinctive sensitivity to unseen realities. Her parents, attempting to shield her from the concept of death, inadvertently awakened in her a lifelong spiritual curiosity.

At the age of eight, she encountered the mystery directly when she accompanied her father on his customary Sunday visit to a friend. Upon arrival, they were informed that the man had “gone.” Only later did a servant confide that he had been buried — an event that profoundly shaped young Gladys’s understanding of mortality.

Following this experience, she began to perceive radiant visions of what she called the “Happy Valley” — a luminous landscape of flowers and gentle hills inhabited by joyous figures. These episodes, neither dream nor imagination, offered her comfort and beauty, though her father, unsettled by her descriptions, forbade her to indulge them further. Over time, the visions faded — yet the memory of those realms remained an enduring undercurrent in her later spiritual life.

A Voice Beyond Death

As a young woman, Leonard pursued a career as a singer and actress, training for the opera. However, an illness — diphtheria — permanently damaged her voice, redirecting her path.

During her travels with a touring theatre company, she experienced a pivotal spiritual event. One night, at precisely 2:00 a.m., she awoke to see her mother standing beside her bed, radiant and surrounded by light. The next morning, she received a telegram announcing her mother’s death at that very hour. This personal proof of continued existence beyond death convinced her to explore her latent mediumistic abilities.

The Emergence of Feda

Leonard began experimenting with table-tilting sessions backstage between performances. After many attempts, the communicators spelled out a long, unpronounceable name, which they were permitted to shorten to “Feda.”

Feda soon identified herself as a young Indian woman — one of Leonard’s distant ancestors — who had died in childbirth around 1800. Childlike in voice and manner, but wise in tone, Feda became Leonard’s chief spirit control and the intermediary through whom most of her communications were delivered.

Feda’s speech patterns were distinctive: rapid, humorous, and occasionally mispronounced, yet filled with affection and personality. She referred to herself in the third person (“Feda says…”) and would later play a crucial role in experiments with the SPR.

War, Public Mediumship, and Recognition

In 1914, Feda began urging Leonard to hold sittings for the public, warning that “something big and awful is going to happen to the world.” When World War I broke out, Leonard found herself inundated with requests from grieving families seeking contact with lost loved ones. Her work offered consolation to many, and her reputation for sincerity spread quickly.

By then married to Frederick Leonard, a fellow actor who became her assistant, she adopted a disciplined lifestyle to preserve the purity of her channel. She gave up alcohol, tobacco, and meat, living a life of moral and physical restraint to maintain the “clarity of vibration” necessary for spirit communication.

A defining moment came when she held a sitting for a bereaved widow who had lost two sons in battle. Deeply moved, the woman spoke of Leonard to her friend Lady Lodge, wife of the eminent physicist Sir Oliver Lodge. When the Lodges’ son Raymond was killed in 1915, Lady Lodge attended a sitting under an assumed name.

The results astonished both her and her husband. Through Feda, “Raymond” communicated vivid personal details and described a photograph that had been taken shortly before his death — a photograph unknown to the Lodges until later discovered, matching the description exactly. Sir Oliver Lodge published his experiences in Raymond, or Life and Death (1916), a book that became a Spiritualist classic and brought Leonard international attention.

Psychical Research and Experiments

At Lodge’s suggestion, Leonard increased her fees, allowing her to live modestly but comfortably. Yet she remained committed to scientific investigation. Between 1918 and 1920, she gave exclusive sittings to the Society for Psychical Research, promising not to read their publications to prevent bias — a promise she honoured for life.

She became central to a series of structured experiments devised by Charles Drayton Thomas, who held more than 500 sittings with her. Through Feda’s guidance, they developed the celebrated Book Test, in which a communicator would direct the sitter to a specific book and page in their home, where a relevant passage would be found. Later came Newspaper Tests and Picture Tests, further exploring the interaction between spirit, chance, and human consciousness.

Leonard also participated in proxy sittings, where strangers stood in for the actual bereaved person, ensuring that no normal information transfer was possible. Many of these sessions produced highly specific results, strengthening claims of genuine communication.

Notable Collaborations

Leonard’s mediumship attracted numerous literary and academic figures. Among the most famous were Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, and Lady Una Troubridge, who sat with her regularly for eight years. Their detailed accounts, published in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (1919), remain a landmark in psychical literature.

The communicator, identified as “A.V.B.” (Mabel Batten), conveyed intimate memories and new information unknown to Hall or Troubridge at the time, later verified independently. Observers noted the continuity of personality — the humour, phrasing, and emotional tone of the deceased — suggesting survival of consciousness rather than telepathic reconstruction.

Feda and the Direct Voice Phenomenon

Occasionally, Leonard’s séances displayed Direct Voice Mediumship, in which voices distinct from Feda’s were heard speaking independently in the room. Sitters often reported hearing Feda and another voice conversing — sometimes with humorous misunderstandings.

In one such exchange, Feda struggled to interpret a word:

“He says you must have a good working… what? Hippopotamus?”
“Hypothesis,” corrected the direct voice.
“Hippopotamus?” repeated Feda.
“Hypothesis,” came the patient reply. “And don’t shout.”
“I’m not shouting,” said Feda indignantly. “I’m only speaking plainly.”

Such moments, though amusing, demonstrated the autonomy and layered complexity of the trance process.

Scientific and Philosophical Interpretation

Scholars including C. D. Broad and Alan Gauld analysed Leonard’s mediumship extensively. While many accepted the survival hypothesis as plausible, others suggested that Feda might represent a secondary personality — a facet of Leonard’s subconscious mind, analogous to cases of dissociative identity.

Leonard herself rejected this view, maintaining that she was merely a channel through which intelligence from the spirit world communicated. Her dignity, moral seriousness, and refusal to sensationalise her gift earned her respect from both believers and sceptics.

Later Years and Legacy

In the 1950s, Feda instructed Leonard to gradually withdraw from public work, limiting her sittings and focusing on personal development. Leonard retired quietly to Tankerton, Kent, where she continued private correspondence with colleagues and spiritual students. She died of cerebral thrombosis on 10 March 1968, aged 85.

To Spiritualists, Gladys Osborne Leonard remains a symbol of integrity and disciplined devotion to truth. To psychical researchers, she stands as one of the most carefully studied mediums in history — a woman whose life bridged science and spirit with rare grace.

SEE ALSO:

• Famous Mediums
• Ghosts

FURTHER READING:

• Gauld, Alan. Mediumship and Survival. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1982.
• Heywood, Rosalind. “Mrs. Gladys Osborne Leonard: A Biographical Tribute.” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR)45 (1969): 95–104.
• Leonard, Gladys Osborne. My Life in Two Worlds. London: Two Worlds Publishing Co., 1931.
• Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.
• Radclyffe Hall, [Marguerite], and Troubridge, Lady Una. “On a Series of Sittings with Mrs. Osborne Leonard.” Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR)30 (1919): 339–554.
• Smith Susy. The Mediumship of Mrs. Leonard. Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1964.

SOURCE:

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits– Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – September 1, 2007

Revised Edition — Occult World

This article was reviewed and refined by Occult World, blending verified historical insight with esoteric understanding. All texts follow British English spelling. – Updated: 18th of October 2025