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Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English , theosophist, , women's rights and Home Rule activist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian . She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner . Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for both the and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to the London School Board for , topping the poll, even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.

In 1890 Besant met , and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grew, whilst her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. As part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu School, and in 1922 she helped establish the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Bombay (today's ), India. The Theosophical Society Auditorium in Hyderabad, Sindh () is called Besant Hall in her honor. In 1902, she established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Over the next few years, she established lodges in many parts of the . In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were, by then, located in Adyar, ().

Besant also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India, and dominion status within the 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 son Jiddu 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, until her death in 1933.


Early life
Annie Wood was born on 1 October 1847 in , the daughter of William Burton Persse Wood (1816–1852) and his wife Emily Roche Morris (died 1874). Her father was English, attended Trinity College Dublin, and attained a medical degree; her mother was an . Her paternal grandfather Robert Wright Wood was a brother of Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet.

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 , by running a boarding house there. Annie was fostered by Ellen Marryat, sister of the author Frederick Marryat, who ran a school at , 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 the . As a young woman, she was also able to travel in Europe.

(2010). 9781608992621, Wipf and Stock Publishers. .
(2017). 9780857281944, Anthem Press. .

In summer 1867, Wood and her mother stayed at Pendleton near Manchester with the radical solicitor William Prowting Roberts, who questioned Wood's political assumptions. In December of that year, at age 20, Annie married the cleric Frank Besant (1840–1917), younger brother of , an evangelical, serious .


Marriage and separation
The Rev. Frank Besant was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, ordained priest in 1866, but had no living: in 1866 he was teaching at Grammar School as second master, and in 1867 he moved to teach at Cheltenham College as assistant master.
(2022). 9783375045500, BoD – Books on Demand. .
In 1872, he became vicar of in Lincolnshire, a benefice in the gift of the —who was , a Wood family connection, son of Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet. The Besant family, with their two children, Arthur and Mabel, moved to Sibsey, but the marriage was already under strain. 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. 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. She consulted Edward Bouverie Pusey: by post he gave her advice along orthodox, lines, and in person he sharply reprimanded her unorthodox theological tendencies. She attended in London, with her mother, a service at St George's Hall given by the heterodox cleric Charles Voysey, in autumn 1871, and struck up an acquaintance with the Voyseys, reading in "theistic" authors such as and on Voysey's recommendation. Voysey also introduced Besant to the freethinker and publisher Thomas Scott. Encouraged by Scott, Besant wrote an anonymous pamphlet On the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth, by "the wife of a beneficed clergyman", which appeared in 1872. Ellen Dana Conway, wife of befriended Annie at this time.

The Besants made an effort to repair the marriage. The tension came to a head when Annie Besant refused to attend , which Frank Besant demanded, now fearing for his own reputation and position in the Church. In 1873 she left him and went to London. She had a temporary place to stay, with Moncure Conway.

(1979). 9780704332515, Quartet Books.
The Scotts found her a small house in Colby Road, .

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 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 on , and had custody from then of both children. Later, Annie Besant was reconciled with her son and daughter. Her son Arthur Digby Besant (1869–1960) was President of the Institute of Actuaries, 1924–26, and wrote The Besant Pedigree (1930). Initially in London, Besant attempted to support her daughter, her mother (who died the following year) and herself with .


Reformer and secularist
Besant began in 1874 to write for the National Reformer, the organ of the National Secular Society (NSS), run by Charles Bradlaugh. She also continued to write for Thomas Scott's small press. On the account given by W. T. Stead, Besant had encountered the National Reformer on sale in the shop of . Besant had heard of Bradlaugh from Moncure Conway. She wrote to Bradlaugh and was accepted as an NSS member. She first heard him speak on 2 August 1874. Through Bradlaugh, Besant met and became a supporter of , the farmworkers' leader.

Her career as a platform speaker began on 25 August 1874, with topic "The Political Status of Women". The lecture was at the Co-operative Hall, Castle Street, in Covent Garden. It was followed in September by an invitation from Moncure Conway to speak at his Camden Town church on "The True Basis of Morality". Besant published an essay under this title, in 1882.

