Charles Carleton Massey (1838–1905), most well known as C. C. Massey, was a British barrister, Christian mystic and psychical researcher.Brock, William Hodson. (2008). William Crookes (18321919) and the Commercialization of Science. Ashgate Publishing. p. 208.
Massey was born at Hackwood Park, Basingstoke. He was the first president of the British Theosophical Society and a founding member of the Society for Psychical Research in 1882.Luckhurst, Roger. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy, 1870–1901. Oxford University Press. p. 51. Pert, Alan. (2007). Red Cactus: The Life of Anna Kingsford. Books & Writers. pp. 90-91. His father was William Nathaniel Massey. His main interest was Christian Theosophy; he was influenced by the writings of Jakob Böhme.Versluis, Arthur. (2007). Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 120.
Massey, a convinced spiritualist, was associated with the medium Stainton Moses. He was also a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists and The Ghost Club.Lavoie, Jeffrey D. (2012). The Theosophical Society: The History of a Spiritualist Movement. Brown Walker Press. pp. 73-74. Lavoie, Jeffrey D. (2014). Search for Meaning in Victorian Religion: The Spiritual Journey and Esoteric Teachings of Charles Carleton Massey. Lehigh University Press. pp. 135-136.
Massey had defended the medium Henry Slade against the accusations of fraud from Ray Lankester.Slotten, Ross A. (2004). The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace. Columbia University Press. p. 342. In 1880 he translated Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner's Transcendental Physics into English.Fichman, Martin. (2004). An Elusive Victorian: The Evolution of Alfred Russel Wallace. University of Chicago Press. p. 186.
Publications C. C. Massey. (1909). Thoughts of a Modern Mystic. A Selection from the Writings of the Late C. C. Massey, ed. William F. Barrett (London: Regan Paul, Trench & Co).
References
Further reading Jeffrey D. Lavoie. (2014). Search for Meaning in Victorian Religion: The Spiritual Journey and Esoteric Teachings of Charles Carleton Massey. Lehigh University Press.