Smyth-Pigott - A timeline of events

In September 1902, the Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Pigott stood up in front of his congregation in Upper Clapton, London, and announced that he was the Lord Jesus Christ, returned to earth. A few months later, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad made a prophecy about him: unless Smyth-Pigott repented, he would die within Ghulam Ahmad's lifetime. In fact, Smyth-Pigott outlived him by almost nineteen years. 

Ahmadis usually answer this in one of two ways. Either Smyth-Pigott repented after the warning, or he changed his claim, quietly dropping the claim to be God. To test that, we first need to know exactly what Smyth-Pigott claimed, how people at the time understood it, and whether anything about it changed in the years that followed. The sources below, taken from newspapers of the period, eyewitness accounts and academic research, set that out:

1902

7 September

London has at present a great religious sensation. It is a man claiming to be the Lord Jesus Christ returned to earth.

September 7, a minister stopped the usual service, and in the expectant hush that fell on the congregation, rose to his full height and uttered these words:—"I am the Lord Jesus Christ come to earth again. I am He who died and rose again and ascended into heaven. I am that Lord Jesus Christ come again in my own body to save those who come to me from death and judgment. Yes, I am he that liveth, and behold, I am alive forevermore—the Lord from heaven and the life-giving Spirit to those who know me and come to me. I am come again for the second time as the Bridegroom of the Church and the Judge of all men, for the Father has committed all judgment unto Me because I am the Son of Man. And you, each one of you, must be judged by Me. I am the Father in Me. In me has been fulfilled the mystery of the union of Christ with His Church…

…After a few moments so still that a ticking watch might be heard, a well-dressed lady got up in the center of the congregation and cried aloud, "God has spoken! God is here! I see Him on the altar!" An old gray-haired gentleman next got up and said, "Behold, this is Christ!" "Behold, this is God," said another. "The Desire of all nations!" said a third. "Behold, I testify to the Lord God," said a fourth. One after another of the congregation stood up in turn and in emphatic clear tones "testified" to the returned Christ. At last a man who appeared to be a stranger fell down convulsively sobbing and with his eyes full of tears dragged his wife on her knees beside him and said: "God, oh Annie, that is Jesus!" The last testimony having been given, several of those present addressing themselves to the Figure on the Throne cried aloud, "O hail! hail! Holy Man!"…

Who is this man who thus claims to be the returned Lord Jesus?

— John Robertson, "Has Christ Come to London—What I Saw of the Claimant," Living Truths, November 1902, pp. 278–279

His words at the service on 7 September 1902 could hardly have been clearer: "I am the Lord Jesus Christ come to earth again." John Robertson, who wrote about the service in Living Truths, records him calling himself "He who died and rose again and ascended into heaven," come back "in my own body" as the Bridegroom of the Church and the Judge of all men. He wasn't claiming to be a prophet, or someone like Christ. He was claiming to be Christ, and in Christian belief that means claiming to be God. That's how his followers took it too. They shouted "God is here!" and "Behold, this is God."

Dr Joshua John Schwieso, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the Agapemonites, records the same service:

At the evening service of Sunday [September] 7th, 1902, at the "Ark", Smyth-Pigott announced that he was "that Lord Jesus come again in my own body to save those who come to me from death and from judgement."

— Joshua John Schwieso, Deluded Inmates, Frantic Ravers and Communists: A Sociological Study of the Agapemone, a Sect of Victorian Apocalyptic Millennarians, p. 183

10 September

The local paper said much the same thing three days later. On 10 September 1902, the Hackney and Kingsland Gazette wrote:

Rev. J. H. Smyth-Pigott… preached a remarkable sermon at the Chapel of the Agapemone, Upper Clapton… in the course of which he distinctly claimed to be the Lord Jesus Christ returned to earth in human form.

— Hackney and Kingsland Gazette, Wednesday 10 September 1902

16 September

Word got around quickly. Within days, the story of a Clapton minister who said he was Christ had spread well beyond his own church, and people were turning up to see the place for themselves, some curious, some angry. Smyth-Pigott didn't stay to face them. By 16 September he had left London:

THE "MESSIAH." Mr. Pigott's Retreat from London. THE EVIL PASSIONS OF THE UNBELIEVERS.

For the time being the scenes of disorder which have made Clapton notorious during the past week are at an end. Mr. Piggott left his home for a change of scene yesterday afternoon. There went with him over a dozen heavy trunks and other articles of luggage, so that his absence will probably be a long one.