(2025). 9780197628225, Oxford University Press. .
She was a prolific writer and a powerful orator.Mark Bevir, The Making of British Socialism (Princeton University, 2011), 202. She addressed causes including freedom of thought, women's rights, , , and workers' rights. called her "the finest woman orator and organiser of her day".


Criticism of Christianity
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, Annie Wood (1893). Annie Besant : an autobiography. London : T. Fisher Unwin. Chapter VII. In the section named "Its Evidences Unreliable" of her work "Christianity", Besant presents the case of why the are not authentic: "before about A.D. 180 there is no trace of FOUR gospels among the Christians."1876: "Christianity", The freethinker's text-book, Part II. (Issued by authority of the National Secular Society)


The Fruits of Philosophy
Besant and Bradlaugh set up the Freethought Publishing Company at the beginning of 1877; it followed the 1876 prosecution of Charles Watts, and they carried on his work.
(2025). 9789038213408, Academia Press. .
They became household names later that year, when they published Fruits of Philosophy, a book by the American birth-control campaigner . 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. A publication about birth control. View original copy. The Knowlton book was highly controversial and was vigorously opposed by the Church. 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. The trial became a cause célèbre, and ultimately the verdict was overturned on a technical legal point.

(2022). 9780761873433, Rowman & Littlefield. .

Besant was then instrumental in founding the Malthusian League, reviving a name coined earlier by Bradlaugh. It would go on to advocate for the abolition of penalties for the promotion of contraception. Besant and Bradlaugh supported the Malthusian League for some 12 years. They were concerned with birth control, but were not in the sense of convinced believers in the tradition of and his demographic theories.

(1976). 9780814202579, Columbus : Ohio State University. .
Besant did advocate population control as an antidote to the struggle for survival.
(1976). 9780814202579, Columbus : Ohio State University. .
She became the secretary of the League, with Charles Robert Drysdale as President.
(2025). 9789042008519, Rodopi. .
In time the League veered towards , and it was from the outset an organisation, also for many members supportive of a social conservatism that was not Besant's view. Her pamphlet The Law of Population (1878) sold well.


Radical causes
Besant was a leading member of the National Secular Society alongside Charles Bradlaugh.MacKillop, I. D. (1986) The British Ethical Societies, Cambridge University Press. Accessed 13 May 2014. She attacked the status of the Church of England as established 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 of Leicester Secular Society's new Secular Hall in Humberstone Gate, Leicester. The other speakers were George Jacob Holyoake, and Bradlaugh.

Bradlaugh was elected to Parliament in 1881. Because of his atheism, he asked to be allowed to affirm, 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 to in any form. While he defended free speech, he was very cautious about encouraging working-class militancy.Theresa Notare, A Revolution in Christian Morals: Lambeth 1930-Resolution #15. History and Reception (ProQuest, 2008), 188.

, a rising star in the National Secular Society, tutored Besant during 1879, and she went on to a degree course at London University.

(1979). 9780704332515, Quartet Books.
Then, 1879 to 1882, she was a student of physical sciences at Birkbeck 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. 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.
(2018). 9781786635945, Verso Books. .
Aveling and joined the Social Democratic Federation, followers of , and then the Socialist League, a small Marxist splinter group which formed around the artist . In 1883 Besant started her own periodical, Our Corner. It was a literary and in time a socialist monthly, and published George Bernard Shaw's novel The Irrational Knot in serial form.

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 , 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.


Personal life
Bradlaugh's family circumstances changed in May 1877 with the death of his wife Susannah, an 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. He had been able to take a house in St John's Wood in February of that year, at 20 Circus Road, near Besant. They continued what had become a close friendship.


