BESANT, Annie (née Wood). London 1.10.1847 — Adyar (Madras) 19.9.1933. British Theosophist. Daughter of William Burton Persse Wood (1816–1852) and Emily Morris, an English-Irish family. Lost early her father, educated privately in England, Germany and France. Married Rev. Frank Besant (d. 1917) in 1867, but was legally separated from him in 1872. They had two children. For many years she worked in Labour and Socialist movements in Britain. In 1880 joined the Theosophical Society and became a devoted pupil of Madame Blavatsky. Travelled much around the world on behalf of this society, whose President she was in 1907-33. She founded in Benares the Central Hindu College in 1898 and the Central Hindu Girls’ College in 1904, and became a co-founder of Benares Hindu University, which then conferred her a Dr.Litt.
Publications: A great number of Theosophical books, joint-author in a few translations, e.g. the Bhagavadgītā (5th rev. ed. 1904), books about Indian politics, etc.
Sources: Who Was Who 1929-40; Buckland, Dictionary; Wikipedia (long article with several photos and further references).
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