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Annie Besant Biography

Annie Besant (1847-1933)  – political reformer, women’s rights activist, theosophist and Indian nationalist.

“An imperious necessity forces me to speak the truth, as I see it, whether the speech please or displease, whether it bring praise or blame. That one loyalty to Truth I must keep stainless, whatever friendships fail me or human ties be broken.”

– Annie Besant, An Autobiography Chapter XIV.

In 1867, aged only 19, she married a clergyman Frank Besant, seven years her senior. They went to live in Sibsey, Lincolnshire, where Frank was a vicar. However, the marriage soon experienced difficulties. Annie became increasingly radicalised in her political views – whereas Frank was generally conservative. Annie instinctively supported the rights of workers and poor farmers. Annie also began writing, but her husband didn’t allow her to keep her earnings. More seriously Annie began questioning the religion of her birth and, in 1873, she stopped receiving Communion because she no longer felt she could call herself a Christian.

“…but I could no longer attend the Holy Communion, for in that service, full of recognition of Jesus as Deity and of His atoning sacrifice, I could no longer take part without hypocrisy.”

Annie Besant, An Autobiography Chapter IV

This was the final straw for the marriage and Annie left her husband taking her daughter to London. Looking back on her marriage, she reveals a temperament not suited to the Victorian expectations of a passive wife.

“…for under the soft, loving, pliable girl there lay hidden, as much unknown to herself as to her surroundings, a woman of strong dominant will, strength that panted for expression and rebelled against restraint, fiery and passionate emotions that were seething under compression—a most undesirable partner to sit in the lady’s arm-chair on the domestic rug before the fire.”

In London, she became noted for her radical political views. She espoused freedom of thought, women’s rights, secularism, birth control and the rights of the working class.; she was also highly critical of the influence and teachings of Christianity.

“Against the teachings of eternal torture, of the vicarious atonement, of the infallibility of the Bible, I levelled all the strength of my brain and tongue, and I exposed the history of the Christian Church with unsparing hand, its persecutions, its religious wars, its cruelties, its oppressions.”

Annie Besant, An Autobiography Chapter VII

She became a popular public speaker, giving lectures across the country. In London, she became acquainted with Charles Bradlaugh. For a time, they became very close on a personal level, sharing similar political and religious views. In 1877, they published a controversial book on birth control. The book argued the working class could never be happy until they could limit their number of children. This caused a real scandal, especially amongst the religious establishment. They were arrested and put on trial; the trial generated significant media coverage, polarising opinions. They gained support from liberal politicians; they could easily have been convicted, but eventually, the case was thrown out on a technicality.

Despite the controversy, Charles Bradlaugh was able to become an MP. His election caused a stir because as an atheist, he refused to swear the oath of allegiance. It took six years for it to be resolved in his favour. Despite a close friendship, Annie started drifting away from the political views of Bradlaugh. She became more influenced by the new Socialist organisations such as the Fabian society. In particular, Annie Besant was impressed by the views and personality of George Bernard Shaw (who was then a struggling Irish writer living in London) They shared many natural sympathies such as Irish home rule, and a concern for social justice.

In 1888, London matchgirls at the Bryant and May’s factory went on strike in protest at the awful working conditions. The girls worked long hours for low pay and were liable to suffer from industrial illnesses such as Phossy Jaw. The strikers asked Annie Besant to help them organise and articulate their views. Using her skills and contacts in the Socialist movement, she was able to gain much public sympathy for the striking workers. After a week of demonstrations, strikes, and leading 50 girls to parliament, the company gave in to the demands of the workers; this led to improvements in pay and conditions. The public sympathy and success of the strike was an important development in the unskilled trades union movement.

During this time, Annie Besant became attracted to the philosophy of Marxism. In addition to being a member of the Fabian Society, she also was a member of the SDF and later Socialist League.

In 1885, Annie Besant stood for election to the London School Board. Campaigning on a policy of ‘ No more hungry children’ she came top in a poll in Tower Hamlets with over 15,000 votes. In this sense, she was an early role model for women politicians. Though women didn’t have the vote for general elections, she sought to increase women’s participation in local government. During her period on the Board of Education, she played an important role in helping the London Dockers form a union and gain better wages in an industry which had been dominated by one-day employment contracts.

As well as politics, Annie also became interested in spiritual philosophy. In 1902, she became a Freemason – joining the co-freemasonry movement. She was attracted by their belief that men and women should join together to work for a better world.

“ The International Order of Co-Freemasonry Le Droit Humain is not dogmatic. It works simply searching for the Truth. In Lodges, discussions concerning social and religious questions cannot in any case give more than explanations to members and enable them to do their duties as Freemasons with a better understanding”. Source: web link

With her tireless energy and enthusiasm, she helped found new orders in Britain and other parts of the world. Her energy played a key role in the international growth of the order.

In 1889, Annie Besant read and reviewed The Secret Doctrine by H.P.Blavatsky – a leading Theosophist. After meeting Blavatsky she became actively involved in the Theosophist movement. The switch from an active member of secularist society to being a prominent member of a spiritual organisation shocked many of her old friends. But, to Besant, it was part of her life’s quest for truth in whatever form she found it.

Besant writes about her views and impression of H.P.Blavatsky, whom she looked up to almost as a Guru.

“And we, who lived around her (On H.P.B) , who in closest intimacy watched her day after day, we bear witness to the unselfish beauty of her life, the nobility of her character, and we lay at her feet our most reverent gratitude for knowledge gained, lives purified, strength developed.”