Fabian Society 1885–1890
Besant made an abrupt public change in her political views, at the 1885 New Year's Day meeting of the London Dialectical Society, founded by Joseph Hiam Levy to promote individualist views.
(1979). 9780704332515, Quartet Books.
(1991). 9780271015484, Penn State Press. .
It followed a noted public debate at St. James's Hall on 17 April 1884, on Will Socialism Benefit the English People?, in which Bradlaugh had put individualist views, against the Marxist line of .
(1980). 9780719007835, Manchester University Press. .
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.
(2000). 9781461636229, New Amsterdam Books. .
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 the .

The Fabians were defining political goals, rejecting in 1886, and forming the Fabian Parliamentary League, with both Besant and Shaw on its Council which promoted political candidacy.

(2016). 9780691173726, Princeton University Press. .
Unemployment was a central issue of the time, and in 1887 some of the London unemployed started to hold protests in . 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.Sally Peters, Bernard Shaw: The Ascent of the Superman (Yale University, 1996), 94. The events became known as Bloody Sunday. Besant threw herself into organising legal aid for the jailed workers and support for their families.Kumar, Raj, Annie Besant's Rise to Power in Indian Politics, 1914–1917 (Concept Publishing, 1981), 36. In its aftermath the Law and Liberty League, defending freedom of expression, was formed by Besant and others, and Besant became editor of The Link, its journal.

Besant's involvement in the London matchgirls strike of 1888 came after a Fabian Society talk that year on by . Besant wrote in The Link about conditions at the Bryant & May match factory. She was drawn further into this battle of the "New Unionism" by a young socialist, , who 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 caused by the chemicals used in match manufacture.

(2020). 9781408880418, Bloomsbury USA. .
"White slavery in London" The Link, Issue no. 21 (via Tower Hamlets' Local History Library and Archives) Louise Raw in Striking 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."
(2011). 9781441121042, Bloomsbury Publishing. .

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 the London School Board in 1888.Edward R. Pease, The History of the Fabian Society (E. P. Dutton, 1916, rpt Aware Journalism, 2014), 179. 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, with , Ellen Dana Moncure and Millicent Fawcett. This group, at the South Place Ethical Society, had a national standing.

(2023). 9781350136618, Bloomsbury Academic. .
She frequented the home of Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst on , and Emmeline had participated in the matchgirl organisation.
(2020). 9781408880418, Bloomsbury USA. .
(2003). 9781134341917, Routledge. .
Besant came out on top of the poll in , with over 15,000 votes. She wrote in the National 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."Jyoti Chandra, ''Annie Besant: from theosophy to nationalism'' (K.K. Publications, 2001), 17.

Financial constraints meant that Besant closed down both Our Corner and The Link at the end of 1888.

Besant was further involved in the London dock strike of 1889. The dockers, who were employed by the day, were led by 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.Margaret Cole, The Story of Fabian Socialism (Stanford University, 1961), 34.


Theosophy
In 1889, Besant was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall GazetteLutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening, Avon/Discus. 1983. p 13 on The Secret Doctrine, a book by H. 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.
(1979). 9780704332515, Quartet Books.

In her Autobiography, 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.Annie Besant, Annie Besant: an Autobiography (Unwin 1908), 330, 338, 340, 344, 357. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair.Emmett A. Greenwalt, The Point Loma Community in California, 1897–1942: A Theosophical Experiment (University of California, 1955), 10.

In 1893, soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society, she went to India for the first time.Kumari Jayawardena, The White Woman's Other Burden (Routledge, 1995, 62.) After a dispute the American section split away into an independent organisation. The original society, then led by Henry Steel Olcott and Besant, is today based in , India, and is known as the Theosophical Society Adyar. Following the split, Besant devoted much of her energy not only to the society but also to India's freedom and progress. , a neighbourhood near the Theosophical Society in Chennai, is named in her honour.

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 monk Swami Vivekananda addressed the same event.

In September 1894, Besant arrived in , where she lectured in and . In October 1894, she wrote back to the Adyar headquarters from , New Zealand, claiming to have reformed the Theosophical Society in . At the Society's Australasian convention in the same year, her followers forced William Quan Judge to resign as vice-president; he left the Society in April 1895 together with the entire US section.

