 Plaque on house in Colby Road, London SE19 where Annie Besant lived in 1874. Annie Wood Besant (Clapham, London October 1, 1847 – Adyar, India September 20, 1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator. Annie Besant - Project Gutenberg eText 13715 - http://www. ...
Annie Besant - Project Gutenberg eText 13715 - http://www. ...
Image File history File links Annie_Besant_plaque. ...
Image File history File links Annie_Besant_plaque. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (565x767, 77 KB) Summary The Music of Gounod - a Thought Form from Thought-Forms, by Annie Besant & C.W. Leadbeater. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (565x767, 77 KB) Summary The Music of Gounod - a Thought Form from Thought-Forms, by Annie Besant & C.W. Leadbeater. ...
Charles Gounod Charles François Gounod (June 17, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was a French composer, best known for his opera Faust. ...
C.W. Leadbeater (1847 or 1854-1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant. ...
Clapham is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London. ...
October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
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September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ...
1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ...
The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...
Orator is a Latin word for speaker (from the Latin verb oro, meaning I speak or I pray). In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. ...
Early life
Annie Wood was born in 1847 in London into a middle-class family of Irish origin. Annie was always proud of being Irish and supported the cause of Irish self-rule throughout her adult life.
Her father died when she was young and left the family almost penniless. Annie’s mother was forced to support the family by running a boarding house for boys at Harrow. She raised the money for a private tutor for Annie in this way. Harrow School, normally just known as Harrow, is a prestigious and internationally known independent school for boys, located on Harrow on the Hill in North West London. ...
Annie was educated privately by a female tutor as an Evangelical Christian. She was given a strong sense of duty to society and an equally strong sense of what independent women could achieve. Evangelicalism, in a strictly lexical, but rarely used sense, refers to all things that are implied in belief that Jesus is the savior. ...
As a young woman, Annie was also able to travel widely in Europe. There she acquired a taste for Catholic colour and ceremony that never left her.
She was married in 1867 in Hastings, Sussex, to 26-year-old clergyman Frank Besant, younger brother of Walter Besant. He was an Evangelical Anglican clergyman who seemed to share many of her concerns. For other uses, see Hastings (disambiguation). ...
Sir Walter Besant (1836 - 1901) was a novelist and historian from London. ...
Soon Frank became vicar of Sibsey in Lincolnshire. Annie moved to Sibsey with him, and within a few years they had two children: Digby and Mabel. Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the East Midlands of England. ...
The marriage was, however, a disaster. The first conflict came over money and Annie’s independence. Annie wrote short stories, books for children and articles. Frank took all the money she made: married women did not have the right to own property. Politics further divided the couple. Annie began to support farm workers who were fighting to unionise and to win better conditions. Frank was a Tory and sided with the landlords and farmers. The tension came to a head when Frank struck Annie. She left him and returned to London.
Annie began to question her own faith. She turned to leading churchmen for advice. She even went to see Dr Pusey, leader of the Catholic wing of the Church of England. He simply told her she had read too many books. Annie returned to Frank to make one last effort to repair the marriage. It proved useless. She finally left for London. Divorce was unthinkable for Frank, and was not really within the reach of even middle-class people. Annie was to remain Mrs Besant for the rest of her life. At first, she was able to keep contact with both children and to have Mabel live with her. She got a small allowance from Frank. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...
London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Her husband was given sole custody of their two children.
Reformer and Secularist She fought for the causes she thought were right, starting with freedom of thought, women's rights, secularism (she was a leading member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh), birth control, Fabian socialism and workers' rights. Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, regardless of anyone elses view. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities. ...
The National Secular Society is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes secularism. ...
Charles Bradlaugh (26 September 1833 _ 30 January 1891) was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. ...
Birth control is a regimen of one or more actions, devices, or medications followed in order to deliberately prevent or reduce the likelihood of a woman giving birth or becoming pregnant. ...
The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning in the late 19th century and then up to World War I. Similar societies exist in Australia and New Zealand. ...
A union (labor union in American English; trade union in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a group of workers who act collectively to address common issues. ...
