Annie Besant | |
|---|---|
 Annie Besant as a young woman | |
| Born | Annie Wood (1847-10-01)1 October 1847 Clapham, London, England |
| Died | 20 September 1933(1933-09-20) (aged 85) |
| Known for | Theosophist,women's rights activist, writer and orator |
| Political party | Indian National Congress Social Democratic Federation |
| Movement | Irish Home Rule Indian independence movement |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Arthur,Mabel,Jiddu Krishnamurti (adopted) |
| Part of a series on |
| Theosophy |
|---|
 There Is No Religion Higher Than Truth |
Theosophists |
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Annie Besant (/ˈbɛzənt/;[1]néeWood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an Englishsocialist,theosophist,freemason,women's rights and Home Rule activist,educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism.[2][3][4] She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indianself-rule.[2] She became the first female president of theIndian National Congress in 1917.
She became a prominent speaker for theNational Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend ofCharles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaignerCharles Knowlton. Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including theBloody Sunday demonstration and theLondon matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for both theFabian Society and the MarxistSocial Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to theLondon School Board forTower Hamlets, topping the poll, even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.
In 1890 Besant metHelena Blavatsky, and over the next few years her interest intheosophy grew, whilst her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of theTheosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. As part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish theCentral Hindu School, and in 1922 she helped establish theHyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Bombay (today'sMumbai), India. The Theosophical Society Auditorium inHyderabad, Sindh (Sindh) is called Besant Hall in her honour. 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 theBritish Empire. In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were, by then, located inAdyar,Madras (Chennai).
Besant also became involved in politics in India, joining theIndian National Congress.[2] WhenWorld War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch theHome Rule League to campaign for democracy in India, and dominion status within the British Empire. This led to her election as president of the Indian National Congress, in late 1917. In the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé and adopted sonJiddu Krishnamurti, who she claimed was the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929. After the war, she continued to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, she died in 1933.
Annie Wood was born on 1 October 1847 inLondon, the daughter of William Burton Persse Wood (1816–1852) and his wife Emily Roche Morris (died 1874). Her father was English, attendedTrinity College Dublin, and attained a medical degree; her mother was anIrish Catholic. Her paternal grandfather Robert Wright Wood was a brother ofSir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet.[5]
Wood's father died when she was five years old, leaving a son, Henry Trueman Wood, and Annie, his one daughter. Her mother supported Henry's education atHarrow School, by running a boarding house there. Annie was fostered by Ellen Marryat, sister of the authorFrederick Marryat, who ran a school atCharmouth, until age 16. She returned to her mother at Harrow self-confident, aware of a sense of duty to society, and under the influence of theTractarians.[6] As a young woman, she was also able to travel in Europe.[7][8]
In summer 1867, Wood and her mother stayed atPendleton near Manchester with the radical solicitorWilliam Prowting Roberts, who questioned Wood's political assumptions.[9][10] In December of that year, at age 20, Annie married the cleric Frank Besant (1840–1917), younger brother ofWalter Besant, an evangelical, seriousAnglican.[6]
The Rev. Frank Besant was a graduate ofEmmanuel College, Cambridge, ordained priest in 1866, but had no living: in 1866 he was teaching atStockwell Grammar School as second master, and in 1867 he moved to teach atCheltenham College as assistant master.[11][12] In 1872, he became vicar ofSibsey in Lincolnshire, a benefice in the gift of theLord Chancellor—who wasLord Hatherley, a Wood family connection, son of Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet.[6] The Besant family, with their two children, Arthur andMabel, moved to Sibsey, but the marriage was already under strain. As Besant wrote in herAutobiography, "we were an ill-matched pair".[13]
Money was short and Frank Besant was stingy. Annie Besant was sure a third child would impose too much on the family finances.[6] She wrote short stories, books for children, and articles, the money she earned being controlled by her husband.