"Mr. Pigott," said a lady adherent to the faith, "will hold no more public services in the Ark for the present. He thinks no good can follow the stirring up of the evil passions of the poor deluded madmen who tried to strike him on Sunday. It was necessary that his divinity should be publicly made known. That being done, he seeks rest after the great bodily suffering he has gone through during the past month." Hundreds of people visited the Ark yesterday, and special police were still on duty. The damage done on Sunday morning included the wrecking of the large notice-board, the trampling into mud of the grass plot round the chapel, and the pulling down of barbed wire on the side wall by people clambering over. At Cedar Lodge there were many callers. The postmen took heavy batches of letters, and telegraph boys called every half-hour. The correspondence of Mr. Smyth Pigott has been of an extraordinary character, many letters he has received violently abusing him for his assumption of divinity.

It is understood that Mr. Smyth Pigott is gone to recuperate at Spaxton, the little village near Taunton, where the first Agapemone, or Abode of Love, was built by the notorious Brother Prince.

— Evening Express (Pink Edition), 16 September 1902, p. 3

Notice who is speaking here. It's one of his own followers, and she doesn't play the claim down at all. In her words, what had been announced at Clapton was "his divinity," and it had needed to be made public. The report also explains why he left: a crowd had tried to hit him, and he went to Spaxton to get away from the hostility, not to take anything back. All of this happened about two months before Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's letter was sent, so the letter can't have been the reason he left.

24 November

On 24 November 1902, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had a letter sent to Smyth-Pigott telling him to repent of his claim. If he didn't, the letter said, he would be destroyed within Ghulam Ahmad's own lifetime:

God has, therefore, commanded me to warn him… I, therefore, warn him through this notice that if he does not repent of this irreverent claim, he shall be soon annihilated, even in my lifetime… God has borne witness to my truth with heavenly signs shown in thousands… The death of Mr. Pigott within my life-time shall be another sign of my truth. If I die before Mr. Pigott, I am not the true Messiah nor am I from God… God shall bring the false Messiah to destruction within the life-time of the true one.

— A Warning to a Pretender to Divinity, 24 November 1902

Ghulam Ahmad set the test himself here. If Smyth-Pigott outlived him, then by his own words he was not the Messiah and was not from God.

1904

After leaving London, Smyth-Pigott settled with his followers at the Agapemone in Spaxton. The next reports we have of his claims come from the summer of 1904.

2 July

On 2 July 1904, the Chard and Ilminster News, a local paper covering the area around Spaxton, reported:

"I am the Lamb of God," Mr. Pigott announced, abruptly adding, "and this is the wife of the Lamb," as he waved his hand in the direction of his female companion…

…There were remarkable scenes at the "Abode of Love" on Sunday. Addressing a special gathering of disciples from all parts, Mr. Pigott again asserted his claim to be the Son of God…

…Many of the Agapemonites openly worshipped Pigott, who said, "I am the Lord Jesus, Who has come again."…

…No one may address Pigott by any name except "Messiah"…

— Chard and Ilminster News, Saturday 2 July 1904, "The Clapton 'Messiah.' Miracles Expected at the 'Abode of Love.'"

8 July

Six days later, on 8 July 1904, The Cambrian reported that he had called himself "the Lamb of God" during a service, and that his congregation knelt down and worshipped him:

On Monday the Agapemonites held a service at which Pigott again declared, "I am the Lamb of God," at which the congregation fell on their knees and worshipped him.

— The Cambrian, 8 July 1904

These reports came out in the summer of 1904, more than eighteen months after the warning letter and almost four years before Ghulam Ahmad died. There's no sign of repentance in them. Just as importantly, these aren't followers talking about him. These are things Smyth-Pigott is reported to have said himself. He called himself "the Lamb of God," "the Son of God" and "the Lord Jesus, Who has come again." He let his followers worship him, and he wouldn't be called anything but "Messiah."

"The Lamb of God" is one of the best-known titles for Jesus in Christianity. John the Baptist uses it in the Gospel of John, describing Jesus as the sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. When Smyth-Pigott took the title for himself, he was once again saying he was Christ.

1905

16 August

On 16 August 1905, the Evening Telegraph and Post in Dundee reported the birth of Smyth-Pigott's son by Ruth Preece, who had been named "Glory." The paper used material from the London Morning Leader, including an interview with one of the sect's leaders. She left no doubt about how the child, and his father, were seen at the Agapemone:

THE BIRTH OF THE "DIVINE CHILD."

The Morning Leader gives further particulars regarding the birth of the so-called "Divine Child" at the Abode of Love…

…One of the leaders expressed her satisfaction at the birth of "Glory," and said, "The Lord Jesus has taken unto Himself a spiritual bride, 'Glory.' Yes, Glory, the child, is the symbol of the regeneration of the world—the world, this heathen world, which before long will be at our Master's feet."

"Then you quite accept this child as divine."