Annie Besant, An Autobiography Chapter XIV

As her interest in theosophy grew, her commitment to left-wing politics declined and her membership of Socialist societies lapsed. Annie Besant later moved to India where she was active in the Theosophy movement and founded a school for boys in Varanasi – The Central Hindu College.

By 1909, Besant had become president of the Theosophical society. A key teaching of the Theosophical Society was that they would look after and prepare a world teacher for his important mission. This teacher was found in 1909, as the 14-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti. Besant was made his guardian and the two developed a close relationship and he considered Besant his surrogate mother. Later Krishnamurti would renounce his role as a world teacher and break with the Theosophist movement, but he remained close to Besant whom he held in high regard.

Annie Besant became an early member of the Indian National Congress. In 1916, she launched the Indian Home rule league which agitated for Indian independence.

“India demands Home Rule for two reasons, one essential and vital, the other less important but necessary: Firstly, because Freedom is the birthright of every Nation; secondly, because her most important interests are now made subservient to the interests of the British Empire without her consent, and her resources are not utilised for her greatest needs.”

Annie Besant The Case For India (1917), Chapter III

In 1917, she was arrested for protesting against British rule. This led to a wave of protests from different Indian groups. To great national acclaim, she was released securing verbal promises from the British. It helped strengthen the Indian belief that self-rule was a possibility. For a year she was made the president of the Indian Congress for a year – preceding leaders such as Gandhi and later Nehru .

Besant died in India on 20 September 1933. She wrote in her own autobiography:

and I ask no other epitaph on my tomb but: “‘SHE TRIED TO FOLLOW TRUTH.'”

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “ Biography of Annie Besant ”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net , 1st Feb. 2011. Updated 13th February 2018.

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Annie Besant, Heretic

The Story of Annie Besant: Minister's Wife to Atheist to Theosophist

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Known for:   Annie Besant is known for her early work in atheism, freethought and birthcontrol, and for her later work in the Theosophy movement.

Dates: October 1, 1847 – September 20, 1933

"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle." (Annie Besant)

Here's a woman whose unorthodox religious views included first atheism and freethought and later theosophy: Annie Besant.

Born Annie Wood, her middle class childhood was marked by economic struggle. Her father died when she was five, and her mother couldn't make ends meet. Friends paid for the education of Annie's brother; Annie was educated at a home school run by a friend of her mother's.

At 19, Annie married the young Rev. Frank Besant, and within four years they had a daughter and a son. Annie's views began to change. She tells in her autobiography that in her role as minister's wife she tried to help her husband's parishioners who were in need, but she came to believe that to alleviate poverty and suffering, deeper social changes were needed beyond immediate service.

Her religious views began to change, too. When Annie Besant refused to attend communion, her husband ordered her out of their home. They were legally separated, with Frank retaining custody of their son. Annie and her daughter went to London, where Annie soon broke away completely from Christianity, became a freethinker and atheist, and in 1874 joined the Secular Society.

Soon, Annie Besant was working for the radical paper, National Reformer, whose editor Charles Bradlaugh was also a leader in the secular (non-religious) movement in England. Together Bradlaugh and Besant wrote a book advocating birth control, which got them a 6-month prison term for "obscene libel." The sentence was overturned on appeal, and Besant wrote another book advocating birth control, The Laws of Population . Publicity denouncing this book led Besant's husband to seek and gain custody of their daughter.

During the 1880s Annie Besant continued her activism. She spoke and wrote against unhealthy industrial conditions and low wages for young factory women, in 1888 leading the Match Girls' Strike. She worked as an elected member of the London School Board for free meals for poor children. She was in demand as a speaker for women's rights, and continued to work for legalization and more available information on birth control. She earned a science degree from London University. And she continued to speak and write defending freethought and atheism and criticizing Christianity. One pamphlet she wrote, in 1887 with Charles Bradlaugh, "Why I Do Not Believe in God" was widely distributed by the secularists and is still considered one of the best summaries of arguments defending atheism.

In 1887 Annie Besant converted to Theosophy after meeting Madame Blavatsky , a spiritualist who in 1875 had founded the Theosophical Society. Besant quickly applied her skills, energy and enthusiasm to this new religious cause. Madame Blavatsky died in 1891 at Besant's home. The Theosophical Society was split into two branches, with Besant as President of one branch. She was a popular writer and speaker for Theosophy. She often collaborated with Charles Webster Leadbeater in her theosophical writings.

Annie Besant moved to India to study Hindu ideas (karma, reincarnation, nirvana) which were foundational to Theosophy. Her Theosophical ideas also brought her to work on behalf of vegetarianism. She returned often to speak for Theosophy or for social reform, remaining active in the British suffrage movement and an important speaker for women's suffrage. In India, where her daughter and son came to live with her, she worked for Indian Home Rule and was interned during World War I for that activism. She lived in India until her death in Madras in 1933.

A heretic who gave little care to what people thought of her, Annie Besant risked much for her ideas and passionate commitments. From mainline Christianity as a pastor's wife, to radical freethinker, atheist, and social reformer, to Theosophist lecturer and writer, Annie Besant applied her compassion and her logical thinking to the problems of her day, and especially to the problems of women.

