Vernon Harrison
Encyclopedia
Dr. Vernon George Wentworth Harrison, PhD. (b. Warwickshire
, 1912) (d. 2001) is a former president of the Royal Photographic Society
, and a professional "research worker of disputed documents".
, Warwickshire
, England
in March 1912, to a schoolteacher father. Harrison was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
, before reading Physics
, Chemistry
and Mathematics
at the University of Birmingham
. Subsequently, he undertook three years of postgraduate research in the Physics Department, studying in particular "the use of photography and photomicrography as recording media."
Obtaining his Ph.D., Harison was briefly employed in the London laboratories of the Printing & Allied Trades Research Association (PATRA) as a research physicist, shortly before war
broke out, and he took on a role at the Ministry of Supply
. PATRA's records and equipment was destroyed in air raids
on London, and new labs south of London in Leatherfield only opened in 1947, at which point Harrison began work "on the optical properties of paper, color printing, and the quality of halftone reproduction". In 1957, he was promoted to the position of Director of Research, finding himself responsible for staff by then numbering around 120.
(printer of banknote
s, postage stamp
s, stock certificate
s, passport
s, etc.) as Research Manager in their Maidenhead
research centre. Part of his - and the centre's - role was "to study the methods of counterfeiters and forgers and to devise methods of improving the security of the Company's products". Developing an interest in forgeries
of all kinds, upon his retirement in 1977, Harrison set himself up in a private, independent capacity to examine suspect and questionable documents for all sides of the legal system - defense and prosecution - swiftly becoming "used to giving evidence in Court and submitting to cross-examination".
He has in this role, examined a wide range of subjects and mediums:
Fortean
Harrison has been a member of the Society for Psychical Research
(SPR), and was co-founder - with Hilary Evans, Jenny Randles
, Fortean Times
-founder/editor Bob Rickard
and Dr Hugh Pincott (former secretary and treasurer of SPR) - of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
(ASSAP).
In the wake of purported photographs of the Loch Ness Monster
taken by Anthony 'Doc' Shiels in 1977, Harrison was contacted by Tim Dinsdale
for expert advice on their authenticity. Harrison writes in his letter, dated 3 December 1977, and published in Fortean Times #29 (Summer 1979), that he found:
He goes on to all-but-rule-out the object (allegedly "Nessie") as being a branch, but concludes however that "[i]t is not possible to say from a single still transparency exactly what the photograph represents."
In 1984, Harrison became interested in the early SPR 'Hodgson Report
' in which Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was stigmatised as one of the most gifted, ingenious and interesting 'impostor
s' in history. Harrison studied the various documents concerned, for an initial report - "J'Accuse: An Examination of the Hodgson Report of 1885" - published on May 8, 1986 by the SPR (and revised after more research by Harrison in 1997). Harrison ultimately concluded that the Hodgson Report was not scientifically undertaken, but was "flawed and untrustworthy," and "should be read with great caution, if not disregarded."
of Great Britain
, and among his other interests counts the music of Franz Liszt
. He is the surviving co-founder, and a past Chairman, of the (English) Liszt Society.
Harrison describes himself as "reading the equations of Schrodinger
and Dirac
through the eyes of Francis Thompson
."
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, 1912) (d. 2001) is a former president of the Royal Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
, and a professional "research worker of disputed documents".
Biography
Dr. VGW Harrison was born in Sutton ColdfieldSutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in March 1912, to a schoolteacher father. Harrison was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is a selective state grammar school in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. Founded in 1527, it is one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. The school was a day and boarding school until the 1880s, and retained a small number of boarders in the mid-20th century...
, before reading Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
. Subsequently, he undertook three years of postgraduate research in the Physics Department, studying in particular "the use of photography and photomicrography as recording media."
Obtaining his Ph.D., Harison was briefly employed in the London laboratories of the Printing & Allied Trades Research Association (PATRA) as a research physicist, shortly before war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, and he took on a role at the Ministry of Supply
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...
. PATRA's records and equipment was destroyed in air raids
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
on London, and new labs south of London in Leatherfield only opened in 1947, at which point Harrison began work "on the optical properties of paper, color printing, and the quality of halftone reproduction". In 1957, he was promoted to the position of Director of Research, finding himself responsible for staff by then numbering around 120.
Forgeries and authenticity
In 1967, he joined Thos. De La Rue & Co.De La Rue
De La Rue plc is a British security printing, papermaking and cash handling systems company headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It also has a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, and other facilities at Loughton, Essex and Bathford, Somerset...
(printer of banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
s, postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s, stock certificate
Stock certificate
In corporate law, a stock certificate is a legal document that certifies ownership of a specific number of stock shares in a corporation...
s, passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
s, etc.) as Research Manager in their Maidenhead
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
research centre. Part of his - and the centre's - role was "to study the methods of counterfeiters and forgers and to devise methods of improving the security of the Company's products". Developing an interest in forgeries
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
of all kinds, upon his retirement in 1977, Harrison set himself up in a private, independent capacity to examine suspect and questionable documents for all sides of the legal system - defense and prosecution - swiftly becoming "used to giving evidence in Court and submitting to cross-examination".