Once free of Frank Besant and exposed to new currents of thought, Annie began to question not only her long-held religious beliefs but also the whole of conventional thinking. She began to write attacks on the Churches and the way they controlled people’s lives. In particular she attacked the status of the Church of England as a state-sponsored faith.
Soon she was earning a small weekly wage by writing a column for the National Reformer, the newspaper of the National Secular Society. The Society stood for a secular state: an end to the special status of Christianity. The Society allowed her to act as one of its public speakers. Public lectures were very popular entertainment in Victorian times. Annie was a brilliant speaker, and was soon in great demand. Using the railway, she criss-crossed the country, speaking on all of the most important issues of the day, always demanding improvement, reform and freedom. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...
For many years Annie was a friend of the Society’s leader, Charles Bradlaugh. It seems that they were never lovers, but their friendship was very close indeed. Bradlaugh, a former seaman, had long been separated from his wife. Annie lived with Bradlaugh and his daughters, and they worked together on many issues.
Bradlaugh was an atheist and a republican. He was working to get himself elected as MP for Northampton to gain a better platform for his ideas. Northampton Guildhall, built 1861-4, E.W. Godwin, architect Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in central England upon the River Nene, and the county town of Northamptonshire. ...
Besant and Bradlaugh became household names in 1877 when they published a book by the American birth-control campaigner Charles Knowlton. It claimed that working-class families could never be happy until they were able to decide how many children they wanted. It suggested ways to limit the size of their families. The Knowlton book caused great offence to the Churches, but Annie and Bradlaugh proclaimed in the National Reformer: "We intend to publish nothing we do not think we can morally defend. All that we publish we shall defend." Charles Knowlton (May 10, 1800 - February 20, 1850) was an American physician and writer. ...
The working class is a social class often contrasted with middle class and upper class in terms of the nature of work undertaken (manual labor or skilled), the level of remuneration (typically low hourly rates although there are exceptions) and access to resources (limited access to capital, education and land). ...
The couple were arrested and put on trial for publishing the Knowlton book. They were found guilty, but released pending appeal. As well as great opposition, Annie and Bradlaugh also received a great deal of support in the Liberal press. Arguments raged back and forth in the letters and comment columns as well as in the courtroom. For a time, it looked as though they would be sent to prison. The case was thrown out finally only on a technical point: the charges had not been properly drawn up.
The scandal lost Annie her children. Frank was able to persuade the court that she was unfit to look after them, and they were handed over to him permanently.
Bradlaugh’s political prospects were not damaged by the Knowlton scandal. He got himself into Parliament at last in 1881. Because of his atheism, he refused to swear the oath of loyalty. Although many Christians were shocked by Bradlaugh, others (like the Liberal leader Gladstone) spoke up for freedom of belief. It took more than six years before the whole issue was sorted out (in Bradlaugh’s favour) after a series of by-elections and court appearances. William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809–19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ...
Meanwhile Besant built close contacts with the Irish Home Rulers and gave them support in her newspaper columns. These were crucial years, in which the Irish nationalists were forming an alliance with Liberals and Radicals. Annie met the leaders of the movement. In particular, she got to know Michael Davitt, who wanted to mobilise the Irish peasantry through a Land War: a direct struggle against the landowners. She spoke and wrote in favour of Davitt and his Land League many times over the coming decades. For the heavy metal band, see Devolved (band) Devolution or home rule is the granting of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ...
Michael Davitt c. ...
However, Bradlaugh's parliamentary work gradually alienated Annie. Women had no part in parliamentary politics. Annie was searching for a real political outlet: politics where her skills as a speaker writer and organiser could do some real good.
Socialist For Annie, politics, friendship and love were always closely intertwined. Her decision in favour of Socialism came about through a close relationship with George Bernard Shaw, a struggling young Irish author living in London, and a leading light of the Fabian Society. Annie was impressed by his work and grew very close to him too in the early 1880s. It was Annie who made the first move, by inviting Shaw to live with her. This he refused, but it was Shaw who sponsored Annie to join the Fabian Society. In its early days, the Society was a gathering of people exploring spiritual, rather than political, alternatives to the capitalist system. George Bernard Shaw (George) Bernard Shaw[1] (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish-British playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and the Academy Award in 1938 for Pygmalion. ...