More information:

• Annie Besant
• Victorian Web's collection on Annie Besant
• Annie Besant on Vegetarianism
• a rejoinder from the President of the Theosophical Society to material on the Victorian Web about Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society

About this article:

Author: Jone Johnson Lewis Title: "Annie Besant, Heretic" This URL: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/freethought/a/annie_besant.htm

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Annie Besant (1847-1933)

Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others. Annie Besant

Annie Besant was a socialist, activist, and champion of human freedom, who became a leading figure in the secularist movement during the 1870s and 1880s. Abandoning the strict Christianity of her upbringing and early adulthood, Besant wrote, lectured, and organised for the National Secular Society , risking her reputation – and custody of her children – in the process. In defence of press freedom and support of self-determination, Besant published and defended birth control literature, and advocated for the rights of working women through the Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888. Although she later turned to theosophy, she had already left a considerable impression on the history of humanist and secularist thought and action in the 19th century, and inspired many others by her example.

Annie Besant was born into a London family of Irish origin on 1 October, 1847. By the standards of the time she had an excellent education and travelled widely in Europe.

As a young woman she was religious and at the age of 20 married a 26 year old clergyman, Frank Besant. The union was soon to produce two children, Arthur and Mabel. However, the marriage was anything but a success and the couple disagreed on a host of social and political issues. Annie always supported the radical and progressive side, Frank the conservative. Matters came to a head when Annie began to have doubts about her faith and refused to attend Communion. In 1873 they separated and Annie moved with her daughter to live in London.

On 9 August 1874 Annie attended the Old Street Hall of Science for the first time, joined the NSS and met Charles Bradlaugh . Bradlaugh was immediately struck by the young firebrand who was soon contributing to Bradlaugh’s journal The National Reformer . On 25 August she delivered her first lecture on ‘The Political Status of Women’ in which she denounced religion for keeping women subordinate. Like Bradlaugh, she was a brilliant speaker and was soon criss-crossing the country, speaking on all the most important issues of the day demanding improvement, reform and freedom. Bradlaugh’s daughter, Hypatia , wrote:

She was very fluent, with a great command of language, and her voice carried well; her throat, weak at first, rapidly gained in strength, until she became a most forcible speaker. Tireless as a worker, she could both write and study longer without rest and respite than any other person I have known… Though not an original thinker, she had a really wonderful power of absorbing the thoughts of others, of blending them, and of transmuting them into glowing language. Her industry, her enthusiasm, and her eloquence made of her a very powerful ally to whatever cause she espoused.

Annie Besant was thus a forceful, attractive firebrand who quickly established herself as Bradlaugh’s trusted companion. In 1877 she helped persuade Bradlaugh to republish Charles Knowlton’s birth control pamphlet, The Fruits of Philosophy .  Although this venture was successful it had a tragic outcome: in the wake of the trial Annie lost custody of her daughter Mabel to her estranged husband, Frank.

In the years that followed Annie was to become founding secretary of the Malthusian League (the forerunner of the Family Planning Association) and wrote numerous pamphlets and books on progressive themes including her own birth control pamphlet The Law of Population which was to sell around 175,000 copies. She could write about historical topics, science, religion, women’s rights and philosophy, all from a freethinking perspective. She founded her own journal, Our Corner , as well as loyally supporting Bradlaugh throughout his parliamentary struggle.

By the mid-1880s she was increasingly influenced by the growth of socialist ideas and joined the Fabian Society in 1885. Besant hoped she could blend the outdoor activism of the secularists with the armchair socialism of the Fabians. Although her stance was popular with some secularists it created tensions with Charles Bradlaugh and his successor as President of the National Secular Society, G.W. Foote . Their perspectives were those of individualistic radicals rather than collectivistic socialists. However, Annie remained a member of the NSS for a few more years. 

On 13 November 1887 she was a speaker at a protest meeting in Trafalgar Square which became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. In 1888 she played an important role in the London Matchgirls’ Strike and was also involved with the London dock strike of 1890, both of which were successful. These strikes were central to the formation of trade unions for the unskilled.

By the 1880s Besant was moving away from secularism and when, in 1889, she started taking an interest in theosophy, it was clear that her time as a secularist was over. In 1893 she moved to India and devoted the rest of her life to theosophy and the cause of Indian nationalism.

Many secularists were both bewildered and disappointed. They remembered the young woman who had inspired their struggle for a better world. They mourned their loss particularly as it occurred as Bradlaugh’s health declined.

Annie Besant died on 30 September 1933, a few days before celebrations of the centenary of Bradlaugh’s birth. Those who remembered Bradlaugh remembered her too and her contribution to the secularists’ cause.

In her determination to pursue freedom of thought, and defend the rights of others, Annie Besant left a significant legacy in each of the movements of which she was a part. During a period when Christianity and respectability were still synonymous in the public mind, Besant risked security, reputation, and social standing in her declaration and defence of atheism. As a driving force in publishing the Fruits of Philosophy , and within the Malthusian League, she remains a key figure in the long history of humanist and secularist support for reproductive choice, continued in the work of Humanists UK today.

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Annie Besant

Annie Besant was a British socialist, educationist and women’s rights activist known for her role in fostering the Home Rule Movement in India.

As an educationist, her contributions include being one of the founders of the Banaras Hindu University. Annie Besant promoted studies of ancient Indian religions, philosophies and doctrines. She also established the Central Hindu School to encourage education.

This article will give further details about Annie Besant within the context of the Civil Services Examination.

This article is part of the Modern History segment of the UPSC Syllabus.

