Annie Besant – From Atheist to Socialist to Theosophist

[rug]

Posted By: Daryl Worthington
Posted date: July 18, 2016

Annie Besant, a writer, women’s rights activist and supporter of Indian nationalism, was one of the most fascinating figures of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Her life was one of ferocious dedication to a plethora of different causes, campaigning for practical social reform while also engaging with ideas of religious philosophy in search of a universal truth.

Her writings, including two works hugely influential on the Theosophy tradition, Seven Principles of Man and Thought Power – Its Control and Culture, give an insight into the ways she strove to reconcile abstract philosophical ideas with contemporary social and political issues.

Besant was born Annie Wood in London in October 1847. Her father died when she was just five years old, while her mother persuaded a family friend to take responsibility for Annie, raising her and ensuring she received a good education.

In 1867 she married a clergyman named Frank Besant, but the relationship seemed doomed from the start. Although raised in a pious family, Besant started to have serious doubts about her beliefs during her twenties. Becoming an atheist and increasingly anti-Church, she legally separated from her husband and the father of her two children in 1873.

http://www.newhistorian.com/annie-besant-atheist-socialist-theosophist/6857/

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. Interesting woman

She was heavily involved in Jiddu Krishnamurti's upbringing and education.