Open Questions

How did Frank Podmore come to be in the pond near Malvern where he drowned in August 1910, and was his death an accident, a suicide, or something else?

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "How did Frank Podmore come to be in the pond near Malvern where he drowned in August 1910, and was his death an accident, a suicide, or something else?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/how-did-frank-podmore-come-to-be-in-the-pond-near-malvern-where-he-drowned-in-august-1910-and-was-his-death-an-accident-a-suicide-or-something-else.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). How did Frank Podmore come to be in the pond near Malvern where he drowned in August 1910, and was his death an accident, a suicide, or something else?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/how-did-frank-podmore-come-to-be-in-the-pond-near-malvern-where-he-drowned-in-august-1910-and-was-his-death-an-accident-a-suicide-or-something-else

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-how-did-frank-podmore-come-to-be-in-the,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {How did Frank Podmore come to be in the pond near Malvern where he drowned in August 1910, and was his death an accident, a suicide, or something else?},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/how-did-frank-podmore-come-to-be-in-the-pond-near-malvern-where-he-drowned-in-august-1910-and-was-his-death-an-accident-a-suicide-or-something-else},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Open Question

The 1910 inquest could not establish how Podmore entered the water and returned no verdict of intent. Suggestions of suicide, tied to the risk of a scandal over his private life, have circulated since among historians of the Society for Psychical Research but have never been substantiated, and no further inquiry has been undertaken.

What would resolve this A search of the original coroner's inquest papers and the Malvern and Worcestershire newspaper coverage of August 1910, which may hold testimony not yet examined by SPR historians.

OpenArchival research, history of scienceAlan Gauld, The Founders of Psychical Research

Cross-Tradition Connections