The candidates can read more about Important persons involved in India’s freedom struggle from the links below:

Background of Annie Besant

• Annie Besant was born Annie Wood to William Burton Persse Wood and Emily Roche Morris on 1 October 1847.
• After completing her education, Annie married clergyman, Frank Besant at the age of 20, but her increasingly unconventional religious views led to their separation in 1873. She later became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society. Her time in the organisation led to their interest in the home rule of Ireland, partly due to her mother being from Ireland.
• Annie Besant 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 School, later to be renamed as the Banaras Hindu University.

Solve previous years UPSC mains history questions by visiting the linked article. 

Role in the Indian Independence Movement

• Annie Besant had written that “India was not ruled for its benefit, but rather for the benefit of its conquerors” in 1902. She encouraged a national awakening while fighting against social evils such as caste discrimination and child marriage. For the latter, she devoted much time and effort in improving education in India.
• Annie Besant ventured into the political arena when she joined the Indian National Congress (Founded on December 28, 1885 ). Upon her initial joining, the Congress was merely a debating body whose members considered which resolutions to pass. These resolutions were mild in nature, which demanded a greater say for middle-class Indians in the British government. It was yet to develop into a mass movement that would demand completed independence.
• Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Britain enlisted the support of its colonies against its enemies. The manner in which the support was enlisted was an entirely different debate. But as far as Annie Besant was concerned, this was where India’s opportunities lay.
• In 1916, Annie Besant launched the All India Home Rule League. This was the first faction in India that demanded complete independence. The league worked all year round building a structure of local branches and organising agitations. The colonial authorities on their part put her under house arrest for her activities. Other political parties threatened further agitations if she was not freed.
• As a result, the government had to grant small concessions. One of them was that a possibility of self-rule would be considered once the war would end. Annie Besant was freed in September 1917. In December of the same year, she became the president of the Indian National Congress for one year.
• It was at this time the new leadership of the Congress would pass into the hands of Mahatma Gandhi. He was one of the key petitioners of her release from house arrest.
• Annie Besant would continue to fight for India’s independence until the last years of life. She would go on speaking tours in India and abroad, raising awareness about the independence movement.

Annie Besant – UPSC Notes:- Download PDF Here

Find the list of Indian National Congress sessions by visiting the linked article

Later Life and Legacy

• Annie Besant continued to be a part of the Theosophical Society until she became ill In 1931.  She died on 20 September 1933, at age 85, in Adyar, Madras Presidency.
• After her death, the Happy Valley School in California was built. In her memory, it was later renamed the Besant Hill School of Happy Valley.
• In India, she is widely remembered for her role in the advancement of Indian education and for being a champion of Indian self-rule.

Frequently Asked Questions on Annie Besant

Which newspaper was published by annie besant.

Annie Besant started a newspaper called “New India” to highlight issues related to the freedom struggle in India

Who were the founders of the Theosophical Society?

Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society in New York, 1875.

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ANNIE BESANT (1847-1933)

Annie Besant (1847–1933), second President of The Theosophical Society from 1907 to 1933, was described as a ‘Diamond Soul’, for she had many brilliant facets to her character.  She was an outstanding orator of her time, a champion of human freedom, educationist, philanthropist, and author with more than three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit. 

She also guided thousands of men and women all over the world in their spiritual quest.

Annie Wood was born on 1 October 1847, and educated privately in England, Germany and France.  She was a devout Christian, and was married at the age of twenty to an English clergyman, Rev. Frank Besant, Vicar of Sibsey, Lincolnshire, by whom she had a son, Arthur Digby, and a daughter, Mabel. However, the awakening of her character made her challenge several of the Christian dogmas.  ‘It was not the challenge of unfaith’, as Jinarâjadâsa was to say later, ‘but rather of a highly spiritual nature that desired intensely not only to believe but also to understand.’  Unable to make logic out of Christian traditions, she left the Church in 1872 and became a freethinker, thus ruining her social position through her passion for Truth; consequently she had to leave her husband and young son.  In 1879 she matriculated at London University and went on with her studies in science but met obstacles there owing to the sexist prejudices of her time.

She joined the National Secular Society in 1874 and worked in the free thought and radical movements led by Charles Bradlaugh, MP.  She co-edited the National Reformer with him and wrote many political and free-thought books and pamphlets from 1874–88.  At this point her husband moved court to take their little daughter away from her, alleging that she was ‘unfit’ because of her ideas.  This deprivation caused her profound grief.  However, when the children were older they became devoted admirers of their mother.  She was prominent in the Labour and Socialist movements, a member of the Fabian Society and Social Democratic Federation, and took an active part in Trade Union work among unskilled labourers; with Herbert Burrows she led the path-breaking 'match girls’ strike to a successful conclusion.

Meeting with H. P. Blavatsky

Feeling dissatisfied with the negative approach of free thought, Mrs Besant now made researches into spiritualism, hypnotism, and so forth. At this juncture Mr W. T. Stead, the editor of The Review of Reviews , sent her Madame Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine to review.  As she read the book, it was as if a long lost vision of truth flashed through her mind.

She asked for an interview with the author, and from that first sight of HPB, her whole life changed.  She abandoned her secularist ideas and also to some extent the socialist philosophy, but the new light which she received inspired her more firmly than ever to the service of the world.  Her approach towards the various evils in the world changed and she began to deal with the root causes in the light of the laws which govern all existence.

