Life of annie besant biography wikipedia

After the war, she continued to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in Her father was English, attended Trinity College Dublinand attained a medical degree; her mother was an Irish Catholic. Wood's father died when she was five years old, leaving a son, Henry Trueman Wood, and one daughter. Her mother supported Henry's education at Harrow Schoolby running a boarding house there.

Annie was fostered by Ellen Marryat, sister of the author Frederick Marryatwho ran a school at Charmouthuntil age She returned to her mother at Harrow self-confident, aware of a sense of duty to society, and under the influence of the Tractarians. In summerWood and her mother stayed at Pendleton near Manchester with the radical solicitor William Prowting Robertswho questioned Wood's political assumptions.

The Rev. Frank Besant was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridgeordained priest inbut had no living: in he was teaching at Stockwell Grammar School as second master, and in he moved to teach at Cheltenham College as assistant master. As Besant wrote in her Autobiography"we were an ill-matched pair". Money was short and Frank Besant was stingy.

Annie Besant was sure a third child would impose too much on the family finances. Besant began to question her own faith, after her daughter Mabel was seriously ill in Encouraged by Scott, Besant wrote an anonymous pamphlet On the Deity of Jesus of Nazarethby "the wife of a beneficed clergyman", which appeared in The Besants made an effort to repair the marriage.

The tension came to a head when Annie Besant refused to attend Communionwhich Frank Besant demanded, now fearing for his own reputation and position in the Church. She had a temporary place to stay, with Moncure Conway. The couple were legally separated and Annie Besant took her daughter Mabel with her, the agreement of 25 October giving her custody.

Annie remained 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 also got a small allowance from her husband. In Frank Besant successfully argued her unfitness, after Annie Besant's public campaigning on contraceptionand had custody from then of both children.

Later, Annie Besant was reconciled with her son and daughter.

Life of annie besant biography wikipedia: Annie Besant (1 October , London

She first heard him speak on 2 August Her career as a platform speaker began on 25 Augustwith topic "The Political Status of Women". Margaret Cole called her "the finest woman orator and organiser of her day". Besant opined that for centuries the leaders of Christian thought spoke of women as a necessary evil and that the greatest saints of the Church were those who despised women the most, "Against the teachings of eternal torture, of the vicarious atonement, of the infallibility of the Bible, I leveled 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.

Besant and Bradlaugh set up the Freethought Publishing Company at the beginning of ; [ 5 ] it followed the prosecution of Charles Wattsand they carried on his work. It claimed that working-class families could never be happy until they were able to decide how many children they wanted. It also suggested ways to limit the size of their families.

Besant 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. The pair were arrested and put on trial for publishing the Knowlton book. They were found guilty but released pending appeal. Besant was then instrumental in life of annie besant biography wikipedia the Malthusian Leaguereviving a name coined earlier by Bradlaugh.

It would go on to advocate for the abolition of penalties for the promotion of contraception. They were concerned with birth control, but were not neo-Malthusians in the sense of convinced believers in the tradition of Thomas Malthus and his demographic theories. The NSS argued for a secular state and an end to the special status of Christianity and allowed her to act as one of its public speakers.

Bradlaugh was elected to Parliament in Because of his atheism, he asked to be allowed to affirmrather than swear the oath of loyalty. It took more than six years before the matter was completely resolved, in Bradlaugh's favour, after a series of by-elections and court appearances. He was an individualist and opposed to socialism in any form.

While he defended free speech, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy. Edward Avelinga rising star in the National Secular Society, tutored Besant duringand she went on to a degree course at London University. Embarrassed by her activist reputation, the Institution omitted her name from the published list of graduands, and mailed her certificates to her.

In Besant started her own periodical, Our Corner. Meanwhile, Besant built close contacts with the Irish Home Rulers and supported them in her newspaper columns during what are considered crucial years, when the Irish nationalists were forming an alliance with Liberals and Radicals. Besant met the leaders of the Irish home rule movement. In particular, she got to know Michael Davittwho 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. Bradlaugh's family circumstances changed in May with the death of his wife Susannah, an alcoholic who had left him for James Thomson. His two children, Alice then aged 21, and Hypatia then 19, returned to live with him from his in-laws.

They continued what had become a close friendship. Besant made an abrupt public change in her political views, at the New Year's Day meeting of the London Dialectical Society, founded by Joseph Hiam Levy to promote individualist views. While Bradlaugh may have had the better of the debate, followers then began to migrate into left-wing politics.

Shaw then sponsored Besant to join the Fabian Society. The Fabians were defining political goals, rejecting anarchism inand forming the Fabian Parliamentary League, with both Besant and Shaw on its Council which promoted political candidacy. Besant 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; Besant offered herself for arrest, an offer disregarded by the police. Besant threw herself into organising legal aid for the jailed workers and support for their families. Besant's involvement in the London matchgirls strike of came after a Fabian Society talk that year on female labour by Clementina Black.

She was drawn further into this battle of the "New Unionism" by a young socialist, Herbert Burrowswho had made contact with workers at the factory, in Bow. They were mainly young women, were very poorly paid, and subject to occupational disease, such as Phossy jaw caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture. William Morris played some part in converting Besant to Marxism, but it was to the Social Democratic Federation of Hyndman, not his Socialist League, that she turned in She remained a member for a number of years and became one of its leading speakers.

She was still a member of the Fabian Society, the two movements being compatible at the time. Besant was elected to the London School Board in Besant drove about with a red ribbon in her hair, speaking at meetings. She combined her socialist principles with feminism:. This group, at the South Place Ethical Societyhad a national standing. She wrote in the National Reformer :.

