Annie Besant

Annie Besant (née Wood; October 1, 1847 – September 20, 1933) is a British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator, educationist, and philanthropist.

Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she is an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule.

She is a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.

As an educationist, her contributions include the founding of the Banaras Hindu University.

In 1867, Annie, at age twenty, marries Frank Besant, a clergyman, and they have two children.

However, Annie's increasingly unconventional religious views lead to their legal separation in 1873.

She then becomes a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh.

In 1877 they are prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton.

The scandal makes them famous, and Bradlaugh is subsequently elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880.

Hereafter, she becomes involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888.

She is a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF).

She is also elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll, even though few women are qualified to vote at this time.

In 1890 Besant meets Helena Blavatsky, and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grows, while her interest in secular matters wanes.

She becomes a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject.

As part of her theosophy-related work, she travels to India.

In 1898 she helps establish the Central Hindu School, and in 1922 she helps establish the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Mumbai, India.

In 1902, she establishes the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain.

Over the next few years she establishes lodges in many parts of the British Empire.

In 1907 she becomes president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters are, by now, located in Adyar, Madras, (Chennai).

She also becomes involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress.

When the First World War breaks out in 1914, she helps launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India, and dominion status within the British Empire.

This leads to her election as president of the Indian National Congress, in late 1917.

In the late 1920s, Besant travels to the United States with her protégé and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, who she claims is the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha

Krishnamurti rejects these claims in 1929.

After the war, she continues to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in 1933.

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