Wilfred Talbot Smith

Early life

Smith was born as Frank Wenham in Tonbridge, Kent, on 9 June 1885. He was the illegitimate son of Oswald Cox, a member of a prominent local family, and Minnie Wenham, a domestic servant whom he never came to know. Considered an embarrassment by the Cox family, he was sent to live with relatives at an early age, and at age four was sent to a boarding school where he was physically abused by staff before being removed by his paternal grandmother, who took him to Switzerland for a year.

From 1899 to 1901 he studied at Bedales School, where he developed his lifelong hobby of book binding, before becoming an apprentice to a cabinet maker in Kendal until 1906. With few ties in Britain, he emigrated to Canada in 1907, arriving in Nova Scotia and gaining work on a farm in Saskatchewan. From 1909 to 1911 he worked at a confectioner's warehouse, then for nine months at a logging camp, before becoming an accounting clerk at the British Columbia Electric Railway in April 1912.

He had come to loathe Christianity and Victorian moral systems, and began reading about Eastern religion, yoga, and Western esotericism. At work he met Charles Stansfeld Jones, a Thelemite who lent him copies of Aleister Crowley's Book 4 and volume one, number one of The Equinox. Smith paid to join Crowley's A∴A∴ and began performing practices including yoga and keeping a diary of his magical endeavours. He entered a relationship with Emily Sophia "Nem" Talbot Smith, a woman twenty years his senior, though it remains unclear whether they ever married.

With Nem and her daughter Katherine, Smith moved into a specially-constructed house designed by Thelemite architect Howard E. White at 138 East 13th Street, North Vancouver, converting its attic into a temple for Thelemic rituals.

Later life

In January 1915 Smith signed up to the Mysteria Magica Maxima, the British branch of O.T.O. run by Crowley, and in April went through the Minerval degree initiation at the British Columbia Lodge No. 1. In May he took part in the Lodge's public performance of a 'Rite of Isis' composed by C.S. Jones and H.E. White. In October 1915 Crowley visited the Lodge and met with Smith. Smith was upgraded to Master Magician within the Lodge, and in March 1916 received the Probationer level in the A∴A∴, adopting the motto Nubem Eripiam.

His relationship with Nem was strained, and he began an affair with his step-daughter Katherine. In November 1916 the three tried to resign from the O.T.O. lodge but their resignations were rejected. Katherine became pregnant with Smith's child, born in December 1917 and named Noel Talbot-Smith. Jones proclaimed Noel represented "the Crowned and Conquering Child" prophesied in The Book of the Law.

Jones was named O.T.O. Viceroy for Canada and re-initiated the lodge at Smith's home, appointing Smith Right Worshipful Master. After Jones' relationship with Crowley broke down and Jones resigned from O.T.O., Smith was deeply disappointed. The British Columbia Lodge No. 1 became moribund after White died of Spanish flu in November 1918. Smith was fired from his job after a bout of flu in February 1920 and joined Jones in Detroit, working as a clerk with the Detroit City Gas Company.

In March 1921 Jones and Smith proceeded to Chicago, but Smith returned to North Vancouver in June. Jones convinced Smith to join the Universal Brotherhood, but Smith found it adhered to Roman Catholicism and considered its literature purposeless, vague, and grandiose, so he dropped out. Back in Vancouver, Smith aided Frank Page in founding British Columbia Lodge No. 3 in Kamloops, creating all the furniture for their temple, but it closed after a year.

Los Angeles: 1922–1935

Smith's own British Columbia Lodge No. 1 became defunct in February 1922. Unable to find work in Vancouver, Smith headed to Los Angeles in 1922. On the way he stopped in San Francisco and met Cecil Frederick Russell, who had founded the Choronzon Club, but Smith disliked Russell and claimed Russell expressed a sexual interest in children. After settling in Los Angeles, Smith gained a job at the Southern California Gas Company, entered a relationship with Ann Barry, and attended meetings of the United Lodge of Theosophists.

Jones appointed Smith Local Recorder for the Psychomagian Society in Los Angeles, but Smith was uninterested in its teachings. Crowley rejected the PMS and relations between Crowley and Jones broke down permanently. Smith agreed with Crowley over the PMS and rejected Jones' fascination with the UB; their relationship ended in 1926. Smith applied for US citizenship but was rejected because he claimed to be married but could not prove it with paperwork.