Besant began to question her own faith, after her daughter Mabel was seriously ill in 1871.[6] She consultedEdward Bouverie Pusey: by post he gave her advice along orthodox,Bampton Lecture lines, and in person he sharply reprimanded her unorthodox theological tendencies.[14] She attended in London, with her mother, a service atSt George's Hall given by the heterodox clericCharles Voysey, in autumn 1871, and struck up an acquaintance with the Voyseys, reading in "theistic" authors such asTheodore Parker andFrancis Newman on Voysey's recommendation.[15] Voysey also introduced Besant to the freethinker and publisherThomas Scott. Encouraged by Scott, Besant wrote an anonymous pamphletOn the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, by "the wife of a beneficed clergyman", which appeared in 1872.[6] Ellen Dana Conway, wife ofMoncure Conway befriended Annie at this time.[16]
The Besants made an effort to repair the marriage. The tension came to a head when Annie Besant refused to attendCommunion, which Frank Besant demanded, now fearing for his own reputation and position in the Church.[6] In 1873 she left him and went to London. She had a temporary place to stay, with Moncure Conway.[17] The Scotts found her a small house in Colby Road,Upper Norwood.[18]
The couple were legally separated and Annie Besant took her daughter Mabel with her, the agreement of 25 October 1873 giving her custody. Annie remained with 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 1878 Frank Besant successfully argued her unfitness, after Annie Besant's public campaigning oncontraception, and had custody from then of both children. Later, Annie Besant was reconciled with her son and daughter.[6] Her son Arthur Digby Besant (1869–1960) was President of the Institute of Actuaries, 1924–26, and wroteThe Besant Pedigree (1930).[19] Initially in London, Besant attempted to support her daughter, her mother (who died the following year) and herself withneedlework.[17]
Besant began in 1874 to write for theNational Reformer, the organ of theNational Secular Society (NSS), run byCharles Bradlaugh.[17] She also continued to write for Thomas Scott's small press.[6] On the account given byW. T. Stead, Besant had encountered theNational Reformer on sale in the shop ofEdward Truelove.[20] Besant had heard of Bradlaugh from Moncure Conway.[17] She wrote to Bradlaugh and was accepted as an NSS member. She first heard him speak on 2 August 1874.[20]Through Bradlaugh, Besant met and became a supporter ofJoseph Arch, the farmworkers' leader.[21]
Her career as a platform speaker began on 25 August 1874, with topic "The Political Status of Women".[17] The lecture was at the Co-operative Hall, Castle Street,Long Acre in Covent Garden.[22] It was followed in September by an invitation from Moncure Conway to speak at his Camden Town church on "The True Basis of Morality".[23] Besant published an essay under this title, in 1882.[24] She was a prolific writer and a powerful orator.[25] She addressed causes includingfreedom of thought, women's rights,secularism,birth control,Fabian socialism andworkers' rights.Margaret Cole called her "the finest woman orator and organiser of her day".[26]
Besant opined that for centuries the leaders ofChristian 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."[27] In the section named "Its Evidences Unreliable" of her work "Christianity", Besant presents the case of why theGospels are not authentic: "before about A.D. 180 there is no trace ofFOUR gospels among the Christians."[28]
Besant and Bradlaugh set up theFreethought Publishing Company at the beginning of 1877;[6] it followed the 1876 prosecution ofCharles Watts, and they carried on his work.[29] They became household names later that year, when they publishedFruits of Philosophy, a book by the American birth-control campaignerCharles Knowlton. 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.[30] The Knowlton book was highly controversial and was vigorously opposed by the Church. Besant and Bradlaugh proclaimed in theNational Reformer:
We intend to publish nothing we do not think we can morally defend. All that we publish we shall defend.[31]
The pair were arrested and put on trial for publishing the Knowlton book. They were found guilty but released pending appeal. The trial became acause célèbre, and ultimately the verdict was overturned on a technical legal point.[32]
Besant was then instrumental in founding theMalthusian League, reviving a name coined earlier by Bradlaugh. It would go on to advocate for the abolition of penalties for the promotion of contraception.[33] Besant and Bradlaugh supported the Malthusian League for some 12 years. They were concerned with birth control, but were notneo-Malthusians in the sense of convinced believers in the tradition ofThomas Malthus and his demographic theories.[34] Besant did advocatepopulation control as an antidote to thestruggle for survival.[35] She became the secretary of the League, withCharles Robert Drysdale as President.[36] In time the League veered towardseugenics, and it was from the outset anindividualist organisation, also for many members supportive of asocial conservatism that was not Besant's view.[37] Her pamphletThe Law of Population (1878) sold well.[6]