He has in this role, examined a wide range of subjects and mediums:
- "from disputed Elizabethan documents to graffiti on walls, dubious wills, forged mortgage agreements and financial documents in profusion, anonymous and poison-pen letters, threatening notes, a spy case, examination of counterfeit currency and illicit printing plates, identification of banknote paper recovered from drains, and the evidential value of photographs."
ForteanForteanFortean refers to:*Charles Fort's ideas and philosophy and the people and things inspired by it*Fortean Society, formed by New York's literati led by Theodore Dreiser, Booth Tarkington, Ben Hecht...
and PsychicPsychicA psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
al interests
Harrison has been a member of the Society for Psychical ResearchSociety for Psychical Research
The Society for Psychical Research is a non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand "events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal by promoting and supporting important research in this area" and to "examine allegedly paranormal phenomena...
(SPR), and was co-founder - with Hilary Evans, Jenny Randles
Jenny Randles
Jenny Randles is a British author and former director of investigations with the British UFO Research Association , serving in that role from 1982 through to 1994.-Career:Randles specializes in writing books on UFOs and paranormal phenomena...
, Fortean Times
Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
-founder/editor Bob Rickard
Bob Rickard
Robert "Bob" J M Rickard is the founder and editor of the UK magazine Fortean Times: The Journal of Strange Phenomena, which debuted in 1973 under its original title The News. The magazines express purpose is to continue the documentary work of Charles Fort on the strange, anomalous and unexplained...
and Dr Hugh Pincott (former secretary and treasurer of SPR) - of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena is a United Kingdom-based education and research charity, and professional body whose mission is to scientifically investigate alleged paranormal and anomalous phenomena....
(ASSAP).
In the wake of purported photographs of the Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next....
taken by Anthony 'Doc' Shiels in 1977, Harrison was contacted by Tim Dinsdale
Tim Dinsdale
Timothy Dinsdale, ARAeS was famous as a seeker of the Loch Ness Monster. He attended King’s School, Worcester, served in the Royal Air Force and worked as an aeronautical engineer. He was survived by his wife, Wendy Dinsdale and four children.Tim believed Nessie was real, and he was eager to...
for expert advice on their authenticity. Harrison writes in his letter, dated 3 December 1977, and published in Fortean Times #29 (Summer 1979), that he found:
- "the transparency to be quite normal and [that] there is no evidence of double exposure, superimposition of images or handwork with bleach or dye."
He goes on to all-but-rule-out the object (allegedly "Nessie") as being a branch, but concludes however that "[i]t is not possible to say from a single still transparency exactly what the photograph represents."
In 1984, Harrison became interested in the early SPR 'Hodgson Report
Hodgson Report
The Hodgson Report was a report by the Society for Psychical Research on Madam Blavatsky and the Mahatma Letters.-History:Richard Hodgson, a member of the SPR and a research worker of paranormal phenomena, was sent to India. Hodgson's task was to examine if the mode of appearance attributed to the...
' in which Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was stigmatised as one of the most gifted, ingenious and interesting 'impostor
Impostor
An impostor or imposter is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but just as often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement....
s' in history. Harrison studied the various documents concerned, for an initial report - "J'Accuse: An Examination of the Hodgson Report of 1885" - published on May 8, 1986 by the SPR (and revised after more research by Harrison in 1997). Harrison ultimately concluded that the Hodgson Report was not scientifically undertaken, but was "flawed and untrustworthy," and "should be read with great caution, if not disregarded."
Other interests
A lifelong photography enthusiast, he was, between 1974 and 1976, President of the Royal Photographic SocietyRoyal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and among his other interests counts the music of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
. He is the surviving co-founder, and a past Chairman, of the (English) Liszt Society.
Harrison describes himself as "reading the equations of Schrodinger
Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933...
and Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
through the eyes of Francis Thompson
Francis Thompson
Francis Thompson was an English poet and ascetic. After attending college, he moved to London to become a writer, but in menial work, became addicted to opium, and was a street vagrant for years. A married couple read his poetry and rescued him, publishing his first book, Poems in 1893...
."
Partial bibliography
- Theory of the Half-tone Screen (The Photographic Journal)
- The signatures on the walls of Queens house in Linton Cambs (SPR proceedings, Oct 1994)
- HP Blavatsky and the SPR (1997)http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/hpb-spr/hpbspr-h.htm
- "Harry PriceHarry PriceHarry Price was a British psychic researcher and author.-Early life:Although Price claimed his birth was in Shropshire, he was actually born in London in Red Lion Square on the site of the South Place Ethical Society's Conway Hall. He was educated in New Cross, first at Waller Road Infants School...
and the Rudi SchneiderRudi SchneiderRudi Schneider , son of Josef Schneider and brother of Willi Schneider, was an Austrian spiritualist and physical medium. His career was covered extensively by the journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, and he took part in a number of notable experiments conducted by paranormal...
Phenomena" in Psychical Studies - the Journal of the Unitarian Society for Psychical Studies, No. 38, Winter 1987