The Theosophical Society

Annie Besant joined The Theosophical Society on 21 May 1889, and became a devoted pupil and helper of HPB, pledging her loyalty to the President-Founder, Col. H. S. Olcott, and the cause of Theosophy.  She became the most brilliant exponent of Theosophy, both as orator and author.  In 1893 she represented The Theosophical Society at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

In 1893 she landed in India, made a tour of the country in the company of H. S. Olcott, and, by her splendid presentation of Indian philosophy and her undisguised personal preference for the Indian spiritual heritage, won the support of orthodox Brahmins to Theosophy.  The transformation of the religious life in India, particularly among Hindus, is one of the wonders she performed.  She was an untiring worker for the upliftment of women, and pleaded again and again for a radical change in social conditions, but never desired any modification of the Indian woman’s temperament which she held to be one of the most spiritual in the world.

She soon gathered round her a band of Indians to work for the regeneration of the country and in 1898, after much planning, founded the Central Hindu School and College in Benares (now Varanasi).  A few years later she started the Central Hindu School for Girls . Theosophists from overseas came to help her in the work of the college, which was established with the object of impressing India’s past glory on the minds and hearts of the students.  A brilliant band of workers gathered round her, including Dr Bhagavan Das, his brother Govinda Das, Gyanendra Nath Chakravarti, Upendranath Basu, I. N. Gurtu, and P. K. Telang, all of whom worked in an honorary capacity. Later the college became the nucleus of the Hindu University , and in recognition of Mrs Besant’s services to Indian education the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred upon her in 1921.

As Lord Baden-Powell deemed that Indians were unfit to be scouts, the Indian Scout Movement was founded by her in 1918, the boys wearing Indian turbans! When Baden-Powell came to India and saw how successful was the movement created by Annie Besant, it was amalgamated with the world movement, and she was made the Honorary Scout Commissioner for India. In 1932 Baden-Powell sent her from London the highest Scout distinction, the ‘Silver Wolf’ medal.

Second President of the TS

In 1907, after the passing of Col. H. S. Olcott, Annie Besant became the second International President of the Theosophical Society, an office which she held until her death in 1933.  Mrs Besant had always been a great traveller, having visited in the course of her Theosophical work nearly all the countries of Europe more than once, and making several visits to the United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Her great organizing capacity was used to ‘make theosophy practical’, and action became her ‘slogan’. During her presidentship, the Society grew considerably, with the addition of more than thirty-six Sections or National Societies to the initial eleven.

Dr Besant continued to tour and lecture all over India, dealing extensively with education.  Lodges of the Theosophical Society undertook to open schools wherever they could. She also tried to draw women into the movement wherever possible, for at that time women were not encouraged to take part in public life.

Clear explanations of the many enigmas of life and the universe were presented in her outstanding books such as A Study in Consciousness, which is used in some universities as a textbook.  Another of her major works, Esoteric Christianity, has been considered a historical document; and has helped to revive true knowledge of Christianity. Her lectures at Theosophical conventions on the great religions of the world were put into a valuable book entitled Seven Great Religions, presenting the core teachings of each one of them.  The first edition of her English translation of the Bhagavadgitâ was published in 1905.

Dr Besant was a practical mystic, exemplifying in her life and in all her actions a lofty idealism and a truly religious awareness —  a combination found in very few people.  In 1908 she announced the formation of a Theosophical Order of Service , which aimed at banding members together in groups with the motto ‘Union of all who Love in the Service of all that Suffer.’

From 1908 onwards Dr Besant proceeded to enlarge the Headquarters estate at Adyar. In order to link Adyar more intimately with the rest of the Theosophical world, she started The Adyar Bulletin , which continued until 1929. Presently the Adyar Newsletter fulfils a similar function.

Annie Besant and J. Krishnamurti

A new phase of Dr Besant’s activity began when she came into contact with two remarkable Indian boys, and declared that the elder of them, J. Krishnamurti, was destined to be the vehicle of the ‘World Teacher’, the Bodhisattva Maitreya. In 1910 she assumed the guardianship of J. Krishnamurti and his brother, and despite great difficulties launched him on his remarkable career.

Mrs Besant saw her role in Krishnamurti’s life as that of a catalyst: ‘Amma never told me what to do’, Krishnamurti gratefully recalled in later life.  She merely tried to prepare him for a worldwide regenerative mission.  He was encouraged to meet people, to give talks and lead discussions.   The Order of the Star in the East was organized to pave the way for the very special work he was to do.

Political Work for India

A new period in Annie Besant’s life began in 1913 when she became active in Indian politics, and gave a lead by claiming Home Rule for India.  She entered politics because she saw that India’s independence was essential for her age-old wisdom to become a beacon for the whole world.  The Home Rule movement she organized spread all over India.  She used all her resources to bring together on the common platform of the ‘All India Home Rule League’ the two sections of the Indian National Congress which had been divided since 1907.

Later she was elected President of the Indian National Congress inspiring Indians with a dynamic vision of India’s future.  Since the British government merely suppressed agitation but did little to remove the grievances, she started the Young Men’s Indian Association in 1914 to train them for public work and donated Gokhale Hall in Madras as a centre for national awakening and free speech. She also started two journals: The Commonweal, a weekly dealing with issues of national reform; and New India, a daily newspaper which for fifteen years was a powerful instrument promoting Home Rule and revolutionizing Indian journalism.

Ten months after she began her political work, the Great War broke out.  India was called upon to make great sacrifices, which she did gladly but not a single word was said by any British statesman as to India’s contribution.  It was this blunder of British statesmen that convinced Dr Besant that the political work in India had to continue, and could not be modified or slackened because the Empire was at war.  She was interned in 1917 for three months because of her success in arousing the love of freedom in the Indian people.  She took as her motto not only ‘strike while the iron is hot’, but also ‘make it hot by striking’. She taught Indian journalists to write strong leading articles denouncing the action of the government, yet keeping within the letter of the law. As President of the Indian National Congress; she made the office one of active work throughout the year, instead of only presiding over it during the four-day annual meetings, as was the practice earlier.

