- Date:
- 1870
- Original Format:
- Carte de Visite
- Item#:
- MES21138
- Photographer:
- Ray Chapman
Anne Besant (1847-1933)
Anne Wood Besant was an English social reformer and theosophist mystic in India. In 1888 she was horrified to learn of the conditions of the women working in match factories and, encouraged by George Bernard Shaw, wrote an article in her newspaper, "The Link," entitled "White Slavery in London." Besant agreed to become the leader of the Matchgirls' Union. During the famous Bradlaugh-Besant trial in 1877-78, Charles Bradlaugh and she were convicted for advocating birth control. Besant learned about theosophy, a religious movement with roots in Russia, via India and Tibet. In 1891 Besant left her husband to become the leader of the group in India. She wrote an autobiography in 1893. Besant published "The Ancient Wisdom, an Outlines of Theosophical Teachings," in 1910, and translated "The Bhagavad Gita" from Sanskrit in 1923.