Talk:Alexander Cannon (psychiatrist)

Title of article

I debated with myself as to whether this should be called Alexander Cannon (psychiatrist) or Alexander Cannon (occultist). The former won out on the basis that it's probably how he thought of himself, and is a more neutral term - but I'm happy to discuss it here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:01, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Looks OK to me. – ukexpat (talk) 22:54, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Year of birth

Two published references that pre-date the publication of this article in 2008 - this and this - state his birth year as 1896, as do other references which may have got their information from this article. However, I received an email from the person who I assume to be IP 109.153.37.127, as follows (personal details redacted):

I am impressed with the contributions you have made but you are wrong about Dr Cannon's age as are the references. Over a period of 6 years I spent a total of 18 weeks at his home. I obtained a birth certificate which confirmed his date of birth to be 3rd August 1869 and in any case I had a copy of a photo of Alexander Cannon with Lord Moynihan who was born in 1865 and they looked roughly the same age. Unfortunatelly errors tend to get copied and the truth gets forgotten. Much nonsense has been written about him. I found him to be a most wonderful Doctor, in a class of his own, and I worked in hospitals for 20 years. Incidentally he studied science and law and then finally medicine, qualifying at about age 55!

I can't verify this information, and I've asked the source to provide more information. I've also reminded them that we rely here on reliable, published information, not on what someone believes to be true, and have asked them to contribute on this page. Having said that, I've no reason to believe that this is a hoax. Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:17, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Interesting! Could an official birth record be used as a reliable source? CorinneSD (talk) 18:16, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Technically probably not, but if anyone can find one it might resolve the problem. I've looked and failed. Ghmyrtle (talk) 18:24, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Of course, it's perfectly possible that this may have simply arisen from someone's typo at some point - 1896 for 1869 - and it's been perpetuated ever since. Ghmyrtle (talk) 19:03, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree. If he was born in 1869, he would have completed his university studies – at least his first degree – by about 1890. You would think there would be university records that would show his attendance and his completion of a degree program, and then, from that time onward, some evidence of his employment and possibly his publications. If he was born in 1896, he would have completed his first university degree about 1917, if not delayed by WWI, followed by employment and publications. If there is any evidence of employment, publications, or membership in an organization between 1890 and 1917, that might point to the earlier birth date being correct. If there is no evidence, that would point to the later birth date being correct. I find it difficult to believe that twenty-seven years in the life of such an erudite man (1869 to 1896) could be a mystery. CorinneSD (talk) 00:32, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

There are also photos like the one here. The problem is that we don't know when it was taken! Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:14, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

I saw the photo and then read that article under the picture of Dr. Cannon that you provided in a link. Then I did some searching on the internet for any information about Dr. Alexander Cannon. Several times I saw his dates as "1896-1963", but those dates could have been obtained from the WP article. Then I noticed in the Google search results for that same site (it opens to that same photo and article), "Lies about W W II", the last item in the list of items in the search result says, "March 18, 2011, is the 150th anniversary of his birth"! However, I did not see that in the article itself; perhaps it is in one of the items in small print below the article. CorinneSD (talk) 16:51, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

I can't get that search result - but the most notable person born that day was probably Lucien Descaves. Perhaps more interesting (sorry!) is this summary of a book partly about Cannon, which says he "felt it necessary to add 27 years to his true age to fulfil his assumed role of ‘The Kushog Yogi of Northern Tibet’." And, the question arose in writing about Cannon, "Do you think he really was a bit psychotic or just having a wonderful time lying?". Maybe he's still hoaxing us from beyond the grave?! It would be interesting to see that book, but the only copy on Amazon is out of my price range! Ghmyrtle (talk) 17:38, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

As a historian and professional archivist, I am inclined to accept the evidence of the individual who knew Cannon and obtained his birth certificate. Published sources are riddled with errors! Definitely a birth certificate is a reliable source - the only issue is that without confirmation of the death registration to determine age at death, one cannot be sure that it is the correct birth certificate. That said, I was able to find the 1869 registration in the free online FreeBMD indexes (Alexander Cannon is surprisingly NOT a common name), so that document could be ordered again if it's really not possible to re-establish contact with the individual who stayed with Cannon over a period of years. How long ago was that contact? Would you be willing to share the individual's contact information offline? I suspect there could be many other things of interest that that individual might contribute? We could also obtain the death certificate through the GRO in London - provided that the March 1963 death date is approximately accurate. If you wish to resolve this issue, my email is: wmze@islandnet.com I'd be happy to split the cost of obtaining the birth and death registrations, though I'd prefer first to attempt engaging one last time the individual who knew Cannon. Walter Meyer zu Erpen (talk) 17:07, 22 November 2014 (UTC)