Annie Besant’s life was one of incredible activity.  By 1918 she had started the Madras Parliament , opened Madanapalle College (now in Andhra Pradesh), inaugurated the Adyar Arts League, started the Home Rule League in Bombay, started the Girls’ College in Benares, founded the Order of the Brothers of Service , presided over the Women’s Indian Association at Adyar — from which grew the All-India Women’s Conference at Poona (now Pune) in 1927 and the All-Asian Women’s Conference at Lahore in 1931 — and started the Society for the Promotion of National Education (SPNE) .  Unfortunately, she fell into disfavour with the Indian National Congress because of her opposition to Mr Gandhi’s plan of non-cooperation and civil disobedience as she foresaw the danger of instilling disrespect for the law.  Although she had a deep regard for Gandhi as someone whose life was guided by truth and compassion, she herself stood by constitutional methods for achieving political reform. Mr Gandhi’s policies were adopted and the disasters she had anticipated occurred in various parts of India.  Though she became unpopular and lost her position as a political leader, she still continued with her work for India.

Clairvoyant Investigations

Those who came into intimate contact with Annie Besant were aware of her spiritual powers and first-hand knowledge of many occult matters.  She used certain of her yogic powers to investigate the nature of the super-physical realms, and several books on this recondite subject were written in collaboration with her colleague, C. W. Leadbeater.  A remarkable piece of writing done by them was Occult Chemistry , in which they described the chemical elements examined by them.  The first edition was printed in 1908, when it did not appear possible to reconcile their observations with the scientific knowledge of atomic structure of those times, but recent developments in the field support them.  C. Jinarâjadâsa, a former President of the Theosophical Society, published in 1951 a third, enlarged edition of Occult Chemistry, containing descriptions of 111 atoms, including 14 isotopes, and the molecules of 29 inorganic compounds and 22 organic compounds.  Dr Stephen M. Phillips, a theoretical physicist, made a detailed analysis of the Besant–Leadbeater studies in the late 1970s and provided a lucid explanation and reinterpretation of their observations, reconciling them with present-day physics.

On 20 September 1933, Dr Besant  laid aside her physical body at Adyar.  Her Presidentship spanned twenty-six years full of glorious devoted service to the Theosophical Society and to mankind at large, and  she passed away as she had lived — a warrior Soul.  Mr N. Sri Ram, who was then her Secretary, wrote the following tribute:

'Dr Besant was nothing if she was not wholehearted and whole-souled in all that she undertook, in every aim and every inner impulse.  . . . Almost always, as I know from personal knowledge of how she affected various people, they were struck with the extraordinary magnetism that seemed to surround her, the brightest energy, which seemed to leave her at the end of the day almost as fresh as at the beginning.'

Besant, Annie

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Annie Besant (1847–1933) was a controversial and polarizing figure in her own time and remains so today. Born in central London, she expanded her scope worldwide, along the way encompassing the roles of social reformer, women’s rights advocate, and religious leader. She epitomizes the polymath, her interdisciplinarity reflecting her grasp of history, socioeconomics, politics, comparative religion, and science. Her trajectory took her from Anglican wife to Secularist who promoted birth control, through Socialism, to leadership of the Theosophical Society. Relocated to India in 1894, Besant spent the second half of her life arguing for home-rule in India and education for women.

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Annie Wood Besant (1 Oct. 1847–20 Sept. 1933) was a controversial and polarizing figure in her own time and remains so even today. Three-quarters Irish, born in central London, she expanded her scope worldwide, along the way encompassing the roles of social reformer, women’s rights...

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Anderson, N.F. 1994. Bridging cross-cultural feminisms: Annie Besant and Women’s Rights in England and India, 1874–1933. Women’s History Review 3 (4): 563–580.

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Besant, A. 1874. The Political Status of Women . London: National Secular Society.

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———. 1891. 1875–1891: Fragment of Autobiography . London: Theosophical Publishing Society.

———. 1893. An Autobiography . London: T. Fisher Unwin.

Besant, A., and C.W. Leadbetter. 1905. Thought-Forms . London/Benares: Theosophical Publishing Society.

Bevir, M. 1998. In opposition to the Raj: Annie Besant and the dialectic of empire. History of Political Thought 19 (1): 61–77.

MacKay, C.H. 2017. A spiritual materialist turns material spiritualist: Anne Besant rewrites her secularist years. BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History, 1775–1925. http://www.branchcollective

Pécastaing-Boissière, M. 2017. Annie Besant (1847–1933): Struggles and Quest . London: Theosophical Publishing House.

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MacKay, C. (2020). Besant, Annie. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women's Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02721-6_3-1

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Annie Wood Besant (1847–1933)

Annie Wood Besant was a social activist who advocated for women’s access to birth control as well as marriage reform, labor reform, and Indian Nationalism in the nineteenth century in England and India. In her early career, Besant was involved in various social and political advocacy organizations including the National Secular Society, the Malthusian League, and the Fabian Society. Besant gave many public lectures and authored various articles in support of secularism, workers’ rights and unionization, and women’s rights. In 1877, Besant and her colleague Charles Bradlaugh republished the pamphlet The Fruits of Philosophy , by Charles Knowlton, on reproduction and contraception. Besant and Bradlaugh were tried for violating the obscenity law that prohibited the publication of obscene material, including sex and contraception. Later in her life, she converted to theosophy and moved to India where she joined the Theosophical Society. In India, Besant campaigned for Indian self-rule and became the president of the Indian National Congress. Besant, through republication of The Fruits of Philosophy and many public lectures and writings on women’s rights, expanded public knowledge of birth control.

