Annie Besant

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Standard Name: Besant, Annie
Birth Name: Annie Wood
Married Name: Annie Besant
Pseudonym: Ajax
Used Form: the wife of a beneficed clergyman
AB is known primarily for two streams of non-fiction writing, one concerning birth control and the other the Theosophist movement. However, this omits much of the remarkable output whose topics ranged from women's rights and religion to politics and science; only a small selection from over one hundred pamphlets, lectures, and essays can be discussed here.
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press, 1993.
She often pursued various topics simultaneously. For example, during 1878 and 1879 while she was trying to regain custody of her children, she was also organising her writings on the French Revolution; translating a book from French; keeping up with her weekly journalism; producing pamphlets on atheism, republicanism, India and Ireland; sitting on committees; and, of course, continuing to lecture.
Dinnage, Rosemary. Annie Besant. Penguin, 1986.
48-9
As well as such often controversial writings, AB published short fiction.
Photograph of Annie Besant looking directly at the camera with her right hand over her chest. She has a serious expression and is wearing a white high frill-collared dress with possibly a shawl over it. She has two rings on her visible right hand. She has blonde hair and it is in an updo.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Cultural formation Charlotte Despard
She converted to Catholicism less than a year after her husband's death, which made her a co-religionist of those she now set out to help.
Linklater, Andro. An Unhusbanded Life. Hutchinson, 1980.
63
Around 1909, after attending a series of lectures by...
Cultural formation Rose Allatini
RA (who was probably brought up in the Jewish faith) became known as an Occultist. Higher Occultism was connected to the Theosophical Movement, which was inspired by two Indian High Initiates known as Master Koot Hoomi
Cultural formation Mary Gawthorpe
MG begins her autobiography with her local identity: I was Yorkshire born. My forebears, grandparents maternal and paternal, were all born in Yorkshire, in Leeds so far as I know.
Gawthorpe, Mary. Up Hill to Holloway. Traversity Press, 1962.
7
Born English therefore, she...
Family and Intimate relationships Florence Marryat
FM 's aunt Ellen Marryat was a significant influence on the education of Annie Woods (later Annie Besant ).
Family and Intimate relationships Ella Wheeler Wilcox
He had promised her a message from the next world, and his death precipitated her into an anxious search. She travelled to California and read avidly in spiritualist books by Sir Oliver Lodge , Annie Besant
Family and Intimate relationships Anna Wickham
After AW 's marriage, Alice Harper returned to London briefly and opened a physiognomy parlour in Regent Street. She also became involved in Annie Besant 's Theosophist movement.
Hepburn, James et al. “Anna Wickham: A Memoir”. The Writings of Anna Wickham, Free Woman and Poet, edited by Reginald Donald Smith, Virago Press, 1984, pp. 1-48.
12
Wickham, Anna et al. “Fragment of an Autobiography: Prelude to a Spring Clean”. The Writings of Anna Wickham Free Woman and Poet, edited by Reginald Donald Smith, Virago Press, 1984, pp. 51-157.
146
A portrait of Alice...
Family and Intimate relationships Sir Walter Besant
Annie Besant became his sister-in-law through her marriage to his brother Frank in 1867.
Family and Intimate relationships Muriel Box
MB 's mother was christened Caroline Beatrice (Doney) but known as Bertie.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Box, Muriel. Odd Woman Out. Leslie Frewin, 1974.
14, 16
She was a woman of passion, of deep-rooted prejudices, capable of violent outbursts of temper when her will was crossed. She...
Family and Intimate relationships Katharine Bruce Glasier
KBG was devastated by her husband's death, but later she began to experience visions of his continuing presence (as she did of her son's presence after he too died).
Kelly, Gary, and Edd Applegate, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 190. Gale Research, 1998.
190:125
Glasier, Katharine Bruce. The Glen Book. London.
79
John Bruce Glasier had...
Friends, Associates Margaret Harkness
Probably through sisters Kate Potter Courtney (whose house Harkness often stayed at) and Beatrice Potter (later Webb) , MH began to associate with the intellectuals who frequented the Reading Room of the British Museum ...
Friends, Associates E. Nesbit
Through her political interests she got to know George Bernard Shaw (with whom she had a brief affair but a succeeding steady friendship), Sidney Webb , Sydney Olivier , Annie Besant , Eleanor Marx ,...
Friends, Associates William Morris
WM 's associates included George Bernard Shaw , Annie Besant , Emery Walker , Vernon Lee , as well as Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst . His friendship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti ended in 1875, as...
Friends, Associates George Bernard Shaw
He was an important figure in the lives and careers of almost innumerable women writers: a good friend of Annie Besant , Sylvia Pankhurst , Elizabeth Robins , and Christopher St John , a romantic...
Friends, Associates Catharine Amy Dawson Scott
Dawson counted Violet Hunt among her closest friends in London; she also socialized with Annie Besant , Flora Annie Steel , James McNeill Whistler , and Netta Syrett .
Watts, Marjorie, and Frances King. Mrs. Sappho. Duckworth, 1987.
16
Friends, Associates Emma Frances Brooke
EFB 's involvement with the socialist and feminist movements of the day brought her into close contact with several notable activists and revolutionaries. Through the Fabian Society , she interacted with Beatrice and Sidney Webb

