Mabel Barltrop

Mabel Barltrop ( Andrews; 11 January 1866 – 16 October 1934), later known as Octavia Barltrop, was the British founder of the Panacea Society. She founded a community in Bedford, and declared herself to be "God the daughter".

Life Barltrop was born in Peckham, London, to Augustus and Katherine Andrews ( Buxton). One of her godparents was the poet Coventry Patmore, who married her father's sister Emily. In 1875 her father died; Barltrop and her invalid mother moved to Croydon to live with Mabel's widowed aunt, Fanny Waldron. Her mother was high church, her aunt was low church and her father's father had been a Congregational minister. She was inspired by the teachings of the Devonshire prophetess, who had died aged 64 claiming to be pregnant with a messiah. Seymour arranged for the publication of Southcott's works and a magazine, but it was Barltrop who was to lead the larger Southcottian group. Seymour objected to Barltrop, but they never fell out as Seymour wanted to be present when Barltrop's group organised a reopening of Southcott's box. One of Seymour's followers, Ellen Oliver, joined Barltrop's emerging group.

The daughter of God

Barltrop and twelve apostles founded the Society which they called the Community of the Holy Ghost. It was founded in 1919 at 12 Albany Road, Bedford, and it was believed to be the site of the Garden of Eden. took the name "Octavia" and believed herself to be the Shiloh mentioned in Southcott's prophecies. When published as "The Writings of the Holy Ghost" these messages ran to sixteen volumes. 1932 "Crime and Banditry, Distress and Perplexity will increase in England until the Bishops Open Joanna Southcott's Box". A poster placed in Piccadilly Circus by the Panacea Society in June and July 1932 The Society campaigned to persuade 24 Anglican bishops to open a sealed box of prophecies that had been left with instructions by Joanna Southcott. Advertisements were placed in newspapers and in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Society generated over 100,000 petitions for the box to be opened.

In 1921 Emily Goodwin joined Barltrop's household to look after her aged aunt Fanny. Emily also joined the Panacea community. In 1923 it was discovered that one of the community's members was leading a group of gay males and that he was trying to join the community's leadership. They ejected Edgar Peissart from the community and he returned to America, where Emily Goodwin predicted he would die. When they heard that he had died the same year, Emily's position was elevated and she declared herself "The Divine Mother".

Legacy After her death, the movement continued to thrive. The last member of the Panacea community died in 2012. In 2019 the resulting charity was worth £34m. The local museum had a gallery for famous people from Bedford and the women included suffragist Amy Walmsley, Barltrop and deaconess Fanny Eagles.