William Backhouse
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William Backhouse was an English philosopher, alchemist, astrologer, translator, and the esoteric mentor of Elias Ashmole.
Swallowfield Park, the Backhouse family estate and home of William Backhouse for all of his life.
Elias Ashmole, 1656, by William Faithorne. William Backhouse is best remembered today for his mentorship of Elias Ashmole from 1651 to 1662.
The Backhouse family monument in All Saints' parish church, Swallowfield. Erected by Flower Backhouse in 1670, to the memory of all the Backhouses who had resided in Swallowfield.
Elias Ashmole
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Elias Ashmole was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer, freemason and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, serving in the arti
William Backhouse
…William Backhouse (17 January 1593 – 30 May 1662) was an English philosopher, alchemist, astrologer, translator, and the esoteric mentor of Elias Ashmole. Born into the wealthy Backhouse family, Backhouse enjoyed an education at Oxford, and was likely exposed to alchemical teachings and the Rosicrucian…
Ashmole c. 1688
Ashmole's birthplace in Lichfield
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652), Ashmole's annotated compilation of alchemical poems in English