The grave woman looked earnestly into her listener's face. "Yes," she said solemnly; "yes, since it is the son of Jesus Christ, our Lord."

"You believe that?"

"Yes. If you believed it also you would be the happier."

— Evening Telegraph and Post, Wednesday 16 August 1905

This was almost three years after the warning. One of the sect's leaders was telling a reporter that the baby was divine because he was "the son of Jesus Christ, our Lord," and she called Smyth-Pigott "the Lord Jesus." Nothing had been dropped since Clapton. The belief had actually grown, to the point where his son was treated as divine because of who they believed his father was.

26 August

The sect was still going strong in 1905, with followers travelling to Spaxton from around the country. On 26 August 1905, the Weekly Mail reported on Agapemonites from London and other cities making a pilgrimage to the Abode to pay homage to Smyth-Pigott:

PILGRIMS TO THE ABODE. HOW AGAPEMONITES SPEND THEIR HOLIDAYS.

The members of the Agapemonite community are conducting a pilgrimage to the Abode at Spaxton of those of the brethren who are resident in London or scattered throughout other cities.

There is thus afforded the visitors a prospect of enjoying a pleasant summer holiday at a charming country retreat, and, at the same time, of rendering homage to the "prophet" of this obscure faith.

The pilgrims take part in drives in breaks along the sea coast or to inland villages; they arrange pic-nics on the hills, they play croquet in the grounds of the Abode, and in the evening they have musical gatherings.

There are but three men at the Abode—Mr. Smyth-Piggott, Mr. Read, and a doctor, while the devotees, who are all women, number upwards of 60.

Among the everyday domestic duties performed by the regular inmates of the Abode, are the dusting of the ornaments in the reception-rooms, the arranging of flowers for the tables, and the gathering of flowers in the garden, and the superintendance of the servants, &c.

But work of even this light character is not required of the "pilgrims," who spend their time, apart from outdoor recreation, in dreamy languor, varied with religious exercises.

Mr. Smyth-Piggott is expected to arrive in London at an early date. His former house, the Cedars, Clapton-common, is now tenanted by some of the adherents to the cause, but it is expected that the "prophet" will reside there when he comes to town from Spaxton.

— Weekly Mail, 26 August 1905, p. 2

So nearly three years after the warning, Smyth-Pigott was still leading an active movement, with followers coming from London and elsewhere to visit him. He was even expected back in London, to live at his old house in Clapton. That's hardly how a man behaves after repenting and cutting himself off from his followers.

The paper calls him the "prophet," but it puts the word in quotation marks. That's the journalist's label, not the sect's. The same month, the Evening Telegraph and Post quoted one of the sect's leaders calling him "the Lord Jesus" and "our Master."

16 September

It wasn't only inside the Agapemone that people were saying Smyth-Pigott was Christ. His secretary, Charles Stone Read, was one of just three men living at the Abode, according to that same Weekly Mail report. Three weeks later, on 16 September 1905, the West Somerset Free Press covered a meeting of the V.V. Bread Company in London, which had been called to remove Read as a director. When he was asked to explain himself to the shareholders, he didn't hide what he believed:

PIGGOTT'S SECRETARY ASKED TO RESIGN A DIRECTORSHIP.

Mr. Read explained his connection with the company, and, concluding, said: "Believe me, it is not in the interests of the company, but it is because I know that the Lord Jesus Christ has come again, and is now dwelling at the Agapemone…"

— West Somerset Free Press, Saturday 16 September 1905, p. 8

These are the words of Smyth-Pigott's own secretary, nearly three years after the warning letter and more than two and a half years before Ghulam Ahmad died. Read said in public, and lost his position over it, that Christ had come back and was living at the Agapemone. He can only have meant Smyth-Pigott. Among the people closest to him, the claim made at Clapton in 1902 was still being openly held and defended.

Someone might say these are Read's words, not Smyth-Pigott's. That's fair, but Read didn't come up with this on his own. A month earlier, Smyth-Pigott's son by Ruth Preece had been born, and the sect was treating him as divine. Read was saying what Smyth-Pigott's inner circle believed at the time, and his words belong alongside the 1904 reports, where the claims come from Smyth-Pigott himself.

21 October

By October, the papers were reporting that his followers were worshipping the child as well. The North Otago Times wrote on 21 October 1905:

The recent revelations concerning the Spaxton "Abode of Love," wherein the ex-Rev. Smyth Pigott's deluded followers are now worshipping the illegitimate son of their pastor and the unfortunate Ruth Preece…

— North Otago Times, 21 October 1905

By the end of 1905, the story had reached newspapers on the other side of the world. And the worship of Glory was tied directly to his father's claim. As the sect leader had told the Evening Telegraph and Post two months before, the child was divine because they believed he was "the son of Jesus Christ, our Lord." Without the father's claim, there would have been nothing to worship in the son.