The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. ...
Annie now began to write for the Fabians. This new commitment - and her relationship with G.B.S. - deepened the split between Annie and Bradlaugh, who was an individualist and opposed to Socialism of any sort. While he would defend free speech at any cost, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy.
Unemployment was a central issue of the time, and in 1887 some of the London unemployed started to hold protests in Trafalgar Square. Annie agreed to appear as a speaker at a meeting on 13 November. The police tried to stop the assembly. Fighting broke out, and troops were called. Many were hurt, one man died, and hundreds were arrested. Annie offered herself for arrest, but the police refused to take the bait. Trafalgar Square viewed from the northeast corner. ...
The events created a great sensation, and the newspapers dubbed it ‘Bloody Sunday’. Annie was widely blamed - or credited - for it. She threw herself into organising legal aid for the jailed workers and support for their families. Bradlaugh finally broke with her because he felt she should have asked his advice before going ahead with the meeting.
Socialists saw the trade unions as the first real signs of working people’s ability to organise and fight for themselves. Until now, trade unions had been for skilled workers - men with a craft that might take years to acquire and which gave them at least a little security. The Socialists wanted to bring both unskilled men and women into unions to fight for better pay and conditions.
Her most notable victory in this period was perhaps her involvement in the London matchgirls strike of 1888. Annie was drawn into this first really important battle of the ‘New Unionism’ by Herbert Burrows, a young socialist with whom she was for a time in love. He had made contact with workers at Bryant and May’s match factory in Bow, London, who were mainly young women. They were very poorly paid. They were also prey to horrendous industrial illnesses, like the bone-rotting Phossy jaw, which were caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture. Some of the match workers asked for help from Burrows and Annie in setting up a union. The London matchgirls strike of 1888 was a strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory in Bow, London. ...
Bryant and May was a United Kingdom company involved in making matches. ...
Bow, historically Stratford-le-Bow [1], is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ...
Phossy-jaw is a deadly occupational hazard for those who work with white phosphorus in an environment without proper safeguards. ...
Annie met the women and set up a committee, which led the women into a strike for better pay and conditions. The action won enormous public support. Annie led demonstrations by ‘match-girls’. They were cheered in the streets, and prominent churchmen wrote in their support. In just over a week they forced the firm to improve pay and conditions. Annie then helped them to set up a proper union and a social centre.
At the time, the matchstick industry was an immensely powerful lobby, since electric light was not yet widely available, and matches were essential for lighting candles, oil lamps, gas lights and so on. (Only a few years earlier in 1872, lobbyists from the match industry had persuaded the British government to change its planned tax policy.) Besant's campaign was the first time anyone had successfully challenged the match manufacturers on a major issue, and was seen as a landmark victory of the early years of British Socialism. This article is on the source of light. ...
Marxist During 1884, Annie had developed a very close friendship with Edward Aveling, a young socialist teacher, who lived in her house for a time. Aveling was a scholarly figure and it was he who translated the important works of Marx into English for the first time. Annie seems to have fallen in love with Aveling, but it is not clear that he felt the same way. He was certainly a great influence on her thinking, and she was a great support to his work. However, Aveling left Annie to live with Eleanor Marx, daughter of Karl Marx. This led to permanent ill-feeling between Annie and Eleanor and probably pushed Annie towards the rival Fabians at that time. Aveling and Eleanor joined the Marxist SDF but they distrusted its leader, Henry Hyndman. Soon they left the SDF to join the Socialist League, a small Marxist splinter group which formed around the artist William Morris. Edward Bibbens Aveling (29 November 1849 – 2 August 1898) was an English Marxist and partner of Eleanor Marx, the daughter of Karl Marx. ...
Eleanor Marx (16th January 1855 – 31st March 1898) was a Marxist author and political activist. ...
Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and socialist revolutionary. ...
