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Author: Fred Gettings

Marsyas

Marsyas

Fresh Blood
Joined
Aug 31, 2024
Messages
24
Location
Melbourne (Naarm), Australia
Hi All,

I’ve had a long interest in a variety of esoteric topics, but it I’ve only just found this forum.

I found myself here because I’ve been researching an author called Fred Gettings with a view to writing an article about him or maybe a book if I can gather enough information.

I’ve been collecting his books for a couple of decades and I’ve got most of the things he published – the main topics of his books include the occult, tarot, ghosts in photo, alchemy, hidden symbolism in art and other related topics.

I understand that he died in 2013 (there is one brief article about his death that can be found online).

Apart from his published works other information about him is quite scarce. I have some genealogical and biographical information that I’ve found on the web (some of which has now disappeared).

I’ve been contacting various university libraries to see if anywhere may hold a collection of his papers if he left any papers after his death (no success so far).

I’ve also tried contacting his publishers to see if they could put me in contact with someone who may have know him, maybe like a literary agent or an editor (again, no success).

So, I guess I’m wondering if anyone has any further information about him they’d be prepared to share? Or have any suggestions about where else it might be good to enquire about him?

Of course, I’d also like to have general discussion about Mr Gettings, if any else has read his books. If you have read any of them what do you think of him and his ideas?

Thanks!
 
Rougly where did Mr Gettings live?

You sometimes find that Papers of this sort are lodged with local historical societies, public or private libraries, a local esoteric group and sometimes even the (ususally secondary) school the person attended.

Local news may be willing to carry interviews with you and you could look at taking out an advert or two, depending on your funding.

If Mr Gettings spent time in Scotland then Glasgow's Mitchell Library is an excellent place.

My apologies if you've done all this!

@DrPaulLee you've a wealth of experience in finding things and weird sources!
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
If you know roughly where he died, it may be worthwhile contacting local newspapers as they may have extra clippings. Failing that, a trip to the British Library might be worthwhile - once they recover fully from their cyber attack that is.

I must admit I'd never heard of him before; do you know if he had a mainstream job? You could write to the pensions department explaining who you are and why you'd like to get in touch with his family. Put your main letter in a sealed, stamped envelope for them to forward on.
(This is long winded but it has usually worked for me)

If you know a rough date of death you could write to the registrar of wills giving them as much detail as possible. If they can find a will, that will hopefully give a next of kin to whom you can write, though they may have moved on or died.
 
Death certificates are Public Record and with patience anyones certificate can be found online..... somewhere.

A few years ago I wanted to find out about an uncle of mine and for convenience I seem to remember paying a company that specialises in such things £45 for a copy of the death certificate.
 
One technique that I used to trace people is not just to look in papers for news of people's deaths, but also other things they did in life; attendance at burials, weddings, public speaking, court appearances and so on. I even located someone by looking for planning permission notices in the press as they give a name and address.
From then on, on line genealogy websites like findmypast *may* help you locate someone's address, and fellow inhabitants at an address - but this isn't always easy as the electoral rolls a few years back introduced an opt out clause.

Good luck - but be prepared that some people do just disappear without trace. In that case newspaper appeals might help - or even social media (Facebook has been a huge help to me).
 
Marsyas said:
Hi All,

I’ve had a long interest in a variety of esoteric topics, but it I’ve only just found this forum.

I found myself here because I’ve been researching an author called Fred Gettings with a view to writing an article about him or maybe a book if I can gather enough information.

I’ve been collecting his books for a couple of decades and I’ve got most of the things he published – the main topics of his books include the occult, tarot, ghosts in photo, alchemy, hidden symbolism in art and other related topics.

I understand that he died in 2013 (there is one brief article about his death that can be found online).

Apart from his published works other information about him is quite scarce. I have some genealogical and biographical information that I’ve found on the web (some of which has now disappeared).

I’ve been contacting various university libraries to see if anywhere may hold a collection of his papers if he left any papers after his death (no success so far).

I’ve also tried contacting his publishers to see if they could put me in contact with someone who may have know him, maybe like a literary agent or an editor (again, no success).

So, I guess I’m wondering if anyone has any further information about him they’d be prepared to share? Or have any suggestions about where else it might be good to enquire about him?