Timeline

1832: Joseph Henry Parker took over his uncle's...

Writing climate item

1832

Joseph Henry Parker took over his uncle's Oxford bookselling and publishing business; as J. H. Parker it soon became the foremost publisher of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 230

2 May 1857: A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened...

Building item

2 May 1857

A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened in what had been the central courtyard of the British Museum .
Barwick, George. The Reading Room of the British Museum. Ernest Benn, 1929.
65, 71, 88, 102, 104-5, 136, 139
Walkowitz, Judith R. City of Dreadful Delight. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
69

25 August 1857: The Obscene Publications Act allowed for...

Building item

25 August 1857

The Obscene Publications Act allowed for the censorship of pornographic materials entering Britain.
Ledbetter, Rosanna. A History of the Malthusian League: 1877-1927. Ohio State University Press, 1976.
28
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2024.
605
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
84
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
41-2

18 September 1867: Fenians staged an attack in Manchester on...

Building item

18 September 1867

Fenians staged an attack in Manchester on a police van to gain the release of two Fenian prisoners who were arrested the week before; a policeman was killed. Later five men were tried for murder...

April 1873: The Custody of Infants Act made provision...

Building item

April 1873

The Custody of Infants Act made provision for women separating from their husbands to be awarded custody of children up to the age of sixteen.
Taylor, Anne, 1932 -. Annie Besant: A Biography. Oxford University Press, 1992.
60, 62

February 1878: The acquittal of Charles Bradlaugh and Annie...

Building item

February 1878

The acquittal of Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant in their famous obscenity trial meant that distribution of birth control information was no longer illegal.
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
46-7
Fryer, Peter. The Birth Controllers. Secker and Warburg, 1965.
164

9 July 1885: Karl Pearson (then a solemn, rationalist...

Building item

9 July 1885

Karl Pearson (then a solemn, rationalist young barrister) held the first meeting of a society designed to talk about sex in a spirit of high seriousness and sense of intellectual adventure:
Walkowitz, Judith R. “Science, Feminism and Romance: The Men and Women’s Club 1885-1889”. History Workshop Journal, Vol.
21
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 1986, pp. 36-59.
37
the Men and Women's Club

September 1886: A famous meeting of the Fabian Society resolved...

National or international item

September 1886

A famous meeting of the Fabian Society resolved that it was desirable for socialists to form a politial party; this was the first germ of the Labour Party .
Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924. Hutchinson, 1987.
137

November 1887: The Law and Liberty League was founded by...

National or international item

November 1887

The Law and Liberty League was founded by newspaper publisher W.T. Stead and socialist/secularist Annie Besant .
Petrow, Stefan. Policing Morals: The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office 1870-1914. Clarendon Press, 1994, p. 343.
24

13 November 1887: Police broke up a meeting of the Social Democratic...

National or international item

13 November 1887

Police broke up a meeting of the Social Democratic Federation (militant radicals, many of them Irish) held in Trafalgar Square, London; the day became known as Bloody Sunday.
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History 1714-1987. 2nd ed., Longman, 1988.
21, 129
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
313
Davenport-Hines, Richard. “Horrid Mutilation! Read all about it!”. London Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2002, pp. 37-9.
37-8
Lucas, John, b. 1937. “Republican versus Victorian: Radical Writing in the Later Years of the Nineteenth Century”. Rethinking Victorian Culture, edited by Juliet John and Alice Jenkins, Macmillan, 2000, pp. 29-45.
41-5

4 February 1888: Annie Besant and W.T. Stead edited the first...

Women writers item

4 February 1888

Annie Besant and W.T. Stead edited the first weekly issue of The Link: A Journal for the Servants of Man / Law and Liberty League, published in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
12

July 1888: One thousand four hundred women workers at...

