Annie Besant
Annie Besant Annie Besant in 1897 Born (1847-10-01)1 October 1847 Clapham, London, United Kingdom Died 20 September 1933(1933-09-20) (aged 85) Adyar, Madras Presidency, British India Known for Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator Religion Hinduism Spouse(s) Frank Besant (m. 1867, div. 1873) Children Arthur, Mabel Part of a series on Theosophy Theosophy Traditional Theosophy Traditional Theosophy topics Esoteric Christianity · Hermeticism · Kabbalah Intellectus · Imagination · Nous · Active imagination Traditional Theosophy contributors Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite · Ambrose · Ammonius Saccas Jerome · Al-Shahrastānī · Plotinus · Ptolemy Augustine · Origen · Jakob Boehme Paracelsus · Johann Jakob Brucker Franz von Baader · Karl von Eckartshausen Louis Claude de Saint-Martin · Emanuel Swedenborg Vladimir Solovyov · Nikolai Berdyaev Henry Corbin · Mundus Imaginalis · Eranos Group · G. R. S. Mead Ralph Waldo Emerson · Henry David Thoreau Sergei Bulgakov · Wassily Kandinsky William Walker Atkinson · Florence Farr Carl Jung Related topics Esotericism · Western esotericism Gnosticism · Mysticism Occultism · Spiritualism · Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Transcendentalism Astrology · Alchemy · Emanationism Divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · Modern Theosophy TS Founders Helena Blavatsky · Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge Theosophists Annie Besant · Robert Crosbie Abner Doubleday  · Geoffrey Hodson Archibald Keightley  · C. W. Leadbeater G. R. S. Mead  · Isabel Cooper-Oakley Subba Row  · William Scott-Elliot Alfred Percy Sinnett  · Brian Stonehouse Katherine Tingley  · Ernest Wood Theosophical philosophical concepts Theosophical mysticism  · Round · Seven rays · Root races Theosophical organizations Theosophical Society · TS Adyar TS Pasadena · Theosophical Society Point Loma - Blavatskyhouse TSA Hargrove · United Lodge of Theosophists Theosophical texts Isis Unveiled · Secret Doctrine Theosophical Masters Maitreya · Morya · Kuthumi Sanat Kumara · Paul the Venetian Serapis Bey · Master Hilarion Master Jesus · St. Germain Related topics Agni Yoga · Alice Bailey · Anthroposophy Ascended masters · Ascended Master Teachings Benjamin Creme · Esotericism Jiddu Krishnamurti · Liberal Catholic Church Living Ethics · Neo-Theosophy Order of the Star in the East Theosophy portal v t e Annie Besant (1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule. In 1867, Annie at age 20, married Frank Besant, a clergyman, and they had two children, but Annie's increasingly anti-religious views led to a legal separation in 1873. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880. She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll even though few women were qualified to vote at that time. In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. As part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu College and in 1922 she helped establish the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Mumbai, India. In 1902, she established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire. In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were in Adyar, Madras, (Chennai). She also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and dominion status within the Empire. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress in late 1917. In the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom she claimed was the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929. After the war