The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. ...
Henry Mayers Hyndman (March 7, 1842 - November 20, 1921) was a British writer and politician, and the founder of the Social Democratic Federation. ...
This article is about the Socialist League groups which have existed in the United Kingdom. ...
William Morris, socialist and innovator in the Arts and Crafts movement William Morris, publisher Davids Charge to Solomon (1882), a stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris in Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts. ...
It seems that Morris played a large part in converting Annie to Marxism, but it was to the SDF, not his Socialist League, that she turned in 1888. She remained a member for a number of years and became one of its best speakers. Strangely, she was still a member of the Fabian Society. Neither she nor anyone else seemed to think the two movements completely incompatible at the time. The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. ...
Soon after joining the Marxists, Annie stood for election to the London School Board. Because women were not able to take part in parliamentary politics, it is often thought that they did not have the vote until 1918. In fact, women householders had been brought into the local electorate in 1881, and soon began to make a mark in local politics. The London School Board (sometimes School Board for London) was an institution of local government. ...
Annie drove about with a red ribbon in her hair, speaking at noisy meetings. “No more hungry children,” her manifesto proclaimed. She made clear that her Socialism had a feminist side too: “I ask the electors to vote for me, and the non-electors to work for me because women are wanted on the Board and there are too few women candidates.” Astonishingly, Annie came out on top of the poll in Tower Hamlets, with over 15,000 votes. Annie wrote in the National Reformer: “Ten years ago, under a cruel law, Christian bigotry robbed me of my little child. Now the care of the 763,680 children of London is placed partly in my hands.” Annie was also closely involved in the struggle for the "Dockers’ Tanner". The dockers were poorly paid for hard and dangerous work. They were casual labourers, only taken on for one day at a time. Ben Tillett set up a union for dockers. Annie was crucial in this. She helped Tillett to draw up the union’s rules and played an important part in the meetings and agitation which built up the organisation. Tillett led the dockers in a fight for better wages: sixpence (2½p.) an hour. Annie spoke for the dockers at public meetings and on street corners. Like the match-girls, the dockers won a lot of public support for their struggle. Even Cardinal Manning, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England, came out on their side. After a bitter strike, the ‘dockers’ tanner’ was won. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is the London borough to the east of the City of London, north of the River Thames in East London. ...
Ben Tillet (September 11, 1860 - January 27, 1943) was a British trade union leader and politician. ...
1882 caricature from Punch Henry Edward Cardinal Manning (July 15, 1808 - January 14, 1892) was an English Catholic Archbishop and Cardinal. ...
Catholic Church redirects here. ...
Theosophist Theosophy
Category:Theosophy | | Founders of the T. S. | | Helena Blavatsky
William Quan Judge
Henry Steel Olcott Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ...
Image File history File links Theosophical_Society_emblem_. ...
Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London), better known as Helena Blavatsky (Russian: ) or Madame Blavatsky, born Helena von Hahn, was a founder of the Theosophical Society. ...
William Quan Judge (1851-March 22, 1896 New York) was one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. ...
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. ...
| | Personalities | | Theosophists | | Mysticism | | Theosophical mysticism | | Organisations | | Theosophical Society
TS Adyar · TS Pasadena · ULT
The Theosophical Society was the organization formed to advance the spiritual doctrines and altruistic living known as Theosophy. ...
The Theosophical Society - Adyar is a successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. ...
The Theosophical Society (Pasadena) is a successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. ...
The United Lodge of Theosophists, or ULT, was founded in 1909 by a disgruntled Theosophical Society member, Robert Crosbie (1849-1919). ...
| | Theosophical texts | | Isis Unveiled
The Key to Theosophy
Mahatma Letters
The Secret Doctrine
The Voice of the Silence
More... Isis Unveiled, a master-key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology, published in 1877, was Helena Petrovna Blavatskys first major book. ...
The title of a popular book by Helena P. Blavatsky first published in 1889 and still in print today, expounding the principles of theosophy in a readable question-and-answer manner. ...