National or international item

July 1888

One thousand four hundred women workers at the Bryant and May match factory in London went on strike, in protest against poor working conditions and low wages; this became known as the Match Girls (or...

12 August 1889: The London Dock Strike began; it aroused...

National or international item

12 August 1889

The London Dock Strike began; it aroused widespread sympathy for striking dockers.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
316
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1980. Longman, 1983.
145
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.

1892: Sixty-seven year-old phrenologist Henry Loader...

Building item

1892

Sixty-seven year-old phrenologist Henry Loader was prosecuted for selling two birth control manuals, The Wife's Handbook and Fruits of Philosophy.
Fryer, Peter. The Birth Controllers. Secker and Warburg, 1965.
172
McLaren, Angus. Birth Control in Nineteenth Century England. Croom Helm, 1978.
224

28 March 1912: The Conciliation Bill (on suffrage) was defeated...

National or international item

28 March 1912

The Conciliation Bill (on suffrage) was defeated in a House of Commons vote, after passing its second reading (the previous year) with a huge majority.
Holton, Sandra Stanley. “Women and the Vote”. Women’s History: Britain, 1850-1945, edited by June Purvis and June Purvis, University College London, 1995, pp. 277-05.
294
Tickner, Lisa. The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign, 1907-1914. University of Chicago Press, 1988.
133
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
135
Frye, Kate Parry. Campaigning for the Vote: Kate Parry Frye’s Suffrage Diary. Editor Crawford, Elizabeth, Francis Boutle Publishers, 2013.
98-100

Texts

Chandrasekhar, Sripati et al. "A Dirty Filthy Book": The Writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant on Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control and an Account of the Bradlaugh-Besant Trial. University of California Press, 1981.
Besant, Annie. A Selection of the Social and Political Pamphlets of Annie Besant. A. M. Kelley, 1970.
Besant, Annie. A World Without God. A Reply to Miss Frances Power Cobbe. Freethought Publishing, 1885.
Besant, Annie. Annie Besant. An Autobiography. T. Fisher Unwin, 1893.
Besant, Annie. Autobiographical Sketches. Freethought Publishing, 1885.
Besant, Annie. Britain’s Place in the Great Plan. Theosophical Publishing House, 1921.
Besant, Annie. Gordon Judged out of His Own Mouth. Freethought Publishing, 1885.
Besant, Annie. India: Bond or Free?. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926.
Besant, Annie. Marriage: As It Was, As It Is, and As It Should Be: A Plea for Reform. Freethought Publishing, 1879.
Besant, Annie. My Path to Atheism. Freethought Publishing, 1877.
Besant, Annie, editor. New India.
Besant, Annie, and Charles Webster Leadbeater. Occult Chemistry. Theosophical Publishing House, 1905.
Besant, Annie. On the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Editor Voysey, Charles, Thomas Scott, 1873.
Besant, Annie. On the Nature and Existence of God. Thomas Scott, 1875.
Besant, Annie. On the Political Status of Women. Trübner, 1874.
Besant, Annie, editor. Our Corner. Freethought Publishing, 12 vols.
Bradlaugh, Charles et al. “Publishers’ Preface”. Fruits of Philosophy: An Essay on the Population Question, 2nd ed., Freethought Publishing, 1877, pp. 3-7.
Besant, Annie. The Bearing of Religious Ideals on Social Reorganization. Theosophical Publishing House, 1932.
The Bhagavad Gita; or, The Lord’s Song. Translator Besant, Annie, Theosophical Publishing House, 1895.
Besant, Annie, editor. The Commonweal: A Journal of National Reform. Theosophical Publishing House, 13 vols.
Besant, Annie. The Gospel of Atheism. Freethought Publishing, 1877.
Besant, Annie. The Law of Population. Freethought Publishing, 1877.
Besant, Annie, and William Thomas Stead, editors. The Link. A. Bonner, 1-44.
Besant, Annie, and Charles Webster Leadbeater. Thought Forms. Theosophical Publishing House, 1905.
Besant, Annie. Wake up India: A Plea for Social Reform. Theosophical Publishing House.