Arnold Clare was born in the seaside town of Felixstowe, Suffolk, England in 1901. He dropped out of school at the age of twelve and worked for a grocer until called by the sea at the age of fifteen, when he began working on ships. He joined the Royal Navy soon afterward, and during World War I worked as a wireless operator.

In 1917, Clare was stationed at Mt. Athos, Greece where he recorded movements of German submarines. It was during his stay there that he met Fr. John, a Greek Orthodox priest who discussed subjects like philosophy and mysticism with him. When Clare left the island, Fr. John said that they would meet again.

It was through his naval service that Clare met a Russian captain who invited him to his home.  Clare was introduced to mediumship by the captain’s wife and after several sessions noticed that she spoke with the voice inflections of Fr. John.  Fr. John, then deceased, advised Clare to train as a medium.

It was an article by Conan Doyle that later prompted Clare to attempt mediumship. He found he was capable of automatic writing. He continued working for the Navy and studied Astrology in depth, becoming a practitioner and lecturer in this field. In 1937 he joined Harry Edwards’ Balham Spiritualist Church.

In 1938, Clare led the circle when the usual medium could not attend. He produced apports for the first time and communications from his guides. Afterward, as his mediumship progressed, he used plaques with luminous paint to make sure sitters were able to observe the trumpets and see materializations. He moved objects and transported apports into the room while bound to a chair. Peter, one of his spirit guides, spoke to the sitters through a trumpet. Clare even produced ectoplasm.

In July 1940, ten people witness the materialization of medium Jack Webber who had died earlier that year. Harry Edwards, who witnessed the event said of the materialization, “never before have I seen one so plainly.” In 1941, Clare and his wife opened their own church, The Trinity of Spiritual Fellowship.

World War II and long working hours led to a heart attack in 1944, and Clare was medically discharged from the Navy.  His marriage ended in divorce. Needing time to recover, he lived quietly in the country and worked with Harry Edwards, lecturing and running two healing centers. He was instructed by Fr. John to end his physical mediumship in 1945 and was ordained as a priest in the Old Catholic Orthodox Church but that did not work out. In 1951, he moved with his second wife to Torquay where he had two healing sanctuaries near the English Channel and joined the Theosophical Society.

Clare eventually became a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church. He married his third wife and moved several times to set up new oratories. Clare’s expertise as an Exorcist was recognized in a book by Leslie Watkins in the 1980s. He passed on to the spirit world in June 1991.

Additional reading:
Edwards, Harry (1942) The Mediumship of Arnold Clare. Rider and Co. London

Price, Leslie. “What Ever Happened to Arnold Clare?” In PSYPIONEFER JOURNAL Volume 7, no. 12, Dec 2011

Watkins, Leslie (1983) The Real Exorcists. Futura Books Inc. Great Britain