1907

23 June

On 23 June 1907, less than a year before Ghulam Ahmad died, the Boston Sunday Herald printed his prophecy about Smyth-Pigott again:

The article is transcribed in Fulfilment of a Grand Prophecy:

A sign of the evidence of God in my favor will appear on the death of Mr. Pigott, the arrogant pretender to divinity, who shall be brought to destruction within my lifetime.

— Boston Sunday Herald, 23 June 1907, as transcribed in Fulfilment of a Grand Prophecy, p. 87

This was more than four and a half years after the warning letter, and the prophecy was still being made in public. This time, there's no condition attached and no "if he does not repent." Smyth-Pigott is simply "the arrogant pretender to divinity" who "shall be brought to destruction" in Ghulam Ahmad's lifetime, and his death is meant to be a sign of God's favour. So in 1907, Ghulam Ahmad still saw Smyth-Pigott as someone claiming to be divine, and he was still putting his own credibility on the line over his death. Eleven months later, Ghulam Ahmad was dead. Smyth-Pigott lived for almost another nineteen years.

1908

February

In February 1908, three months before Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died, Frank Edward Farncombe got into the Abode of Love and spoke with Smyth-Pigott. Farncombe asked him how he could prove his claim to the Godhead. Smyth-Pigott didn't deny making it. He talked about a "sacred light" and said these things were a mystery except to the initiated:

Mr Frank Edward Farncombe stated that in February 1908, he obtained admission to the Agapemone and had some conversations with Smyth-Pigott.

"A SACRED LIGHT"

Did you ask him how he established his claim to the godhead? – Yes: he replied something about a sacred light. I said it seems incomprehensible, and he replied: "The things which we deal with are a mystery unless to the initiated."

— Hawera & Normanby Star, 8 March 1909

26 May

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died in Lahore on 26 May 1908. Smyth-Pigott was still alive, and still holding to his claim.

1909

March

In March 1909, less than a year after Ghulam Ahmad's death, the Bishop of Bath and Wells defrocked Smyth-Pigott. He didn't turn up to the ceremony:

Bishop Kennion, of Bath and Wells, unfrocked Smyth Pigott, who did not appear. The unfrocking ceremony was sombre and impressive and was the first of its kind held at Wells for a thousand years.

— Hawera & Normanby Star, 8 March 1909

Even an Ahmadi book, Approaching the West, admits he stayed defiant:

On discovering this immoral and disgraceful relationship of Smyth-Pigott with one of his unmarried disciples, the Church of England took stern action against him, and he was defrocked and thus utterly humiliated. But Smyth-Pigott persisted in his arrogance and announced: "I am God. It does not matter what they do."

— Approaching the West, p. 16

This was after Ghulam Ahmad had died, but it points the same way as everything before it. When the Church finally dealt with him, Smyth-Pigott hadn't repented. He was still saying he was God.

1927

21 March

Smyth-Pigott died at Spaxton on 21 March 1927, almost nineteen years after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad:

The Telegraph – The Chapel of Unrest

Summary

In September 1902, John Hugh Smyth-Pigott stood up in public and said he was the Lord Jesus Christ returned to earth. His followers and the press both took it as a claim to be God. Within days he had left London for the Agapemone at Spaxton to get away from an angry public, while his followers said his divinity had now been made known. About two months later, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had a letter sent to him. It said that unless he repented, he would be destroyed within Ghulam Ahmad's lifetime, and that if Ghulam Ahmad died first, he was "not the true Messiah nor… from God."

Nothing in the record shows Smyth-Pigott ever taking his claim back. In the years after the letter, he called himself "the Lamb of God" and "the Lord Jesus, Who has come again." His followers worshipped him, and when he had a son, the sect treated the boy as divine because they believed he was the son of Christ. In February 1908, three months before Ghulam Ahmad died, he still wouldn't disown his claim to the Godhead. So he didn't repent, and he didn't change his claim. He was saying he was Christ in 1902, and he was still saying it years after the letter. Dr Joshua John Schwieso's thesis on the Agapemonites says Smyth-Pigott was at his most active between 1902 and 1909, which covers every remaining year of Ghulam Ahmad's life:

…during the period between 1902 and 1909 when Smyth-Pigott was most active…

— Joshua John Schwieso, Deluded Inmates, Frantic Ravers and Communists, p. 291

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died on 26 May 1908. Smyth-Pigott outlived him by almost nineteen years and died at Spaxton on 21 March 1927.

For more on the Agapemonites, Dr Joshua John Schwieso has put together a detailed timeline here.