Besant was a leading member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh.[38] She attacked the status of theChurch of England asestablished church. 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. On 6 March 1881 she spoke at the opening ofLeicester Secular Society's newSecular Hall in Humberstone Gate, Leicester. The other speakers wereGeorge Jacob Holyoake,Harriet Law and Bradlaugh.[39]
Bradlaugh was elected to Parliament in 1881. Because of his atheism, he asked to be allowed toaffirm, rather 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 tosocialism in any form. While he defended free speech, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy.[40][41]
Edward Aveling, a rising star in the National Secular Society, tutored Besant during 1879, and she went on to a degree course at London University.[6][42] Then, 1879 to 1882, she was a student of physical sciences atBirkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution. Embarrassed by her activist reputation, the Institution omitted her name from the published list of graduands, and mailed her certificates to her.[43] When Aveling in a speech in 1884 announced he had become a socialist after five years close study, Besant argued that his politics over that whole period had been aligned with Bradlaugh's and her own.[44] Aveling andEleanor Marx joined theSocial Democratic Federation, followers ofMarxism, and then theSocialist League, a small Marxist splinter group which formed around the artistWilliam Morris. In 1883 Besant started her own periodical,Our Corner.[45] It was a literary and in time a socialist monthly, and publishedGeorge Bernard Shaw's novelThe Irrational Knot in serial form.[29]
Meanwhile, Besant built close contacts with theIrish 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 knowMichael 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.
Bradlaugh's family circumstances changed in May 1877 with the death of his wife Susannah, analcoholic who had left him forJames Thomson. His two children, Alice then aged 21, andHypatia then 19, returned to live with him from his in-laws. He had been able to take a house inSt John's Wood in February of that year, at 20 Circus Road, near Besant. They continued what had become a close friendship.[46]
Besant made an abrupt public change in her political views, at the 1885 New Year's Day meeting of the London Dialectical Society, founded byJoseph Hiam Levy to promote individualist views.[47][48] It followed a noted public debate atSt. James's Hall on 17 April 1884, onWill Socialism Benefit the English People?, in which Bradlaugh had put individualist views, against the Marxist line ofHenry Hyndman.[49] On that occasion Besant still supported Bradlaugh. While Bradlaugh may have had the better of the debate, followers then began to migrate into left-wing politics.[47][50] George Bernard Shaw was the speaker on 1 January 1885, talking on socialism, but, instead of the expected criticism from Besant, he saw her opposing his opponent. Shaw then sponsored Besant to join theFabian Society.[47]
The Fabians were defining political goals, rejectinganarchism in 1886, and forming the Fabian Parliamentary League, with both Besant and Shaw on its Council which promoted political candidacy.[51] Unemployment was a central issue of the time, and in 1887 some of the London unemployed started to hold protests inTrafalgar Square. 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.[52] The events became known asBloody Sunday. Besant threw herself into organising legal aid for the jailed workers and support for their families.[53] In its aftermath the Law and Liberty League, defendingfreedom of expression, was formed by Besant and others, and Besant became editor ofThe Link, its journal.[6]
Besant's involvement in theLondon matchgirls strike of 1888 came after a Fabian Society talk that year onfemale labour byClementina Black. Besant wrote inThe Link about conditions at theBryant & May match factory. She was drawn further into this battle of the "New Unionism" by a young socialist,Herbert Burrows, who had made contact with workers at the factory, inBow. They were mainly young women, were very poorly paid, and subject to occupational disease, such asPhossy jaw caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture.[54][55] Louise Raw inStriking a Light (2011) has, however, contested the historiography of the strike, stating that "A proper examination of the primary evidence about the strike makes it impossible to continue to believe that Annie Besant led it."[56]
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 1888. 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 theLondon School Board in 1888.[57] Women at that time were not able to take part in parliamentary politics but had been brought into the London local electorate in 1881. Besant drove about with a red ribbon in her hair, speaking at meetings. "No more hungry children", her manifesto proclaimed. She combined her socialist principles with feminism:
"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."
