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Elders of The Wica

As I knew Charles Clark, this website is slightly more focused on him and the Scottish Wica. However, there were several other Craft Elders that became leading lights and helped to ensure the Crafts survival. On this page you will find information about many of them and some now have their own pages.

If you are researching one of these people do also check out and do a search on Doreen Valiente's scrapbooks.

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Patricia Crowther (Thelema)(1927- )
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Patricia Crowther
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Eleanor Bone (Artemis) (1910-2001)
Eleanor Bone
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Eleanor Bone was originally initiated by hereditary Witches in Cumbria and then later joined the Wica, in 1960. Two of her initiates, Arthur and Madge Worthington (founders of the 'Whitecroft line'), were ultimately responsible for a large number of initiations in the UK which went a long way to ensuring the Craft's survival.

  • This website has been set up as a memorial page about Eleanor Bone and you can read more articles there.

  • Ray Bone gave an interview 'My days as a Matron and nights as a Witch' in Tit Bits (June 6th 1964), you can read it here.

  • There is an interview with Eleanor Bone from a now-defunct website that I have preserved here.

  • There is a page about Eleanor Bone in French here.

  • An amusing short video from 'Witchcraft 70' which features Eleanor Bone.

Fred Lamond
Fred Lamond (Robert) (1931-2020)
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Fred Lamond was a member of the Bricket Wood Coven near London for many years. He used to talk regularly on the subject of Witchcraft and was also quite well-known in the IT world.

  • Watch an interview with Fred Lamond - Robert: Portrait of a Witch:

Lois Bourne

 

Lois Bourne (Tanith) (1928-2017)
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Lois Bourne (Hemmings/Pearson) was another member of the Bricket Wood Coven. In the 1990s she and her husband ran 'Magistra' a supplier of magical regalia. 

  • There is a small interview with Lois in Saga Magazine, 1966 here

  • You can find a small article about Lois which appeared in Psychic News on the 12th August 1961 here.

  • There is a page about Lois Bourne in French here.

Alex Sanders
Alex Sanders (Verbius) (1926-1988)
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Edith Woodford-Grimes
Edith Woodford-Grimes (Dafo) (1887-1975)
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Edith Woodford-Grimes was a close companion of Gardner's for many years. It is thought that she may have been the person who introduced Gardner to the New Forest Coven, and whom Gardner often referred to as 'the witch'.

 

Jack Bracelin (Seamus) (?-1983)
Jack Bracelin
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Jack Bracelin ended up running the Five Acres Sun Club for Gardner. This was also where 'The Witches Cottage' was placed; a small hut that became the location for meetings of the Bricket Wood Coven. Jack is also attributed with being the writer of Gardner's biography Gerald Gardner: Witch, though it was actually written in the main, by Idries Shah and first published under Shah's own publishing label, Octagon Press.

  • Jack gave a small interview which appeared in the Sunday Times (October 27th 1963). Find it here.

Monique Wilson (nee Arnoux) (1923-1982) and Campbell Wilson (Olwen and Loic) (1923-?)

For more information on the Wilson's, please visit my Scottish Wica page

Thelma Capel (Dayonis)

Dayonis was involved with the Bricket Wood Coven in the 1950's and replaced Doreen Valiente as the High Priestess after Doreen left. In the late 1950s, she emigrated to Canada and a few years ago  gave a talk about her experiences in the Craft.

 

  • You can find an interview with Dayonis taken from the Daily Mail (November 3rd 1958) here.

Donna/Dorothea Gardner (1893 - 1960)
Monique & Scotty Wilson
Thelma Capel
Donna Gardner
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I feel this page would not be complete without Donna Gardner, wife of Gerald. Whilst the traditional viewpoint is that Donna was not involved in Gardner's Craft activities. I believe that she would at times participate in rituals but wanted to be kept out of the media. She was the High Priestess for Charles Clark's own initiation and whilst there is evidence that she was not involved, some evidence supporting a Craft involvement can be found.

  • In 2010, Tof wrote an article piecing together the evidence about Donna. Read it here (published The Cauldron 136, 2010)

  • This circa 1953 article has Donna saying she 'practiced a little amateur Witchcraft myself in the old days.' However, the astute will notice that there is an issue with this article when read in its entirety.

Patricia Kopinski [born Mary Chetwynd] (Ardraea) (1923 - 2011) and Sylvia Tatham [born Sylvia Gamble] (Isis) (1927 - 2007)
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Barbara Vickers

Patricia Kopinski (witch name Ardraea) was an early Priestess initiated by both Patricia Crowther and then later in 1963, a lady with the pseudonymn of 'Medea'. Little else is currently known about 'Medea' apart from a couple of personal detail. The picture is further confused by recollections of multiple people with the witch name 'Medea'.

 

Patricia Kopinski was also friends with another early Priestess called Sylvia Tatham (born Sylvia Gamble). Both knew Alex Sanders and seem to have been involved in his initiations.

  • I will at some point be uploading my articles on Kopinski, Taham, Robert Turner and Bill Liddell in My Articles section.

  • Some excellent genealogical research has been done by William Wallworth which he has put together in a booklet entitled The Lost Coven of Nottingham. It can be found on this page.

 

Barbara Vickers (Morven) (1922 - 1973)
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Barbara Vickers appears to have been amongst the first, if not the first, woman Gardner initiated. Recent research by Philip Heselton has shown that she had certainly received her initiation by November 1950. Doreen Valiente also met Barbara and mentions her in her writings.

  • Read Philip Heselton's article about Barbara Vickers here. This was first published in The Cauldron in May 2008.

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