Timeline of Henry Thomas Hamblin’s Life

  • 9.3.1873 Henry Thomas Hamblin born at Walworth, London.

  • 1873 Moved to Brockley, South East London.

  • 1879 Started school.

  • 1888 Leaves school.

  • 1889 Attended Technical Institute.

  • 1891 Obtained employment as an improver.

  • 1891-1895 Lived away from home doing various manual jobs.

  • 1896 Had a mystical experience, which he thought of as Divine Presence.

  • 1898 After teaching himself opthalmics at night, qualified as an optician and set up first business.

  • 1899 Contracted typhoid fever.

  • 27.3.1902 Married Eva Elizabeth Harvey. Moved to East Anglia and then back to London. First son Herbert Wilson Hamblin born.

  • 1904 First came across publications described as "New Thought". Acquired several businesses all working with insufficient capital and relying on credit and good will. Second son, Dickie, born. Moved to Sussex-Hampshire border for a short time then back to London.

  • May 1909 Mother died.

  • Sep 1909 Leased shop in the West End where he became a an extremely successful businessman. The business was called Theodore Hamblin.

  • 1910 Had another mystical experience of the "oneness" of everything.

  • 1910 Third child, Joan, born.

  • 1912 Buys his first car and learns to drive.

  • 1912-13 Experienced feelings of nervous breakdown and nightmares. He was in constant conflict between being a man of business versus being a country lover and mystic. Business threatening to overtake him.

  • 1913-14 Retires from day-to-day business, acts as chairman of his three limited companies attending periodic meetings.

  • May 1914 Moves to Bosham on the West Sussex coast and takes a 14-year lease on a country house. Joined volunteer training corps at Portsmouth and became a trained instructor.

  • 1916 Applied to join the Army - initially rejected but re-applied at a later date and accepted for Mechanical Transport.

  • Feb. 1918 Discharged from the Army. Received commission in the Royal Flying Corps.

  • 27.3.1918 Second son, Richard Harvey Hamblin, dies on 16th Wedding Anniversary, aged 10 years. Discharged from RAF because of ill health.

  • 1919 Became vegetarian and severed connections with business completely. Began to write chapters which would eventually become "Message of a Flower".

  • April 1920 Purchased an army hut, which was erected in the grounds of Bosham House and served as an office. Over the years, extensions were added. HTH wrote his first three books: Within you is the Power, The Power of Thought and compilation of articles which became Message of a Flower.

  • Summer 1920 Under the umbrella of The Science of Thought Institute HTH wrote a Course of Lessons on matters spiritual. These were advertised and there was a massive response. Eventually, he burned all these lessons on a bonfire in the grounds as being "not spiritual enough". HTH wrote a new series of Courses of some 27 lessons, now available as The Way of the Practical Mystic.

  • Oct 1921 Science of Thought Review magazine first published. After HTH's death this became "The Review", then "New Vision", now “Hamblin Vision.”

  • 1926 Purchased 4.5 acres of meadow next to his property.

  • General Strike. HTH provided casual visitors with new boots, clothing and money.

  • 1927 Completed the building of the offices in the grounds of what is now Bosham House.

  • Feb 1928 HTH starts to build Bosham House and moved in. Father died.

  • 1939 World War II breaks out. HTH felt that the continuation of his spiritual work was imperative to counteract the forces of darkness in the world. HTH and his wife became fire watchers and air raid wardens at Bosham House. Many bombs were dropped close by but the house was spared.

  • 1951 Almost as many men on the road as before the war. These included ex-convicts and confidence tricksters. HTH provided simple meals and money for the road.

  • 28.10.58 HT Hamblin dies at Chichester hospital, aged 85.