The Mahatma Letters are letters that were supposedly written by the mystical theosophical Mahatmas to certain theosophists. ...
The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, a book originally published as two volumes in 1888, is Helena P. Blavatskys magnum opus. ...
The Voice of the Silence is a book by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. ...
| | Other topics | | Agni Yoga · Anthroposophy ·
Esotericism Agni Yoga, also called the Teaching of Living Ethics or (in Russian) the Zhivaya Etica, is an esoteric teaching founded by the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich (Nikolai Konstantinovitch Rerikh) and his highly adept empathic wife, Helena Roerich (Elena Ivanovna Rerikh). ...
Anthroposophy, also called spiritual science by its founder Rudolf Steiner, is an attempt to investigate and describe spiritual phenomena with the same precision and clarity with which natural science investigates and describes the physical world. ...
Esotericism is knowledge suitable only for an inner circle of the initiated, advanced or privileged. ...
| Besant was a prolific writer and a powerful orator. In 1889, she was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall Gazette[1] on The Secret Doctrine, a book by H.P. Blavatsky. After reading it, she sought an interview with its author, meeting Blavatsky in Paris. In this way she was converted to Theosophy. Annie's intellectual journey had always involved a spiritual dimension, a quest for transformation of the whole person. As her interest in Theosophy deepened, she allowed her membership of the Fabian Society to lapse (1890) and broke her links with the Marxists. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Annie was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy. Her most important public commitment to the faith came in 1893, when she went to present it at the Chicago World Fair. 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, a book originally published as two volumes in 1888, is Helena P. Blavatskys magnum opus. ...
Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London, England), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of Theosophy. ...
Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ...
Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ...
Soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society she went to India for the first time (in 1893). After a dispute, where William Quan Judge, leader of the American section was accused of falsifying letters from the Masters, the American section split away. The remainder of the Society was then led by Henry Steel Olcott and Besant and is today based in Chennai, India and is known as the Theosophical Society Adyar. Thereafter she devoted much of her energy not only to the Society, but also to India's freedom and progress. Besant Nagar, a neighborhood (near the Theosophical Society) in Chennai is named in her honor. The Theosophical Society was the organization formed to advance the spiritual doctrines and altruistic living known as Theosophy. ...
1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
The Theosophical Society was the organization formed to advance the spiritual doctrines and altruistic living known as Theosophy. ...
William Quan Judge (1851-March 22, 1896 New York) was one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. ...
Master was once a title used in England for men of fairly high rank, such as gentlemen, priests or scholars. ...
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. ...
Chennai (Tamil: செனà¯à®©à¯ˆ, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ...
The Theosophical Society - Adyar is a successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. ...
Besant Nagar is one of Chennais most elite neighbourhoods, named after the famous lady theosophist Annie Besant, and adjoins the Theosophical Society. ...
Chennai (Tamil: செனà¯à®©à¯ˆ, formerly known as Madras , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ...
President Together with Charles Webster Leadbeater, whom she had first met in London in Apr 1894[2], she investigated the universe, matter and the history of mankind through clairvoyance. The two became embroiled over Leadbeater's advice to young boys to masturbate. At the time such advice was highly controversial. He had to leave the Theosophical Society over this in 1906. In 1908 he was taken back into the fold through the agency of Besant, who had been elected president of the Theosophical Society in 1907 upon the death of the previous president Henry Steel Olcott. C.W. Leadbeater (1847 or 1854-1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant. ...
Clairvoyance is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception whereby a person perceives distant objects, persons, or events, including seeing through opaque objects and the detection of types of energy not normally perceptible to humans (i. ...
Masturbation is the manual excitation of the sexual organs, most often to the point of orgasm. ...
1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. ...
Up until Besant's presidency, the society had as one of its foci Theravada Buddhism and the island of Ceylon, where Henry Olcott did the majority of his useful work. Under Besant's leadership there was a decisive turn away from this and a refocusing of their activities on "The Aryavarta", as she called central India. Besant actively courted Hindu opinion more than former Theosophical leaders. This was a clear reversal of policy from Blavatsky and Olcott's very public conversion to Buddhism in Ceylon, and their promotion of Buddhist revival activities on the subcontinent (see also: Maha Bodhi Society). Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) NikÄya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. ...
