The Stoneground Ghost Tales

Edmund Gill Swain was born in Stockport, England on the 19th February 1861.

Swain graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and from 1892 to 1905, he served as the chaplain of King's College, Cambridge. There, he became a close colleague and friend of the legendary ghost story master M R James. Swain became one of the select inner circle that gathered in James’s rooms each Christmas Eve to hear James read his newest supernatural tales aloud.

Inspired by these gatherings, Swain penned his own collection, ‘The Stoneground Ghost Tales’, in 1912, which he also dedicated to James. These short stories were set in a fictionalized version of Stanground, Peterborough, where Swain served as vicar from 1905 to 1916. In his stories ghosts were generally amiable and historical entities encountered by the mild-mannered, semi-autobiographical protagonist, the Reverend Roland Batchel.

Swain later served at Peterborough Cathedral as canon and librarian.

E G Swain died in Peterborough on the 29th January 1938.