Annie Besant(October 01,1847 - September 20,1933)

 

Annie Besant (1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933)was a prominent British Socialist,Theosophist,Women's Right's Activist, Writer and Orator and Supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule.

In 1867, Annie at age 20, married Frank Besant, a clergyman, and they had two children, but Annie's increasingly anti-religious views led to a legal separation in 1873.

Annie Besant then became a prominent speaker for the  National Secular Society (NSS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh

In 1877 Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton .The scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M.P for Northampton in 1880.

Annie Besant became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the  London Matchgirls Strile of 1888
Annie Besant was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF)
Annie Besant was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.

In 1890 Annie Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in Theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned.
Annie Besant became a member of the Theosophysical 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 College and in 1922 Annie Besant helped establish the Hyderabad(Sind)National Collegiate Board in Mumbai,India
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 British Empire.
 In 1907 she became president of the Theosophysical Society, whose international headquarters were in Adayar,Madras(Chennai),Tamil Nadu,India

Annie Besant also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress(INC)
When WWI broke out in 1914, Annie Besant helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and dominion status within the Empire. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress in late 1917

In the late 1920s, Annie Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom she claimed was the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929

Annie Besant continued to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in 1933.

Google Doodle Celebrates Indian Self-Rule Advocate Annie Besant’s 168th Birthday

 

 

Thursday  October 01,2015’s Google Doodle on google.in honors what would have been Annie Besant’s 168th birthday.

The Doodle drawn by Lydia Nichols depicts the celebrated advocate, born on Oct. 1, 1847, sitting in a chair holding a copy of New India. The Indian newspaper, which Besant bought in 1914, was where she published many of her calls for India’s independence