Buddhism (also known as Buddha Dharma, the teachings of the awakened one) is a religion, a practical philosophy, and arguably a psychology, focusing on the teachings of Gautama Buddha (Pali: Gotama Buddha), who lived on the Indian subcontinent most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE...
Founded by Anagarika Dhammapala, the Maha Bodhi Society is a South Asian Buddhist society. ...
Annie set up a new school for boys at Varanasi: the Central Hindu College. Its aim was to build a new leadership for India. The boys lived like monks. They spent 90 minutes a day in prayer and studied the Hindu scriptures, but they also studied modern science. It took 3 years to raise the money for the CHC. Most of the money came from Indian princes. Hindu scriptures Hindu scripture is overwhelmingly written in Sanskrit. ...
Krishnamurti Soon after Besant's inheritance of the presidency, in 1909, Leadbeater discovered Jiddu Krishnamurti on the private beach that was attached to the societies headquarters at Adyar. Krishnamurti had been living there with his father and brother for a few months prior to this. This discovery started years of upheaval in the Theosophical Society in Adyar, as the boy was proposed as the incarnate vessel for the Christ. Jiddu Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya were brought up by Theosophists from that moment on, with a subsequent lawsuit filed by his father. 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti (May 11, 1895–February 17, 1986), was born in Madanapalle, India and discovered, in 1909, as a teenager by C.W. Leadbeater on the private beach at the Theosophical headquarters at Adyar in Chennai, India. ...
The Theosophical Society - Adyar is a successor organization to the original Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. ...
Eventually, in 1929, Krishnamurti ended up disbanding the Order of the Star of the East, which had been founded to support him and of which he had been made the leader. [1] This destroyed Besant's spirit, as it went against her ideals. 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
As well as her religious activities, Annie continued to participate in concrete political struggles. She had joined the Indian National Congress. As the name suggested, this was originally a debating body, which met each year to consider resolutions on political issues. Mostly it demanded more of a say for middle-class Indians in their own government. It had not yet developed into a permanent mass movement with local organisation. Home Rule flag The Home Rule Movement was formed by Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak with the aim of seeking a Dominion status within the British Empire to the Indian Empire in 1917. ...
Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party or Congress (I), abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ...
In 1914 war broke out in Europe. Britain needed the support of its Empire in the fight against Germany. Annie said: “England’s need is India’s opportunity,” a clear echo of an Irish nationalist slogan. As editor of a newspaper called New India, she attacked the (British) government of India and called for clear and decisive moves towards self-rule. As with Ireland, the government refused to discuss any changes while the war lasted.
In 1916 Annie launched the Home Rule League, once again modelling demands for India on Irish models. For the first time India had a political party to fight for change. Unlike the Congress itself, the League worked all year round. It built a strong structure of local branches, enabling it to mobilise demonstrations, public meetings and agitations. In June 1917 Annie was arrested and interned at a hill station. She flew a red and green flag in the garden to show her defiance. Congress and the Muslim League together threatened to launch protests if she were not set free. Annie’s arrest had created a focus for protest, giving those who wanted long-term independence for India a chance to work together for a simple, achievable goal. Home Rule flag The Home Rule Movement was formed by Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak with the aim of seeking a Dominion status within the British Empire to the Indian Empire in 1917. ...
Aga Khan III, one of the founders of the Muslim League The All India Muslim League (Urdu: مسلم لیگ) was a political party in British India and was the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state from British India on the Indian subcontinent. ...
The government was forced to give way and to make vague but significant concessions. It was announced that the ultimate aim of British rule was Indian self-government, and moves in that direction were promised. Annie was freed in September to a tremendous welcome from crowds all over India. In December she took over as President of Congress for a year. It was perhaps the greatest honour she received in her lifetime.
