Frequently of late, I realize that I have been commenting on collections of tales rather than single works; and will probably continue to do so in the future. It is not as easy as one might imagine to find 19th century supernatural horror literature, though it is not for lack of trying. Honestly, I am appreciative for any qualifying works I can find.
All of that being said, I am very pleased to explore In Ghostly Company by Amyas Northcote.
“Oh, you poor fool! How little you understand. Since that night five weeks ago when first I found you, before you saw my living face, have you learned nothing? You talk of your position, of your social influence; you prate of the police.” Her eyes, dark and gloomy, seemed to devour him as she went on: “What can you do? I hold you and shall always hold you. I may never see you again in this body, I want nothing of your material life, I want something more, I want you yourself, I want your soul.”
He shrank back in horror. “Are you the Devil?” he said.
She burst into a fit of terrible, silent laughter.
“The Devil,” she said, “we are becoming quite mediæval. Do you expect to see this foot,” and she pushed forward her own, “turned into a hoof? Are you waiting for me to take out a parchment to be signed in your blood?”
She laughed again.
“No, Mr. Carmichael,” she went on, “I am not the Devil. Perhaps you would be better off if I were.”
An excerpt from "Mr. Oliver Carmichael"
Amyas Northcote's only collection of supernatural tales, In Ghostly Company, was originally published in 1921 by John Lane, The Bodley Head in the U.K.
A facsimile of the original dust jacket
The edition under consideration here was published by Black Heath Editions in 2014. Black Heath Editions republishes lesser known works from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for incredibly reasonable prices. I would not have even heard of many of these authors (and their works) had it not been for Black Heath Editions. Thank you.
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Amyas Northcote, born on 25 October 1864 in Pynes, Exeter, was the seventh child of an aristocrat-politician and manor lord. While growing up, his home welcomed the notable and powerful such as Lord Churchill and Prime Minister Disraeli. Northcote's father, Sir Stafford, held a deep appreciation for ghost stories and tales of fantasy. Thus, Northcote's interests were influenced from an early age.
As the son of a lord and politician, Northcote attended Eton, an exclusive school for boys in preparation for university. M. R. James, noted author of supernatural tales also attended Eton. If I understood and interpreted the details from The Eton Register correctly, both attended Eton during the period 1878 through 1882.[i] As well, both began to attend university in October 1882—James to Cambridge,[ii] Northcote to Oxford.[iii] It is not knowable whether the two ever crossed paths, though it is an interesting possibility.
Following his time at Oxford,[iv] sometime after 1887, Northcote relocated to the United States–Chicago–where he was a very successful businessman. According to once source, he was "business manager of an English real-estate investment syndicate."[v] On May 14, 1890, he married Helen Dudley. They raised two children; both born in Chicago.
It was during his time living in Chicago that Northcote discovered his penchant for writing political commentary.[vi] It is unknown (though not believed by researchers) if he wrote or published any fiction while living in the U.S.
In spite of his liking and appreciation for the U.S., shortly after 1900, Northcote returned to England. Not much is known of his activities during this period except that he was a very wealthy man, and, for a time served as Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire.
Out of nowhere, In Ghostly Company, a collection of his supernatural tales, was published in November of 1921 (just in time for the Christmas ghost-story season!). Regretfully, Amyas Northcote would not publish a second book. He died on May 11, 1923 at the age of 58, almost exactly eighteen months after the publication of In Ghostly Company.
It is unknown whether Northcote would have published more tales of the supernatural had he lived. Or was the publication of In Ghostly Company just a one off, a lark? In either case, it remains a profoundly regrettable mystery.
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The thirteen tales in this collection are listed below. Other blogs/sites provide excellent summaries of the individual stories. I shall not duplicate such here.
- "Brickett Bottom"
- "Mr. Kershaw and Mr. Wilcox"
- "In the Woods"
- "The Late Earl of D."
- "Mr. Mortimer's Diary"
- "The House in the Wood"
- "The Steps"
- "The Young Lady in Black"
- "The Downs"
- "The Late Mrs Fowke"
- "The Picture"
- "The Governess's Story"
- "Mr. Oliver Carmichael"
Northcote did not limit himself to the "unquiet dead" (i.e. ghosts) when writing his supernatural stories. For example, "In the Woods" described no simple ghost. Nature itself made up the supernatural force in this tale, reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood's The Willows or Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan. Similarly, in "Mr. Oliver Carmichael," there is no ghost at all in this tale. Rather, it is the mystical power of metaphysics that make up the supernatural element here, tormenting the protagonist.
Other reviewers have mentioned that Northcote's writings remind them of M.R. James. Northcote's style as well as aspects of his tales are reminiscent of M. R. James, however, I do not think that this is due to any conscious or deliberate imitation. Instead, I believe In Ghostly Company followed in the long tradition of English ghost stories just as James did.
