Dowding, Hugh Caswall Tremenheere(1882-1970)

First Baron Dowding, air chief marshal in charge of Fighter Command in Britain during World War II and author of several books on psychic phenomena and survival of death. Lord Dowding was born April 24, 1882. He was educated at Winchester and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London, and joined the Royal Artillery in 1900. In 1914, as World War I began, he joined the Royal Flying Corp (after 1918 the Royal Air Force). He commanded Fighting Area, Air Defense of Great Britain (1923-30), during which time he also was director of training at the Air Ministry, London (1926-29). He subsequently served as the air member for research and development of Air Council (1930-36), air officer commander-in-chief of Fighter Command (1936-40), and principal A.D.C. to the king (1937-43). He retired in 1943.

Soon after his retirement, Dowding wrote a series of books on psychic phenomena, including Many Mansions (1943), Lych-gate: The Entrance to the Path (1945), and The Dark Star (1951). He was also a member of the Fairy Investigation Society. He died February 15, 1970.

Many people believed that Dowding's major contribution to the defense of Britain in World War II was not sufficiently honored. A statue of him was eventually erected in 1988 at St. Clements Dane, the Royal Air Church in the Strand, west central London. It was unveiled by the Queen Mother on Sunday, October 30, 1988.

Sources:

Dowling, Lady. Beauty—Not the Beast. St. Helier, Spearman, 1980. Reprinted as The Psychic Life of Muriel, the Lady Dowling: An Autobiography. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1981.

Dowling, Lord. The Dark Star. London: Museum Press, 1951.

——. Lychgate: The Entrance to the Path. N.p., 1945.

——. Many Mansions. London: Rider, 1943.