Of course, I’d also like to have general discussion about Mr Gettings, if any else has read his books. If you have read any of them what do you think of him and his ideas?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I managed to track down a once very well known writer/historian in my field, by spotting from a search she had done a talk in a library several years back and contacted them with my email asking to pass it on to her. She is well in her 90s and still going strong (ish) although she hasn't published for years and now does the occasional talk about another kind of writing entirely.

We now exchange long and chatty emails regularly and she is very helpful when I bombard her with questions. Although I have no intention of publishing anything til she's gone. But her emails are a goldmine of obscure info that wouldn't otherwise be gettable.

Although your man is gone, there could still be places where he spoke that were local to him, who might be able to help?

Turned out my writer in her 90s had worked behind the scenes at a publisher in the 1960s/70s and she continued in the field, writing under her own name as well, for many years - but via her work for the publisher (for which she was never publicly credited, anywhere I can find) - she met, worked with and knew a lot of other really well known writers and has been able to give me, via email, loads of fabulous info that would have died with her, if I'd not been able to track her down.

Often, publishers from some time back aren't still around - so many went under, even huge and well known ones.

But if Ancestry.com or some other source gives you an idea of where they last lived, maybe something like a local library could help?

Documents donated to archives - such as his manuscripts or letters - I find these kind of things to be very patchily digitised or indexed online. I once wrote an entire intro to a book about an historian's work and researched on the ground in the museum which her collection founded - she served on their committees right up to her death, also died in her 90s - and they had volumes of her (unpublished) diaries just sitting there. Nobody had indexed them anywhere and even though I repeatedly worked in that very archive, not a single curator or librarian thought to tip me off they had her entire journals. I only finally discovered the existed and documented the relevant parts last year. My intro to her work is still in print about 13 years on. If I ever get the chance to re-write it to reflect the tsunami of info I now have, I will!

Her book MS were donated to a different library and her art (she was a trained artist as well as historian) to another... But again, nothing digitised or indexed across 3 separate museums/archives. And they still aren't.

So if you find no trace of diaries, letters or MS online, that doesn't mean they haven't been donated somewhere...

If you have a village or town, maybe go on their FB page and ask if anyone can point you in the right direction..? (You can often post anonymously there now). I did that recently for another book. Got some real paydirt from locals. Sometimes, there's someone in a community who makes themselves the local expert about your person, and you can then go and see what they know.

Family might ignore you or help you, depending on your tact and their personalities. I just remembered I know someone whose mum wrote one of my favourite books ever - coincidence, I met her a couple of decades later. Her mum is now gone. She is always thrilled to chat about her mum's work and is incredibly helpful about it. I have no doubt, if I asked to see original MS or notes, she'd happily oblige.
 
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Frideswide said:
Rougly where did Mr Gettings live?

You sometimes find that Papers of this sort are lodged with local historical societies, public or private libraries, a local esoteric group and sometimes even the (ususally secondary) school the person attended.

Local news may be willing to carry interviews with you and you could look at taking out an advert or two, depending on your funding.

If Mr Gettings spent time in Scotland then Glasgow's Mitchell Library is an excellent place.

My apologies if you've done all this!

@DrPaulLee you've a wealth of experience in finding things and weird sources!
Click to expand...
Thanks all for your suggestions!

Let me tell you a little more about what I already know:

@Frideswide – Mr Gettings lived and died in Hellisfield, North Yorkshire. I have this information from an article published in the Hellisfield Herald published after his death in 2013. Unfortunately it seems Mr Gettings committed suicide and there was an inquest into his in Skipton, North Yorkshire. I’ve contacted University of Leeds (close to where he lived) and Sussex University (where he completed an MA in the late) 1960s, and the British Library, but to no avail.

I’ve contacted the local history society and they’ve said they’re looking into it, but haven’t got back to me with anything further yet. I’ve contacted the Hellisfield Herald but they weren’t able to help further. Local esoteric societies I’ve found a little hard to find and is still an area that I can explore further.

Also thanks for the tip re: Glasgow's Mitchell Library. As Mr Gettings was from North Yorkshire I think it will certainly be worth me enquiring there.

m.
 
@DrPaulLee, answers to a couple of your suggestions in my reply to Frideswide.