Now the care of thechildren of London is placed partly in my hands. Besant was further involved in the London dock strike of The dockers, casual workers who were employed by the day, were led by Ben Tillett in a struggle for the "Dockers' Tanner". Besant helped Tillett draw up the union's rules and played an important part in the meetings and agitation which built up the organisation.

She spoke for the dockers at public meetings and on street corners. Like the match-girls, the dockers won public support for their struggle, and the strike was won. After reading it, she sought an interview with its author, meeting Blavatsky in Paris. In this way, she was converted to Theosophy. She allowed her membership of the Fabian Society to lapse and broke her links with the Marxists.

Inshe described herself as "marching toward the Theosophy" that would be the "glory" of her life. Besant had found the economic side of life lacking a spiritual dimension, so she searched for a belief based on "Love". She found this in Theosophy, so she joined the Theosophical Society, a move that distanced her from Bradlaugh and other former activist co-workers.

Insoon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society, she went to India for the first time. Following the split, Besant devoted much of her energy not only to the society but also to India's freedom and progress. Besant Nagara neighbourhood near the Theosophical Society in Chennai, is named in her honour. It was the summit of her influence, which thereafter declined.

Besant's political work for India may be said to have started on December 22, when she addressed the Indian National Congress for the first time. However, she definitely entered the Indian political arena inwith the goal of achieving dominion status for the country. A Plea for Social Reform. She used this newspaper to support the movement for Indian Nationalism, attack the colonial government of India and promote India's self-rule.

Organized to demand self-government within the British Empire, this was the first political party in India to have regime change as its main goal. On June 15, she and her two supporters, G. Arundale and B. Wadiawere arrested by the Madras government. They were interned under house arrest the next day in Gulistan at Pudumund in Ooty, which was a property built by H.

Olcott in as his summer home. Besant's arrest created a focus for protest and the movement spread out. When, on September 15 of that year, she was freed, crowds all over India welcomed her. In December she took over as president of the Indian National Congress for a year, being the first woman to do so. The demand for self-rule in is regarded as an important life of annie besant biography wikipedia and a turning point in the struggle for Indian independence.

In Indian political sentiment began to favor native Mohandas Gandhiwho had returned from leading Asians in a struggle against racism in South Africa. He encouraged a mass-based civil disobedience, albeit in a non-violent way. Seventy-three-year old Annie Besant opposed this policy, warning that promoting disobedience would end up in violence.

Her proposal was to work for change through the British legal system. Indians followed Gandhi's leadership, eventually leading to the independence of India inin the midst of violent clashes between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Besant was a tireless advocate for improving education in India. She helped to establish the Society for the Promotion of National Education to support school initiatives designed for Indian students in a country that was headed for home rule.

She was particularly involved with these schools:. In recognition for her efforts in the field of Indian education, the Banaras Hindu University conferred upon her the Degree of Doctor of Letters. She recruited many Theosophists to teach in and supervise the schools, including George S. Neffand Ernest Wood. Soon after her arrival Besant gathered around her a group of Indians interested in the regeneration of their country.

Theosophists from around the world came to India to help in this, including Francesca Arundale and George S. The object of the College was to impart sound secular education, combined with moral and religious instruction, based on the fundamental tenets of Hinduism. The College prepared students for the M. Three years earlier, the management and control of the College had passed from the hands of its original trustees to the Hindu University Society, which was carrying on the work of inaugurating the present University.

They followed the Scout Law, although the boys wore Indian turbans and sang Indian songs. When a request was sent to the founder of the international movement of Boys Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell, to recognize the Indian troops as part of the international organization, he refused. She then began to campaign for it, publishing an article in her newspaper New India on October 13, an article entitled "Why not Indian Scouts?

A few other organizations began to be formed in the country. Inwhen Besant had gathered more than 20, members, Baden-Powell came to India, and recognized all the different Scout organizations in the country as part of the international movement. He conferred upon her the Badge of the Silver Wolf, a great honor. It was sent to her by the Viceroy of India, who included a personal letter.

InMrs. Besant received a letter from Mahatma K. In editionsbefore the First Series was resequenced inthis was called Letter 46 This is often referred to as the " letter" because it was received many years after the last known letter from the Mahatmas. Due to this timing, doubt has sometimes been cast on the origin of the letter.

Life of annie besant biography wikipedia: Annie Besant (née Wood; 1 October

As President, Mrs. Besant supervised all the departments of the Adyar headquarters estate ; edited The Theosophist ; and advised in the management of the Theosophical Publishing House and the Vasanta Pressas well as lecturing throughout the world. Besant worked from a. She took her supper at Members of the Theosophical Society Adyar around the world regularly recite an invocation penned by Mrs.

Besant's beautiful and famous invocation repeated by all:" [32]. The words were set to music at least twice, by Charles Elliott Fouser and by J. Eleanor Stakesby-Lewis, [33] and another member, W. Perrins, proposed yet another version. Throughout all the years of her social activism and Theosophical work, Dr. Besant was much in demand as a public speaker.

More information will be found at Besant lectures. In the United States, Mrs. A school was not formed immediately, but with the efforts of J. Besant left a large body of books and pamphlets, which are listed in Besant writings.

Life of annie besant biography wikipedia: Annie Besant was a

She also wrote hundreds of magazine articles and editorials. Over articles written for periodicals of the Theosophical Society located in Adyar are documented in the Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals under the name Annie Besant. InDr. Besant made her final tour of the United States, and On September 2, she spoke to members on the Olcott campus in a farewell address.

On September 20, Annie Besant passed away just before her 85th birthday. She was cremated in Adyar with great ceremony. 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.

The late nineteenth century was a period of growing working class agitation, increased by poor working conditions and high unemployment. Ina mass rally against unemployment was held in Trafalgar Square, at which Annie Besant was a key speaker at the event. The rally was disrupted by the police leading to one death and many injuries. 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. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.

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