From the early 1880s Besant had also been an important feminist leader in London, withAlice Vickery, Ellen Dana Moncure andMillicent Fawcett. This group, at theSouth Place Ethical Society, had a national standing.[58] She frequented the home ofRichard andEmmeline Pankhurst onRussell Square, and Emmeline had participated in the matchgirl organisation.[59][60] Besant came out on top of the poll inTower Hamlets, with over 15,000 votes. She wrote in theNational 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."[61]
Financial constraints meant that Besant closed down bothOur Corner andThe Link at the end of 1888.[62]
Besant was further involved in theLondon dock strike of 1889. The dockers,casual workers who were employed by the day, were led byBen 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.[63]
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In 1889, Besant was asked to write a review for thePall Mall Gazette[64] onThe Secret Doctrine, a book byH. P. Blavatsky. 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 (1890) and broke her links with the Marxists.[65]
In herAutobiography, Besant follows her chapter on "Socialism" with "Through Storm to Peace", the peace of Theosophy. In 1888, she 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.[66] When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at theChicago World Fair.[67]
In 1893, soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society, she went to India for the first time.[68] After adispute the American section split away into an independent organisation. The original society, then led byHenry Steel Olcott and Besant, is today based inChennai, India, and is known as theTheosophical Society Adyar. Following the split, Besant devoted much of her energy not only to the society but also to India's freedom and progress.Besant Nagar, a neighbourhood near the Theosophical Society in Chennai, is named in her honour.[69]
In 1893, she was a representative of The Theosophical Society at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. The World Parliament is famous in India because Indian monkSwami Vivekananda addressed the same event.
In September 1894, Besant arrived inAustralia, where she lectured inMelbourne andSydney. In October 1894, she wrote back to the Adyar headquarters fromDunedin, New Zealand, claiming to have reformed the Theosophical Society inAustralasia.[70] At the Society's Australasian convention in the same year, her followers forcedWilliam Quan Judge to resign as vice-president; he left the Society in April 1895 together with the entire US section.[71]
In 1895, together with the founder-president of the Theosophical Society,Henry Steel Olcott, as well asMarie Musaeus Higgins andPeter De Abrew, she was instrumental in developing the Buddhist school,Musaeus College, in Colombo on the island of Sri Lanka.
Besant saw freemasonry, in particularCo-Freemasonry, as an extension of her interest in the rights of women and the greater brotherhood of man and saw co-freemasonry as a "movement which practised true brotherhood, in which women and men worked side by side for the perfecting of humanity. She immediately wanted to be admitted to this organisation", known now as theInternational Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, "Le Droit Humain".
The link was made in 1902 by the theosophist Francesca Arundale, who accompanied Besant to Paris, along with six friends. "They were all initiated, passed, and raised into the first three degrees and Annie returned to England, bearing a Charter and founded there the first Lodge of International Mixed Masonry, Le Droit Humain." Besant eventually became the Order's Most Puissant Grand Commander and was a major influence in the international growth of the Order.[72]
Besant met fellow theosophistCharles Webster Leadbeater in London in April 1894. They became close co-workers in the theosophical movement and would remain so for the rest of their lives. Leadbeater claimedclairvoyance and reputedly helped Besant become clairvoyant herself in the following year. In a letter dated 25 August 1895 to Francisca Arundale, Leadbeater narrates how Besant became clairvoyant. Together they clairvoyantly investigated the universe, matter, thought-forms, and the history of mankind, and co-authored a book calledOccult Chemistry.