I have very extensive genealogical information and know the names of his parents, siblings, both his wives, his daughter and granddaughter, but I can’t find any information about any of them via the web.

I did try to contact them via the royalties departments of his publishers without luck, but thanks for your suggestions about the pensions department and register of wills, I’ll certainly give them a try as you suggested.

Regarding tracing Mr Gettings through other things he may have done in his life there is hardly anything that I can find. There is a reference to him being in the armed forces for one year in 1957. There is a reference to him being a teacher but I haven’t been able to find out where or anything else about this part of his life.

I do think to an extent Mr Gettings has managed to disappear without leaving many traces (which does seem entirely fitting for a writer of books on esoteric and occult subjects).

m.
 
@kesavaross – I’ve paid the £45 and got the Death Certificate. :bthumbup:

Inquests are public proceedings so I’ve also applied for copies of the transcript of the inquest, which apparently “interested parties” can do. Unfortunately I think by “interested parties” they mean family members and witnesses, not just people who are interested.
 
A quick search says "Fred Gettings was born in Yorkshire, England, and received an MA at Sussex University in 1969. He was listed by Marquis Who's Who as a notable writer of numerous books and a photographer."

It's possible that he maintained contact with his university friends throughout his life. Try contacting the alumni office at the university and explain the situation. If they produce a magazine they could place an appeal for you.
 
As someone above said, try the local Facebook group. There will be people who remember him and might lead you to more information.
 
Finding esoteric groups - most new age/healthfood (not Holland and Barrat type), and possibly head shops have a notice board for patrons. A wee card enquiring could bring resullts - make it clear you are not a tabloid journalist! Well, try to make it clear :rollingw:

When hunting for info on my own specialist subject I've found the Pagan Federation very helpful

https://www.paganfed.org/

The associated periodical is Pagan Dawn, which is a good read. There are noticeboards, appeals for help and so on within it.

https://www.paganfed.org/shop/Pagan-Dawn-c23193697

There are other "pagan" magazines too.

Have you contacted Northern Earth? A fabulous store of knowledge and expertise. I wouldn't be surprised if someone there had inherited Mr Gettings papers. There's a periodical of the same name and I think that putting a please help notice in there would be my next step.

https://northernearth.co.uk/

As always, you may already have done this!
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
I managed to track down a once very well known writer/historian in my field, by spotting from a search she had done a talk in a library several years back and contacted them with my email asking to pass it on to her. She is well in her 90s and still going strong (ish) although she hasn't published for years and now does the occasional talk about another kind of writing entirely.

We now exchange long and chatty emails regularly and she is very helpful when I bombard her with questions. Although I have no intention of publishing anything til she's gone. But her emails are a goldmine of obscure info that wouldn't otherwise be gettable.

Although your man is gone, there could still be places where he spoke that were local to him, who might be able to help?

Turned out my writer in her 90s had worked behind the scenes at a publisher in the 1960s/70s and she continued in the field, writing under her own name as well, for many years - but via her work for the publisher (for which she was never publicly credited, anywhere I can find) - she met, worked with and knew a lot of other really well known writers and has been able to give me, via email, loads of fabulous info that would have died with her, if I'd not been able to track her down.

Often, publishers from some time back aren't still around - so many went under, even huge and well known ones.

But if Ancestry.com or some other source gives you an idea of where they last lived, maybe something like a local library could help?

Documents donated to archives - such as his manuscripts or letters - I find these kind of things to be very patchily digitised or indexed online. I once wrote an entire intro to a book about an historian's work and researched on the ground in the museum which her collection founded - she served on their committees right up to her death, also died in her 90s - and they had volumes of her (unpublished) diaries just sitting there. Nobody had indexed them anywhere and even though I repeatedly worked in that very archive, not a single curator or librarian thought to tip me off they had her entire journals. I only finally discovered the existed and documented the relevant parts last year. My intro to her work is still in print about 13 years on. If I ever get the chance to re-write it to reflect the tsunami of info I now have, I will!

Her book MS were donated to a different library and her art (she was a trained artist as well as historian) to another... But again, nothing digitised or indexed across 3 separate museums/archives. And they still aren't.

So if you find no trace of diaries, letters or MS online, that doesn't mean they haven't been donated somewhere...

