Annie Besant(1847-1933)
Annie Besant, English writer, socialist and feminist activist, was born
in 1847, the only daughter of William B. P. Wood, a non-practicing
physician, and the former Emily Morris. Both were Anglo-Irish
Protestants. Annie was raised a devout Anglican, and religion remained
an important factor throughout her life, providing the decisive spur to
her pioneering work for social justice. Educated privately by Miss
Marryat, sister of the novelist Frederick Marryat, Annie Wood married
Frank Besant, a clergyman, in 1867. The marriage produced two children,
a daughter, Mabel, and a son, Digby. Frank's mental cruelty and
physical violence led to a legal separation in 1873 and Annie's
abandonment of her naive Christianity. She was associated with the
radical atheist Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891) and the socialist Fabian
Society. Besant and Bradlaugh published a treatise advocating birth
control and were prosecuted; as a result she lost custody of her
daughter. In 1889 she became a disciple of the Russian spiritualist and
mystic Madame Blavatsky. Thereafter she went to India where she founded
the Central Hindu College in 1898. Her Theosophy and the New Psychology
was published in 1904. She became president of the Theosophical Society
in 1907, a post she held until her death. She also became involved in
the Indian independence movement, established the Indian Home Rule
League in 1916, and became the only British woman to serve as president
of the Indian National Congress in 1917.