“A Great Deal of It Cannot Be Printed”: W. T. Stead and E. J. Dillon

Abstract

In April 1912, W. T. Stead (1849–1912) and E. J. Dillon (1854–1933) had their final meeting in London, only weeks before the editor of the Review of Reviews set sail on the Titanic. Over lunch, the two men spoke of international politics and developments in Russia, the country about which they shared considerable interest. But Stead was also keen to inform his lunch partner about the latest news of his psychic powers. This embrace of spiritualism had already cost Stead credibility among his journalistic peers and political contacts. What Dillon thought of this conversation is left unrecorded, although he had been doubtful about Stead’s previous claims to have been in communication with the ghost of C. S. Parnell. He also previously advised Stead against “warning the public that a certain Atlantic liner would go down with all passengers in mid-ocean.”¹ Stead’s death on the Titanic ended a 25-year association between the two men.