John Nevil Maskelyne

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John Nevil Maskelyne (1839 - 1917) was a British stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet as well as many other important Victorian inventions. In the 19th century, Maskelyne invented a lock for London toilets which required a penny to operate, hence the euphemism "spend a penny". ^[1] He was born in Cheltenham on 22 December 1839 and died in 1917 and was a descendant of Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal.^[2]

Maskelyne first became interested in conjuring after watching a performance of the fradulent spiritualists, the Davenport Brothers. He saw how their spirit cabinet worked and stated in the theatre that he could recreate their act using no supernatural methods. With the help of friend and cabinet maker George Alfred Cooke, he built a spirit cabinet. Together, they exposed the Davenport Brothers to the public.

The two men decided to become professional magicians. They invented many tricks still used today. Maskelyne was a superb inventor who created many of the most important illusions in the magic world, one of his best known being the levitation. This illusion is commonly, incorrectly, said to be Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin's illusion, but he actually invented the suspension illusion. It is also credited to American magician Harry Kellar, who in fact stole the illusion by bribing Maskelyne's technician, Paul Valadon.

Upon Cooke's death in February 1905, Maskelyne started his partnership with David Devant.

Maskelyne was a member of The Magic Circle and, like Harry Houdini, tried to dispel the notion of supernatural powers. To this end, in 1914, Maskelyne founded the Occult Committee whose remit was to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud". In particular, the committee attempted to prove that the Indian Rope Trick has never been performed.^[1]

Maskelyne was the father of Nevil Maskelyne, and the grandfather of Jasper Maskelyne, both noted magicians.

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