Dorothy Clutterbuck

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Dorothy Clutterbuck (January 19, 1880–January 12, 1951), also known as "Old Dorothy," was a well-to-do woman who lived near Christchurch, England, whom Gerald Gardner claimed had initiated him into witchcraft.

Clutterbuck was born in India, the daughter of an army captain. After his retirement, she appears to have moved back to England with her father and lived with him in the Christchurch area of the New Forest. After his death she continued to live in the same house alone, but at the age of 55 she married Rupert Fordham, local Justice of the Peace who was of high rank in the Salvation Army. Fordham died in May 1939 in a car accident. To all outward appearance Mrs Fordham was respectable, conservative member of the local community, and a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party and the Church of England, leaving a large amount of money to the local vicar in her will. She died leaving an estate of £60,000, a very large sum for the time. The one scandal attached to her was an allegation that Fordham had a wife still living, who was mad, so the two were not legally married. Clutterbuck had certainly reverted to her maiden name by her death.

After her death in 1951 she was identified by Gardner as his initiator into witchcraft in September 1939, and thus as one of the founders of "Wicca". He claimed she was head of a New Forest coven until her death. Some, such as historian Jeffrey Russell, opined that she was invented by Gardner to support his claim that such people still existed and to link his work with established ancient beliefs. In rebuttal, Doreen Valiente, a friend of Gardner, published a basic ouline of her life, reporting in Witchcraft for Tomorrow in 1982 to have found Clutterbuck's birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate.

Both Ronald Hutton (1999) and most recently Dr Leo Ruickbie (2004) have examined the historical data on Dorothy Clutterbuck, and concluded that she is unlikely to have been involved with Gardner's Craft activities, particularly because of her seemingly active Christianity. Hutton states the cross on the couple's grave "bears one of the longest and most impassioned affirmation of faith in salvation through Jesus Christ that I have ever read upon any funerary monument." Hutton also suggests that Gardner may have used Clutterbuck to distract attention from "Dafo", his first priestess, using the name of a local worthy for a joke would have matched his sense of humour. Hutton also points out that the date of Gardner's initiation would coincide with a mourning period in 1939 in which Clutterbuck had cancelled all other social occasions.

Philip Heselton (2000) also investigated Dorothy Clutterbuck, giving information on the community she lived in, and her involvement in the community including many indications that she was at the very least involved in or aware of alternative spiritual traditions such as theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and offshoots of freemasonry. Heselton also examines her poetry which incorporates a deep love of nature alongside frequent mentions of God, fairies, heaven, angels and saints, though there is no mention of Jesus, or of pagan deities.

Interest in alternative traditions was common at this time, since the growth of Theosophy in the late nineteenth century. Nationalist and romantic interest in English rural traditions was also common, as is evidenced by foundation of societies for the collection folk-songs and other aspects of threatened folk-culture. The conservative emphasis on Deep England lay behind many of these movements, which became associated with Margaret Murray's ideas about pre-Christian survivals in English rural culture. It is possible that Clutterbuck combined an interest in pagan and occult ideas with an aspiration to preserve local folk beliefs, believed to have survived from ancient pagan faiths. From this Gardner could have developed the myth of an unbroken witchcraft tradition dating back to the pre-Christian old religion. However, the extent to which Clutterbuck was involved in witchcraft – if at all – still remains unclear.

The endearment "Old" used by Gardner with reference to Dorothy Clutterbuck has been widely adopted, although this is viewed by some as precious and pretentious.

[edit] Bibliography

• Heselton, Philip, Wiccan Roots: Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival. Capal Bann, 2000.
• Hutton, Ronald, The Triumph of the Moon. 1999.
• Ruickbie, Leo, Witchcraft Out of the Shadows. Robert Hale, 2004. ISBN 0-7090-7567-7.
• Valiente, Doreen, Witchcraft for Tomorrow. 1982.