In 1906 Leadbeater became the centre of controversy when it emerged that he had advised the practice of masturbation to some boys under his care and spiritual instruction. Leadbeater stated he had encouraged the practice to keep the boys celibate, which was considered a prerequisite for advancement on the spiritual path.[73] Because of the controversy, he offered to resign from the Theosophical Society in 1906, which was accepted. The next year Besant became president of the society and in 1908, with her express support, Leadbeater was readmitted to the society. Leadbeater went on to face accusations of improper relations with boys, but none of the accusations were ever proven and Besant never deserted him.[74]
Until Besant's presidency, the society had as one of its fociTheravadaBuddhism and the island ofSri Lanka, where Henry Olcott did the majority of his useful work.[75] Under Besant's leadership there was more stress on the teachings of "The Aryavarta", as she called central India, as well as on esoteric Christianity.[76]
Besant set up a new school for boys, theCentral Hindu College (CHC) atBanaras which was formed on underlying theosophical principles, and which counted many prominent theosophists in its staff and faculty. Its aim was to build a new leadership for India. The students spent 90 minutes a day in prayer and studied religious texts, but they also studied modern science. It took 3 years to raise the money for the CHC, most of which came from Indian princes.[77] In April 1911, Besant met PanditMadan Mohan Malaviya and they decided to unite their forces and work for a common Hindu University at Banaras. Besant and fellow trustees of the Central Hindu College also agreed to the Government of India's precondition that the college should become a part of the new University. TheBanaras Hindu University started functioning from 1 October 1917 with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent college.
Blavatsky had stated in 1889 that the main purpose of establishing the society was to prepare humanity for the future reception of a "torch-bearer of Truth", an emissary of a hiddenSpiritual Hierarchy that, according to theosophists, guides the evolution of mankind.[78] This was repeated by Besant as early as 1896; Besant came to believe in the imminent appearance of the "emissary", who was identified by theosophists as the so-calledWorld Teacher.[79][80]
In 1909, soon after Besant's assumption of the presidency, Leadbeater "discovered" fourteen-year-oldJiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), a South Indian boy who had been living, with his father and brother, on the grounds of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society atAdyar, and declared him the probable "vehicle" for the expected "World Teacher".[81] The "discovery" and its objective received widespread publicity and attracted a worldwide following, mainly among theosophists. It also started years of upheaval and contributed to splits in the Theosophical Society and doctrinal schisms in theosophy. Following the discovery, Jiddu Krishnamurti and his younger brother Nityananda ("Nitya") were placed under the care of theosophists and Krishnamurti was extensively groomed for his future mission as the new vehicle for the "World Teacher". Besant soon became the boys'legal guardian with the consent of their father, who was very poor and could not take care of them. However, his father later changed his mind and began a legal battle to regain guardianship, against the will of the boys.[82] Early in their relationship, Krishnamurti and Besant had developed a very close bond and he considered her a surrogate mother – a role she happily accepted. (His biological mother had died when he was ten years old.)[83]
In 1929, twenty years after his "discovery", Krishnamurti, who had grown disenchanted with theWorld Teacher Project, repudiated the role that many theosophists expected him to fulfil. He dissolved theOrder of the Star in the East, an organisation founded to assist the World Teacher in his mission, and eventually left theTheosophical Society and theosophy at large.[84] He spent the rest of his life travelling the world as an unaffiliated speaker, becoming in the process widely known as an original, independent thinker on philosophical, psychological, and spiritual subjects. His love for Besant never waned, as also was the case with Besant's feelings towards him;[85] concerned for his wellbeing after he declared his independence, she had purchased 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land near the Theosophical Society estate which later became the headquarters of the Krishnamurti Foundation India.
As early as 1902 Besant had written that "India is not ruled for the prospering of the people, but rather for the profit of her conquerors, and her sons are being treated as a conquered race." She encouraged Indian national consciousness, attackedcaste and child marriage, and worked effectively for Indian education.[86] Along with her theosophical activities, Besant continued to actively participate in political matters. She had joined theIndian 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 inBritish Indian government. It had not yet developed into a permanent mass movement with a local organisation. About this time her co-worker Leadbeater moved to Sydney.