In addition to this, M. R. James' characters tended to be academic and of high social status, very much like himself. Mrs. J. H. Riddell's characters were solidly middle class or aspiring to be. Their concerns revolved around debt, inheritance and such matter. Again, much like Riddell herself. But with Northcote, despite the fact that he was the son of an Earl, that he became a Justice of the Peace in later years, that he was a very wealthy man in his own right; the characters he wrote about, whether as protagonist or as support, in many cases involved members of the working class.
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Not as well-known as M. R. James or Bram Stoker or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I am convinced that Amyas Northcote deserves a respected place on the roll of English authors of ghost tales from the early twentieth century.
References
Print Resources
Davies, David Stuart. "Introduction." in In Ghostly Company. Wordsworth Editions: Hertfordshire, 2010.
Digital Resources
Northcote, Amyas. In Ghostly Company (Black Heath Gothic, Sensation and Supernatural). Black Heath Editions. 2014. Kindle Edition.
Online Resources
Cowan, Matt. "In Ghostly Company by Amyas Northcote." Horrordelve.com. 18 September 2013. Accessed 26 September 2017.
https://horrordelve.com/2013/09/18/in-ghostly-company-by-amyas-northcote/
Eton College. The Eton Register Part IV. 1871-1880. Spottiswoode & Co., Ltd.: Eton. 1907. Pages 125 & 147. Accessed 16 October 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=_zbwy9pYTCUC&pg=PA120&dq=the+eton+register+1875&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBo5P5rvrWAhXowlQKHaZpCYkQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=the%20eton%20register%201875&f=false
Evans, Dewi. "In Ghostly Company (1921) by Amyas Northcote." Mystery and Imagination. 06 September 2013. Accessed 26 September 2017.
https://gothictexts.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/in-ghostly-company-1921-by-amyas-northcote/
Foster, John, editor. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886. Joseph Foster: London. 1888. Page 1029. Accessed 17 October 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=PwQVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1028-IA1&lpg=PA1028-IA1&dq=amyas+northcote+eton&source=bl&ots=KEEU5Z5qyM&sig=GJJiryap4Ba8kAJYpm_BbX0Tl_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3w67Y3_fWAhXrllQKHZjbDQU4ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=amyas%20northcote%20eton&f=false
MacColl, Gail & Wallace, Carole. To Marry an English Lord: Victorian and Edwardian Experience. Workman Publishing. 1989. Page 329. Accessed 04 October 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=4gQgzlmk7Z4C&pg=PA329&lpg=PA329&dq=amyas+stafford+northcote&source=bl&ots=LiknMJ7AH-&sig=gjr-qq4zT9DD_HT2HoncmWlYGC8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZp9il1tfWAhVP5mMKHTPCBA04ChDoAQgyMAM#v=onepage&q=amyas%20stafford%20northcote&f=false
Northcote, Amyas. "The Utter Corruption in American Politics." The Nineteenth Century, volume 35. April 1894, page 692-700. Accessed 04 October 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=KrICAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA696&dq=the+utter+corruption+in+american+politics+nineteenth+century&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWn_GF6NzWAhUow1QKHUt-CUAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20utter%20corruption%20in%20american%20politics%20nineteenth%20century&f=false
Terry, Mark. "In Ghostly Company." Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC. Accessed 27 September 2017.
https://www.dustjackets.com/pages/books/32734/amyas-northcote/in-ghostly-company
Vagrarian. "In Ghostly Company by Amyas Northcote." Dust & Corruption. 30 July 2014. Accessed 28 September 2017.
http://dustandcorruption.blogspot.com/2014/07/in-ghostly-company-by-amyas-northcote.html
Withers, John J., editor. A Register of Admissions to King's College Cambridge, 1850-1900. Smith, Elder & Co.: London. 1908. Accessed 17 October 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=9h_OAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=register+of+admissions+king's+college+cambridge&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ-JiBsfrWAhXogFQKHU2nBysQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=register%20of%20admissions%20king's%20college%20cambridge&f=false
[i] Eton College. The Eton Register Part IV. 1871-1880. Spottiswoode & Co., Ltd.: Eton. 1907. Pages 125 & 147. Accessed 16 October 2017.
[ii] Withers, John J., editor. A Register of Admissions to King's College Cambridge, 1850-1900. Smith, Elder & Co.: London. 1908. Accessed 17 October 2017.
[iii] Foster, John, editor. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886. Joseph Foster: London. 1888. Page 1029. Accessed 17 October 2017.
[iv] It is unclear whether Northcote completed his studies at Oxford or left Oxford prior to graduating.
[v] MacColl, Gail & Wallace, Carole. To Marry an English Lord: Victorian and Edwardian Experience. Workman Publishing. 1989. Page 329.
[vi] A simple Google search uncovered several examples of Northcote's political writings. For example, "The Utter Corruption in American Politics." The Nineteenth Century, volume 35. April 1894, page 692-700.
