Eugene John Wieland "Bunco"

Born: 1880 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

Died:  5 October 1915 in Le Tréport, Normandy, France.

Eugene John Wieland was an artist and son of Thomas Thatcher and Eugenie Wieland of Sunnyfield House, Guisborough, Yorkshire. In 1908 he married Ethel Archer who nicknamed him “Bunco.”  They were passionate lovers, as anonymously documented in a popular article written by a neighbor who watched their unselfconscious behavior through the open window of their “shabby old garret,” which was furnished with little more than an easel, two chairs, and a mirror. Both Ethel and Eugene became heavily involved with both the O.T.O. and A∴A∴ at this time, and Aleister Crowley would encourage Eugene to set up the publishing imprint Wieland & Co., which over the next couple of years would bring out subsequent issues of The Equinox, and several of Crowley’s other works.

Both Archer and Wieland would eventually part with Crowley, and Wieland would go on to serve with the 19th Battalion in the Great War, reaching the rank of sergeant. He died in a Canadian hospital on 5 October 1915, as a result of injuries sustained at Loos, and is buried at Le Tréport Military Cemetery.