After the war, there could be no going back. A new leadership emerged around Mohandas K. Gandhi - one of those who had written to demand Annie’s release. He was a lawyer who had returned from leading Asians in a peaceful struggle against racism in South Africa. It was Annie who first called him Mahatma (Great Soul), using the vocabulary of Theosophy. Nehru, Gandhi's closest collaborator, had been educated by a Theosphist tutor. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी), called Mahatma Gandhi, was the charismatic leader who brought the cause of Indias independence from British colonial rule to world attention. ...
Jawaharlal Nehru (जवाहरलाल नेहरू) (November 14, 1889 - May 27, 1964), also called Pandit (Teacher) Nehru, was the leader of the (moderately) socialist wing of the Indian National Congress during and after Indias struggle for independence from the British Empire. ...
The new leadership too was committed to action that was both militant and non-violent, but there were differences between them and Annie. Despite her past, she was not happy with their socialist leanings. Until the end of her life, however, she continued to campaign for India’s independence, not only in India but also on speaking tours of Britain. In her own version of Indian dress, Mrs Besant remained a striking presence on speakers’ platforms. She produced a torrent of letters and articles demanding independence.
Later years She tried to accommodate Krishnamurti's views into her life, but never really succeeded. The two remained friends, however, until the end of her life. Annie Besant died in 1933 and was survived by her daughter, Mabel. 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Mabel Emily Besant-Scott Born 1870, daughter of Annie Besant. ...
Trivia She is the great-grandmother of Andrew Castle, a television presenter and former professional tennis player. Andrew Castle (born November 15, 1963 in Epsom, Surrey, England) is a television presenter and former professional tennis player from the United Kingdom. ...
Selected works - The Political Status of Women (1874)
- Marriage, As It Was, As It Is, And As It Should Be: A Plea For Reform (1878)
- The Law Of Population (1877)
- Autobiographical Sketches (1885)
- "Why I became a Theosophist" (1889)
- An Autobiography (1893)
- The Ancient Wisdom (1898)
- Thought Forms (1901) ISBN 0-8356-0008-4
- Bhagavad Gita (Translation) (1905)
- Introduction to Yoga (1908) [2]
- Occult Chemistry
- The Doctrine of the Heart (1920)
- Esoteric Christianity
- The Case for India The Presidential Address Delivered by Annie Besant at the Thirty-Second Indian National Congress Held at Calcutta 26th December 1917
- Besant, Annie. The Devachanic Plane. Theosophical Publishing House, London, ca 1895.
- Besant, Annie. Man and his bodies. Theosophical Publishing House, London, 1911.
- Besant, Annie. Man's life in this and other worlds. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, 1913.
- Besant, Annie. Study in Consciousness - A contribution to the science of psychology. Theosophical Publishing House, Madras, ca 1907.
The Ancient Wisdom is a book by Annie Besant. ...
Thought-form of the music of Charles Gounod, according to Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in Thought Forms (1901) Thought Forms is a book by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. ...
Occult Chemistry is a book written by Annie Besant, C.W. Leadbeater and Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa. ...
Study in Consciousness is a book by Annie Besant that was written in ca. ...
Further reading - Nethercot, Arthur H. The first five lives of Annie Besant Hart-Davis: London, 1961
- Nethercot, Arthur H. The last four lives of Annie Besant Hart-Davis: London (also University of Chicago Press 1963) ISBN 0-226-57317-6
- Taylor, Anne Annie Besant: A Biography, Oxford University Press, 1991 (also US edition 1992) ISBN 0-19-211796-3
- Annie Besant: Great Women of Modern India – 1 Edited by Verinder Grover and Ranjana Arora : Published by Deep of Deep Publications, New Delhi, India, 1993.
- Raj Kumar, Rameshwari Devi and Romila Pruthi Annie Besant: Founder of Home Rule Movement, Pointer Publishers, 2003 ISBN 81-7132-321-9
See also The Theosophical Society was the organization formed to advance the spiritual doctrines and altruistic living known as Theosophy. ...
The Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross was an organization of traditional esoterism of West, founded in the bosom of the Theosophical Society in 1912, but due to the First World War, the activity should be suspended in 1918. ...
External links
Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...
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