In 1895, together with the founder-president of the Theosophical Society, Henry Steel Olcott, as well as Marie Musaeus Higgins and Peter De Abrew, she was instrumental in developing the Buddhist school, , in Colombo on the island of Sri Lanka.


Co-freemasonry
Besant saw freemasonry, in particular , 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 the International 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.The International Bulletin, 20 September 1933, The International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, Le Droit Humain. "In a very short time, Sister Besant founded new lodges: three in London, three in the south of England, three in the North and North-West; she even organised one in Scotland. Travelling in 1904 with her sisters and brothers she met in the Netherlands, other brethren of male obedience, who, being interested, collaborated in the further expansion of Le Droit Humain. Annie continued to work with such ardour that soon new lodges were formed in Great Britain, South America, Canada, India, Ceylon, Australia, and New Zealand. The lodges in all these countries were united under the name of the British Federation."


President of Theosophical Society
Besant met fellow theosophist Charles 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 claimed 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 called .

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. Charles Webster Leadbeater 1854–1934: A Biographical Study, by Gregory John Tillett, 2008 . 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.Besant, Annie (2 June 1913). "Naranian v. Besant". Letters. (London). p. 7. .

Until Besant's presidency, the society had as one of its foci and the island of , where Henry Olcott did the majority of his useful work.Blavatsky and Olcott had become Buddhists in Sri Lanka and promoted Buddhist revival on the subcontinent. See also: Maha Bodhi Society. 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.M. K. Singh, Encyclopaedia Of Indian War Of Independence (1857–1947) (Anmol Publications, 2009) 118.

Besant set up a new school for boys, the Central Hindu College (CHC) at 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.Kumari Jayawardena, The White Woman's Other Burden (Routledge, 1995), 128. In April 1911, Besant met Pandit Madan 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. The Banaras 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 hidden Spiritual Hierarchy that, according to theosophists, guides the evolution of mankind. (1889). The Key to Theosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company. pp. 306–307. 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-called .Lutyens, p. 12.Wessinger, Catherine Lowman (1988). Annie Besant and Progressive Messianism, 1847–1933. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. .


"World Teacher" project
In 1909, soon after Besant's assumption of the presidency, Leadbeater "discovered" fourteen-year-old Jiddu 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 at Adyar, and declared him the probable "vehicle" for the expected "World Teacher". (1975). . New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. Hardcover. pp. 20–21. . 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.Lutyens ch. 7. 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.)Lutyens p. 5. Also in p. 31, Krishnamurti's letter to Besant dated 24 December 1909, and in p. 62, letter dated 5 January 1913.

In 1929, twenty years after his "discovery", Krishnamurti, who had grown disenchanted with the World Teacher Project, repudiated the role that many theosophists expected him to fulfil. He dissolved the Order of the Star in the East, an organisation founded to assist the World Teacher in his mission, and eventually left the Theosophical Society and theosophy at large.Lutyens pp. 276–278, 285. 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; (2003). The Life and Death of Krishnamurti. : Krishnamurti Foundation Trust . p. 81. . concerned for his wellbeing after he declared his independence, she had purchased of land near the Theosophical Society estate which later became the headquarters of the Krishnamurti Foundation India.


Home Rule movement
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, attacked caste and child marriage, and worked effectively for Indian education.
(2025). 9781590170694, New York Review Books. .
Along with her theosophical activities, Besant continued to actively participate in political matters. She had joined the Indian 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 in 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 against . Echoing an Irish nationalist slogan, Besant declared, "England's need is India's opportunity". As editor of the New India newspaper, she attacked the 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. In 1916, Besant launched the All India Home Rule League along with , 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 a , where she defiantly flew a red and green flag. The Congress and the Muslim League together threatened to launch protests if she were not set free; Besant's arrest had created a focus for protest.

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, and in December she took over as president of the Indian National Congress for a year. Both and spoke of Besant's influence with admiration.

After the war, a new leadership of the Indian National Congress emerged around – 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. , 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.Jennifer S. Uglow, Maggy Hendry, The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (Northeastern University, 1999). 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.


