Annie Besant: An Autobiography

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Annie Besant was born in 1847. Married at the age of nineteen to Rev. Frank Besant and a mother of two by the time she was twenty-three. Anie was nonetheless an independent spirit. She would often question the religion she and her family practised, earning the displeasure of her more traditional husband. When Annie refused to attend communion, he ordered her to leave the family home. Rejecting Christianity, she went to live in London where she joined the Secular Society and also learned about Theosophy, a modern re-statement of an ancient spiritual wisdom found at the heart of the religions of the world. During these years she wrote many articles on issues such as marriage and women’s rights and health, even publishing her controversial book. The Laws of Population, advocating birth control. In the 1890s Annie Besant became a member of The Theosophical Society, founded by Madame Blavatsky and Col. H.S. Olcott in 1875, and came to live in India in 1893. At then forefront of the movement for India’s cultural and spiritual resurgence, she started the Indian Home Rule movement and became President of the Indian National Congress in 1907. The same year, she was elected President of The Theosophical Society, a position she held till her death in 1933. Outstanding orator, reformer, humanist and educationist, Annie Besant inspired and continues to inspire thousands of men and women all over the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Annie Besant

Annie Besant (1847-1933) joined The Theosophical Society in May 1889 and became Madame Blavatsky's devoted pupil and helper. She became a prominent worker in the Society and after the death of Col. Olcott in 1907, was elected president of the Society, which position she held till her death on 21 September 1933. Annie Besant established the Central Hindu college at Benares, which later formed the nucleus of the Benaras Hindu University, founded a weekly newspaper, Commonweal, owned New India (formerly Madras Standard) which she used to propagate the Home Rule movement, and started the Women's Indian Association. A strong supporter of India's freedom struggle, she was made president of the Calcutta session of the Indian national Congress held in August 1917. she also established the Indian Boy Scouts' Association which was united with the international movement according to Sir Robert Baden Powell's request, when she was made Honorary Commissioner for India, and in 1932 was awarded the Order of the Silver Wolf - the greatest honour that the Scout Movement could offer.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Annie Besant: An Autobiography
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
0143033409
Length
xii+332p., Figures; Plates; 21cm.
Subjects