If you have a village or town, maybe go on their FB page and ask if anyone can point you in the right direction..? (You can often post anonymously there now). I did that recently for another book. Got some real paydirt from locals. Sometimes, there's someone in a community who makes themselves the local expert about your person, and you can then go and see what they know.

Family might ignore you or help you, depending on your tact and their personalities. I just remembered I know someone whose mum wrote one of my favourite books ever - coincidence, I met her a couple of decades later. Her mum is now gone. She is always thrilled to chat about her mum's work and is incredibly helpful about it. I have no doubt, if I asked to see original MS or notes, she'd happily oblige.
Click to expand...
Thanks @Ghost In The Machine – answers to a couple of your suggestions in my posts above. Very little info on the internet about Mr Gettings other activities, outside his published works. I suspect he may have been a bit of a recluse or mixed with circles of people who don’t usually post information on the freely searchable internet.

I’m sure from his writing that he must have had a significant library and other papers, but as to whether he destroyed these before his death, passed them on to a friend or acquaintance, or donated them to somewhere that hasn’t indexed them I don’t know.

I think my best chance is probably finding his family or beneficiaries, and them being prepared to help me and point me in the right direction, but no luck with finding contact details for them so far.

m.
 
DrPaulLee said:
Is this him?

https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/10584198.man-killed-himself-after-marriage-breakdown/
Click to expand...
Yes, I’m afraid so.

One of the few verifiable pieces of information about him available on the internet (apart from his many published works).

It seems he did commit suicide at his home in Hellifield in 2013 following the breakdown of his second marriage.

A tragic end to a very productive and interesting life.

It seems that not many people her who have come across his writing but I think he’s really wonder – apart from the interesting subject matter – a lovely writing style and . . . I’m not sure my description can do him justice but I think he has a lovely combination of objective and dispassionate on the one hand, and humane and genuine on the other.

I guess the one thing to say is his style of writing is formal and I sometimes wish his personality shown through a little more, but then I guess his personality may have been a bit standoffish, and formal, and restrained.
 
DrPaulLee said:
A quick search says "Fred Gettings was born in Yorkshire, England, and received an MA at Sussex University in 1969. He was listed by Marquis Who's Who as a notable writer of numerous books and a photographer."

It's possible that he maintained contact with his university friends throughout his life. Try contacting the alumni office at the university and explain the situation. If they produce a magazine they could place an appeal for you.
Click to expand...
Alumni office. Hmm, another good suggestion that I haven’t tried yet. I’ll certainly give that a try – although, as I think I mentioned, Mr Gettings if he was still alive would be something like 85 - 86 years old so it may be getting hard to find too many of his contemporaries.
 
Frideswide said:
@DrPaulLee suggested this newspaper cutting above.

It gives his wife's name and another person's name. I wonder if she has remarried and is now going by her new married name? Might be findable if so but any approach would have to be kid-gloved. And that's an autistic saying that so...
Click to expand...
Ah, great suggestion.

I hadn’t thought that she may have married the person she discovered his body with and taken his surname, but it is certainly worth a try.

Given Fred would be 85-86 if he was still alive, I guess she would be quite elderly, but my experience as a nurse has shown me that if people have taken care of themselves they can be healthier in their mid-80s than some other people are in their late-50s.
 
Frideswide said:
Do you have a bibliography you could stick up here? Pretty please?
Click to expand...
Of course!

It is pretty extensive though so it might have to wait til tomorrow Melbourne time.

Some of his books such as his Dictionary of Occult, Hermetic and Alchemical Sigils, go for silly prices on line (upwards of $800 AUD), but just quietly it is available in PDF or epub versions for free online.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_Occult,_Hermetic_and_Alchemical_Sigils

Most of his other books are available for a couple of £ from second hand book sellers on line.
 
Frideswide said:
@DrPaulLee suggested this newspaper cutting above.

It gives his wife's name and another person's name. I wonder if she has remarried and is now going by her new married name? Might be findable if so but any approach would have to be kid-gloved. And that's an autistic saying that so...
Click to expand...
And yes, by following a couple of leads in this newspaper article I’ve managed to track down some other good info about Fred.