Later years and death
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.Lutyens pp. 236, 278–280. The two remained friends until the end of her life.

In 1931, she became ill in India.

Besant died on 20 September 1933, at age 85, in Adyar, Madras Presidency, British India. Her body was .

She was survived by her daughter, Mabel. After her death, colleagues Jiddu Krishnamurti, , Guido Ferrando, and Rosalind Rajagopal, built the Happy Valley School in California, now renamed the Besant Hill School of Happy Valley in her honour.


Legacy
Widely recognized as a pioneer of women's birth control and for her contributions to the Indian freedom movement, roads have been named in her honor in the Indian cities and . The in the city of Vijayawada was named after her. In , a residential neighborhood, , and an urban park, the Dr. Annie Besant Park, have also been named in her honor.

The Besant Theosophical College, established in 1917, in is one of the oldest colleges in the region of , India. In 2023, plans were announced to upgrade this college to a university called the Annie Besant University.


Recognition in popular media
On 1 October 2015, search engine Google commemorated Annie Besant with a 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".

In his book, Rebels Against the Raj, tells the story of how Besant and six other foreigners served in its quest for independence from the .

Besant appears as a character in the children's novel Billy and the Match Girl by , about the matchgirls' strike.

(2019). 9781080419890, Independently published.

In 2016, an exhibition called Intention to Know, focusing on Besant's "thought forms", was curated at the Stony Island Arts Bank, .


Works
Besides being a prolific writer, Besant was a "practised " who gave sixty-six public lectures in one year. She also engaged in public debates.
List of Works on Online Books Annie Besant (Besant, Annie, 1847-1933) | The Online Books Page
List of Work on Open Library Annie Wood Besant
* "Sin and Crime" (1885)
* "God's Views on Marriage" (1890)
* "A World Without God" (1885)
* "Life, Death, and Immortality" (1886)
* "Theosophy" (1925?)
* "The World and Its God" (1886)
* "Atheism and Its Bearing on Morals" (1887)
* "On Eternal Torture" (n.d.)
* "The Fruits of Christianity" (n.d.)
* "The Jesus of the Gospels and the Influence of Christianity" (n.d.)
* "The Gospel of Christianity and the Gospel of Freethought" (1883)
* "Sins of the Church: Threatenings and Slaughters" (n.d.)
* "For the Crown and Against the Nation" (1886)
* "Christian Progress" (1890)
* "Why I Do Not Believe in God" (1887)
* "The Myth of the Resurrection" (1886)
* "The Teachings of Christianity" (1887)

Indian National Movement

* The Commonweal (a weekly dealing on Indian national issues)
*New India (a daily newspaper which was a powerful mouthpiece for 15 years advocating Home Rule and revolutionizing Indian journalism)


See also


Further reading
  • Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit. New Amsterdam Books, 2000, 68, 81–82, 92–96, 135–139
  • Chandrasekhar, S. A Dirty, Filthy Book: The Writing of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial. University of California Berkeley 1981
  • Grover, Verinder and Ranjana Arora (eds.) Annie Besant: Great Women of Modern India – 1: Published by Deep of Deep Publications, New Delhi, India, 1993
  • Kumar, Raj Rameshwari Devi and Romila Pruthi. Annie Besant: Founder of Home Rule Movement, Pointer Publishers, 2003
  • Kumar, Raj, Annie Besant's Rise to Power in Indian Politics, 1914–1917. Concept Publishing, 1981
  • Manvell, Roger. The trial of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Elek, London 1976
  • Nethercot, Arthur H. The first five lives of Annie Besant Hart-Davis: London, 1961
  • Nethercot, Arthur H. The last four lives of Annie Besant Hart-Davis: London (also University of Chicago Press 1963)
  • Taylor, Anne. Annie Besant: A Biography, Oxford University Press, 1991 (also US edition 1992)
  • Uglow, Jennifer S., Maggy Hendry, The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography. Northeastern University, 1999


External links

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