Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Annie Besant
-
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.
She began writing it on a sunny August morning at Farnham, after reading in the Daily News of how Bradlaugh
, the well-known radical, in prison for refusing to take the parliamentary oath on...
Occupation
Enid Bagnold
One of her tasks was to interview Annie Besant
while she was living with two Indian boys in Esher. Rather than be interviewed by an uninformed novice, Besant wrote the article for Bagnold on...
Occupation
Clara Codd
In 1906 CC
became the first National Lecturer for the English Section of the Theosophical Society
.
The International Theosophical Year Book: 1938. The Theosophical Publishing House, 1937.
173
She had never lectured before and was nervous about her new title. However, she felt she must...
Occupation
Clara Codd
When CC
returned to England, she found Annie Besant
had arranged for a wealthy American to pay her salary as a lecturer. These wages enabled her to travel throughout England lecturing for the Theosophical Society
Occupation
Jean Ingelow
She always concerned herself with the plight of the poor and she frequently paid for and served what she called copyright dinners for elderly paupers in Holland Street, Kensington. (She paid for them out...
McKenzie, Keith Alexander, and Gordon S. Haight. Edith Simcox and George Eliot. Oxford University Press, 1961.
42-3
politics
Edith J. Simcox
On 12 December 1877 EJS
remarked in her autobiography that a Council was appointed to which I was nominated, then Mrs Besant
, then Mrs Harriet Law
, and Mr Bradlaugh
in between. I had...
politics
Clementina Black
Several critics have linked CB
's efforts with the League to the match-girls' strike of July 1888 led by Annie Besant
. Critic Olive Banks
suggests that a speech by CB
to the Fabian Society
politics
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
At the height of the suffrage movement, EPL
spoke in connection with the largest procession to date, at the Albert Hall. So did Emmeline
and Christabel Pankhurst
, Annie Kenney
, Annie Besant
...
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Bland, Lucy. Banishing the Beast: Feminism, Sex and Morality. Tauris Parke, 2002.
6
politics
Emmeline Pankhurst
EP
was politically active in London from at least 1887, when she and her husband attended the Bloody Sunday demonstration in Trafalgar Square on 13 November.
Purvis, June. Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography. Routledge, 2002.
SN
was elected president for the Indian National Congress
, a position previously held by Annie Besant
.
Naidu, Sarojini. “Introduction and Notes”. Sarojini Naidu, Selected Letters 1890s to 1940s, edited by Makarand Paranjape, Kali for Women, 1996, p. Various pages.
ix
Naidu, Sarojini. Sarojini Naidu, Selected Letters 1890s to 1940s. Editor Paranjape, Makarand, Kali for Women, 1996.
178
Sengupta, Padmini. Sarojini Naidu: A Biography. Asia Publishing House, 1966.
From the first years of the new century, SN
became heavily involved in Indian national politics. She was an unusually eloquent speaker and brought her voice to bear on many of India's political and social...
politics
Sarojini Naidu
The deputation was sponsored by Irish-English suffragist Margaret Cousins
. The Indian women's movement gained momentum after Annie Besant
was interned by the Governor of Madras in June 1917. After her release in September, women...
Timeline
February 1913: The last issue of The Link: The Organ of...
Building item
February 1913
The last issue of The Link: The Organ of the Women's Socialist Movement was published in London.
