Existence Gallery

HMS Forward - Forward-class Scout Cruiser

Royal Navy - HMS Forward, a Forward-class Scout Cruiser. Forward was built by Fairfield???s S.B. & E. at Govan, in 1904. The ship was in reserve for most of the first decade of her existence. After the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, she was assigned to coastal defence duties on the East Coast of England. Forward was present when the Germans bombarded Hartlepool, in mid-December 1914, but played no significant role in the battle. The ship was sent to the Mediterranean in mid-1915 and was then assigned to the Aegean Sea a year later, together with her sister ship, Foresight, and remained there until the end of the war. After returning home in 1919, she was sold for scrap in 1921

© The Peter Butt Transportation Collection / Mary Evans A The Peter Butt Transportation Collection / Mary Evans

Prince Leopold

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-1884), Queen Victoria's fourth son and eighth child shown reading. The most academic of the Queen's sons, Leopold led a closeted existence due to his haemophilia. In 1872, he became a student at Oxford, much against his mother's wishes, but where he mixed with some of the finest minds in the country. Leopold took on an increasingly active role in public life, supporting a wide range of social, medical and artistic causes and enjoyed a happy marriage to Priness Helena of Waldeck with whom he had two children. Leopold died in 1884 following a fall while recuperating in CAnnes

© Charlotte Zeepvat/ILN/Mary Evans Picture Library

Morey Bernstein, businessman, hypnotist and writer

Morey Bernstein (1919-1999), Colorado businessman, amateur hypnotist, and author of the book, The Search for Bridey Murphy. In 1952 Bernstein hypnotised Virginia Tighe, a Colorado housewife, who regressed into a former existence as a 19th century Irishwoman named Bridey Murphy. In 1956 he published a book on the subject, giving Tighe the pseudonym of Ruth Simmons. The book was a bestseller and caused a sensation, though the so-called reincarnation was later discredited

© Mary Evans Picture Library