Dowding, Hugh Caswall Tremenheere
(18821970)
First Baron Dowding, air chief marshal in charge of Fighter
Command in Britain during World War II and author of several
books on psychic phenomena and survival of death. Lord
Dowding was born April 24, 1882. He was educated at Winchester
and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London, and
joined the Royal Artillery in 1900. In 1914, as World War I
began, he joined the Royal Flying Corp (after 1918 the Royal
Air Force). He commanded Fighting Area, Air Defense of
Great Britain (192330), during which time he also was director
of training at the Air Ministry, London (192629). He subsequently
served as the air member for research and development
of Air Council (193036), air officer commander-in-chief
of Fighter Command (193640), and principal A.D.C. to the
king (193743). He retired in 1943.
Soon after his retirement, Dowding wrote a series of books
on psychic phenomena, including Many Mansions (1943), Lychgate
The Entrance to the Path (1945), and The Dark Star (1951).
He was also a member of the Fairy Investigation Society. He
died February 15, 1970.
Many people believed that Dowdings major contribution to
the defense of Britain in World War II was not sufficiently honored.
A statue of him was eventually erected in 1988 at St.
Clements Dane, the Royal Air Church in the Strand, west central
London. It was unveiled by the Queen Mother on Sunday,
October 30, 1988.
Sources
Dowling, Lady. BeautyNot the Beast. St. Helier, Spearman,
1980. Reprinted as The Psychic Life of Muriel, the Lady Dowling
An Autobiography. Wheaton, Ill. Theosophical Publishing
House, 1981.
Dowling, Lord. The Dark Star. London Museum Press,
1951.
. Lychgate The Entrance to the Path. N.p., 1945.
. Many Mansions. London Rider, 1943.