Besant was born to Emile Roche Morris and William Burton Persse Wood on 1 October 1847 in London, England. Besant spent the first three years of her life in London with her older brother, Henry, and younger brother, Alfred. After the death of both her father and younger brother, Besant, her older brother, and their mother moved to Harrow, England. Due to financial strain following the death of her husband, Besant’s mother sent Besant to live with Ellen Marryat, a friend of the Besant family. Marryat, a wealthy resident of Harrow, ran a private school for several children of impoverished families and ensured Besant received a quality education. According to Besant’s autobiography, Marryat educated her in geography, language, science, religion, and instilled in Besant a sense of independence and duty to her society.

After she finished her education with Marryat in 1863, Besant continued to independently study theology while living with her mother in Harrow. In 1866, she met and became engaged to Frank Besant, a reverend in the Anglican church. In her autobiography, Besant states she was initially uncertain about her engagement and postponed their wedding for fourteen months. In her autobiography, she described how she unsuccessfully attempted to break off their engagement during those fourteen months. Besant wrote in her autobiography that she was unaware of the politics involved in marriage, like divorce and property legislation and she describes this as her first exposure to politics. Despite that, Besant married her fiancé in December 1867.

After one year of marriage, Besant met William Prowting Roberts, a family friend and lawyer who routinely represented poor women and children in the Labor Movement. Individuals in the Labor Movement were largely socialists who campaigned for improved working conditions for the poor. Besant made daily visits to Roberts’s office, during which time she observed him advocate for labor unions, improved working conditions, and Irish independence. She credited Roberts as her first tutor in radicalism, or the idea that the working class should be considered a governing body that is entitled to rule itself.

According to her autobiography, after observing Roberts for some time, Besant sought to express herself and her political views in writing. In 1868, Besant wrote a short story titled “Sunshine and Shade: A Tale Founded on Fact,” about a young married couple. She sent the story to several magazines for publication. A magazine, Family Herald , accepted the story, and Besant received her first payment a few weeks later. In her autobiography, she documented her excitement over being compensated and her disappointment in realizing that she had to give the money to her husband, as she could not legally own property at the time. After publishing several other short stories, Besant submitted a novel to the Family Herald , titled The Lives of the Black Letter Saints , about unrecognized religious figures in the Church of England. The magazine declined to publish Besant’s novel due to its political nature.

According to Besant’s autobiography, the birth of her children Arthur and Mabel in 1869 and 1870 temporarily halted her writing career and illuminated her discontent with her role as a wife and mother. In the early 1870s, Besant learned that landlords would not employ unionized farm workers and joined the movement of agricultural laborers seeking to improve work conditions. Besant sympathized with the laborers, because of her history with Roberts. Her support for farm workers right to unionize caused tension in her marriage, as her husband supported the rights of the landlords. At this time, Besant also began to lose faith in the Church of England and decided not to attend Christian services anymore. After refusing to attend Communion in July 1873, she legally separated from her husband.

After her separation, Besant and her daughter moved to London to live with her mother. She wrote articles criticizing religion and the hypocrisy of the Church of England for Thomas Scott, a rationalist who argued that people should make choices based on logic rather than on religion or spirituality. While writing articles for Scott, Besant met Charles Bradlaugh, the founder of the National Secular Society based in London, England. Members of the National Secular Society sought to remove the influence of the church from the government because they disagreed with the ideals of the Church of England. Bradlaugh was also the editor of the related secular newspaper, National Reformer , which published controversial articles about topics like controlling overpopulation, religious criticism, unionization, and trade. In 1874, Besant joined the National Secular Society and began to write a weekly column for the National Reformer . As part of the Society, Besant gave many public lectures on government reform and women’s rights, particularly addressing marriage and birth control. In her first public lecture in 1874, “The Political Status of Women,” she criticized the idea of marriage, discussed the importance of family limitation, and promoted women’s emancipation. Besant advocated for family planning, or the idea of limiting the number of children a family has. She supported the spread of information, particularly information about birth control and methods of contraception, in an effort to prevent overpopulation.

To address the public need for education about family planning, in 1877 Besant and Bradlaugh republished The Fruits of Philosophy: The Private Companion of Young Married People , originally written by Charles Knowlton, an American physician. In The Fruits of Philosophy , first published in 1832, Knowlton described the reproductive organs, mechanisms of conception, and various methods of promoting and preventing pregnancy. The pamphlet also advocated for the use of birth control to plan families and prevent overpopulation and poverty. The publication was illegal under the Obscene Publication Act of 1857 for its discussion of sex and contraception.

When Besant and Bradlaugh republished the pamphlet, they were arrested for violating the act. In the case against Besant, the solicitor general argued that the primary goal of The Fruits of Philosophy was to enable unchaste and immoral behavior, and therefore, the work could be classified as obscene. Besant argued that access to information about family planning was a right that all women were entitled to. She said that the book did not promote unchaste behavior because the happiness of the family was dependent on limiting its size. She also argued that physical facts should not be considered indecent. After five days of trial, the jury ruled that the book did violate the standards of morality at the time, but that Bradlaugh and Besant’s intentions in publishing the book were not immoral. However, Besant and Bradlaugh were not convicted, instead they were instructed to discontinue publication of the pamphlet. When they did not, they were retried in 1878. Besant and Bradlaugh protested, however, and the charges were ultimately dropped.