One unhappy element of this slightly quixotic quest of mine is that I’d been reading and collecting his books for about 20 years leading up until 2013 when I finally decided – I like this author so much and I feel so much “fellow feeling” for him that I think I’ll write him a fan letter.

Then I tried to look up his mailing address and found that he’d committed suicide a mere two months before. ☹️
 
Frideswide said:
aw man! :group:
Click to expand...
Needs to be a react for this

Obviously the fact that I missed out on contacting him and letting him know how much I appreciated his writing pales into insignificance when you think about then terrible and despairing end that he faced

Then also I think when you read some of his books he seems like both an incredible rational and fact based person, but also someone who maybe genuinely believed in the supernatural

So one of the things I genuinely yearn to know is what his state of mind was when he died – was he genuinely in despair, and thinking all of the occult powers he’d written about were false and useless – or did he maybe die still in the belief that they occult topics he’d written about were true and he was as somehow transcending his current unhappy existence?

I don’t honestly that much I’ll ever get an answer to this, but I’d love it if it could somehow get inside his mind to the extent that I felt like I knew.
 
Frideswide said:
Finding esoteric groups - most new age/healthfood (not Holland and Barrat type), and possibly head shops have a notice board for patrons. A wee card enquiring could bring resullts - make it clear you are not a tabloid journalist! Well, try to make it clear :rollingw:

When hunting for info on my own specialist subject I've found the Pagan Federation very helpful

https://www.paganfed.org/

The associated periodical is Pagan Dawn, which is a good read. There are noticeboards, appeals for help and so on within it.

https://www.paganfed.org/shop/Pagan-Dawn-c23193697

There are other "pagan" magazines too.

Have you contacted Northern Earth? A fabulous store of knowledge and expertise. I wouldn't be surprised if someone there had inherited Mr Gettings papers. There's a periodical of the same name and I think that putting a please help notice in there would be my next step.

https://northernearth.co.uk/

As always, you may already have done this!
Click to expand...
Fantastic. I hadn’t heard of any of these groups, so I’ll certainly give them a try.

It’s the thing about the internet isn’t it. There’s is actually good stuff hidden in there , but it is buried under so much junk (and so many ads) that it is incredibly hard to find the stuff you want)
 
@Marsyas This place here is the best gateway I've found for the areas we both seem to be interested in, and the depth of material curated here is astonishing. So much experience and expertise in the community.

Speaking of which, I do hope you'll consider staying around :) Seems like you'll fit right in.
 
Also, if you don't want to take out a subscription to the Northern Earth periodical, I am happy to post on the subscribers-only discussion list alerting people that someone is looking, maybe giving your contacts if you wanted. Just compose a message for me to top and tail and I'll get on it!
 
Frideswide said:
@Marsyas This place here is the best gateway I've found for the areas we both seem to be interested in, and the depth of material curated here is astonishing. So much experience and expertise in the community.

Speaking of which, I do hope you'll consider staying around :) Seems like you'll fit right in.
Click to expand...
Absolutely intend on hanging around

Seem to be lots of interesting chats and very friendly people here

I may not always maintain quite this level of activity – nursing career, parent of teenagers, ageing parents in need of a bit more attention than previously etc. – these thing all mean I’m a bit time poor, and my projects, such as the Fred Gettings book proceed a bit slower than may be hoped.

Having said that I did manage to read and take notes on half of his book “The Meaning and Magic of Art” (1963) today. I thought it was the least interesting of the books of his I owned (ostensibly a book about art for children and teenagers) but the more I read the more fascinating I find it.

I think he was probably 26 or 27 when he wrote it but it has the feel of a significantly older author.
 
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Frideswide said:
Also, if you don't want to take out a subscription to the Northern Earth periodical, I am happy to post on the subscribers-only discussion list alerting people that someone is looking, maybe giving your contacts if you wanted. Just compose a message for me to top and tail and I'll get on it!
Click to expand...
That it so kind of you – I may well take you up on that.

I have a lot of different “irons in the fire” at the moment, and only so many subscriptions and patreon memberships etc. etc. I can maintain on a part time nurse’s salary (even here in Australia where I believe nurses are much, much better off that in the UK – if the thousands of English and Irish nurses that are currently working in Australia are to be believed).
 
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