In 1914,World War I broke out, and Britain asked for the support of its Empire in the fight againstGermany. Echoing an Irish nationalist slogan, Besant declared, "England's need is India's opportunity". As editor of theNew India newspaper, she attacked thecolonial 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.[citation needed]
In 1916, Besant launched theAll India Home Rule League along withLokmanya Tilak, once again modelling demands for India on Irish nationalist practices. This was the first political party in India to have regime change as its main goal. Unlike the Congress itself, the League worked all year round. It built a structure of local branches, enabling it to mobilise demonstrations, public meetings, and agitations. In June 1917, Besant was arrested and interned at ahill station, where she defiantly flew a red and green flag.[87] The Congress and theMuslim League together threatened to launch protests if she were not set free; Besant's arrest had created a focus for protest.[88]
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. Besant was freed in September 1917, welcomed by crowds all over India,[89][90] and in December she took over as president of the Indian National Congress for a year. BothJawaharlal Nehru andMahatma Gandhi spoke of Besant's influence with admiration.[86]
After the war, a new leadership of the Indian National Congress emerged aroundMahatma Gandhi – one of those who had written to demand Besant's release. He was a lawyer who had returned from leading Asians in a peaceful struggle against racism in South Africa.Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi's closest collaborator, had been educated by a theosophist tutor.
The new leadership was committed to action that was both militant and non-violent, but there were differences between them and Besant. 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.[91] In her own version of Indian dress, she remained a striking presence on speakers' platforms. She produced a torrent of letters and articles demanding independence.
Besant tried as a person, theosophist, and president of the Theosophical Society, to accommodate Krishnamurti's views into her life, without success; she vowed to personally follow him in his new direction although she apparently had trouble understanding both his motives and his new message.[92] The two remained friends until the end of her life.
In 1931, she became ill in India.[93]
Besant died on 20 September 1933, at age 85, inAdyar, Madras Presidency, British India. Her body wascremated.[94][95]
She was survived by her daughter,Mabel. After her death, colleaguesJiddu Krishnamurti,Aldous Huxley, Guido Ferrando, andRosalind Rajagopal, built the Happy Valley School in California, now renamed theBesant Hill School of Happy Valley in her honour.
Widely recognized as a pioneer of women's birth control[96] and for her contributions to the Indian freedom movement,[97] roads have been named in her honour in the Indian citiesMumbai[98] andPatna.[99] TheBesant Road in the city of Vijayawada was named after her. InChennai, a residential neighborhood,Besant Nagar, and an urban park, theDr. Annie Besant Park, have also been named in her honour.
TheBesant Theosophical College, established in 1917, inMadanapalle is one of the oldest colleges in theRayalaseema region ofAndhra Pradesh, India. In 2023, plans were announced to upgrade this college to a university called the Annie Besant University.[100]
On 1 October 2015, search engine Google commemorated Annie Besant with aDoodle on her 168th birth anniversary. Google commented: "A fierce advocate of Indian self-rule, Annie Besant loved the language, and over a lifetime of vigorous study cultivated tremendous abilities as a writer and orator. She published mountains of essays, wrote a textbook, curated anthologies of classic literature for young adults and eventually became editor of the New India newspaper, a periodical dedicated to the cause of Indian Autonomy".[101]
In his book,Rebels Against the Raj,Ramchandra Guha tells the story of how Besant and six other foreigners servedIndia in its quest for independence from theBritish Raj.[102]
In 2016, an exhibition calledIntention to Know, focusing on Besant's "thought forms",[103] was curated at theStony Island Arts Bank,Chicago.[104]
Besides being a prolific writer, Besant was a "practisedstump orator" who gave sixty-six public lectures in one year. She also engaged in public debates.[25]
List of Works on Online BooksAnnie Besant (Besant, Annie, 1847-1933) | The Online Books Page
List of Work on Open LibraryAnnie Wood Besant
Indian National Movement
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Mrs. Annie Besant, 84-year-old Theosophist, is so ill, it was learned today, that she is unable to take nourishment.
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