While the trial was going on in 1878, Besant helped to found, and served as the secretary for, the Malthusian League. The Malthusian League was based on the writings of Thomas Malthus, particularly his An Essay on the Principle of Population , in which Malthus claimed that overpopulation was inevitable because human’s ability to reproduce was greater than the earth’s ability to sustain the growing number of people. The Malthusian League advocated for access to contraception and family planning in the 1870s as a way to prevent overpopulation and poverty. Throughout the 1870s, Besant was active in both the Malthusian League and other socialist politics and, in 1878, she held leadership in the socialist reform group, the International Labor union. By the late 1870s, the scandal of Besant’s trial and her involvement in controversial organizations led her husband to take permanent custody of both her children.

In 1879, Besant was admitted to the University of London in London, England, where she studied botany and physiology. She was one of the first women to be accepted to the college, though she was ultimately unable to obtain her degree due to her professor’s concerns that her social views were too radical. During the 1880s, Besant also was involved with the Fabian Society in London, another group that advocated for socialism and government reform. Furthermore, she served on the London School Board in 1888, where she promoted medical examinations and meal programs for impoverished students. Besant also wrote for The Link from 1888 to 1889, a journal that promoted unionization and free speech in association with the Liberty League.

In 1891, Besant converted to theosophy after interviewing theosophist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Theosophists maintained that enlightenment and salvation could be achieved through spiritual relationships and intuition. Besant joined the Theosophical Society, initially formed in New York City, New York and later headquartered in Chennai, India. In 1893, Besant visited Chennai, India, for the first time. In India, Besant published several works on her conversion, including Theosophy and the Law of Population as well as her autobiography, which details her transition away from Malthusian and socialist beliefs. In 1907, Besant became president of the Theosophical Society in Chennai. During her time as president, Besant helped established the Central Hindu College, a school for boys that founded on theosophical principles, in Varanasi, India. Three years later, in 1911, Besant helped found the Banaras Hindu University, a public university in Varanasi, India. The university opened in 1917.

In the early 1900s, Besant was introduced to a South Indian adolescent named Jiddu Krishnamurti, who lived with his family on the grounds of the Theosophical Society headquarters. Many in the Society claimed he was the future World Teacher, or a spiritually enlightened individual destined to lead mankind. While leaders of the Theosophical Society trained Krishnamurti to become the next World Leader, Besant cared for him and took responsibility as his legal guardian.

Besant continued to be a political activist after her transition to theosophy. After moving to India, she advocated for Indian independence, as India was under British control at the time. Besant joined the Indian National Congress, a political organization which sought to address social issues. In the early 1900s, one of the primary objectives of the Indian National Congress was to allow for more participation from the middle-class in India in the British government. In 1914, during World War I, Besant argued that India, which was still a British colony, should not participate and should make a clear stand for independence.

In 1916, Besant established the All India Home Rule League in Madras, a political party which demanded Indian independence. For the next several years, Besant and the organization worked to build local branches across the country, and mobilize demonstrations and public meetings. In the summer of 1917, Besant was arrested after publicly protesting the British colonial government. Following her arrest, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League threatened the British government to launch protests if she were not released. Besant was released after nearly four months. In December 1917, Besant became president of the Indian National Congress. She was the first woman to hold that position. Besant was president of the Indian National Congress for one year until the end of World War I.

Besant continued to advocate for representation of working Indians in the British-Indian government throughout the 1920s. Throughout the 1900s, Besant also traveled extensively lecturing on theosophy in the United States. She remained the president of the Theosophical Society in India for almost twenty-five years until her death. At the age of eighty, Besant traveled back to Europe to visit twelve countries in three weeks. In 1931, at the age of eighty-four, Besant fell down stairs at the Theosophical Society headquarters, and never fully recovered. She remained ill for several years before her death on 20 September 1933 in Chennai, India.

• Besant, Annie. The Law of Population . London: Freethought Publishing Company, 1887.
• Besant, Annie. Annie Besant; an Autobiography . New Haven: Research Publications Inc., 1908.
• Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy . Madras: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1888. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.121812 (Accessed October 17, 2017).
• Davidge, J. L. “Dr. Annie Besant.” Sydney Morning Herald . September 22, 1933.
• Knowlton, Charles. The Fruits of Philosophy: The Private Companion for Young Married People . London: James Watson, 1832.
• Knowlton, Charles. Fruits of Philosophy: A Treatise on the Population Question . Eds. Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant. San Francisco: The Reader’s Library, 1891. https://archive.org/details/fruitsphilosoph00knogoog (Accessed August 17, 2017).
• Chandrasekhar, Sripati. A Dirty Filthy Book . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
• Malthus, Thomas. An Essay on the Principle of Population: Or A View of Its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness with an Inquiry into our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions . London: John Murray. Volume One. Sixth Edition, 1826.
• Manvell, Roger. The Trial of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh . New York: Horizon Press, 1976.
• “Mrs. Annie Besant, 84, is Gravely Ill in India.” New York Times , November 07, 1931.
• Nethercot, Arthur. The Last Four Lives of Annie Besant . Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1963.
• Taylor, Anne. “Besant, Annie (1847–1933).” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

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