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Annie Besant
Sign in to saveAlso known as Annie Wood Besant, Mrs. Annie Besant, née Wood
British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator (1847-1933)
OverviewAI-generated
Annie Besant, born Annie Wood in 1847, was a British essayist, writer, orator, and journalist. She was educated at Birkbeck, University of London, and wrote in English and Marathi. Her notable works include the essay *Thought-Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation* and *The Ancient Wisdom*. She was a member of the Indian National Congress, the Fabian Society, the National Secular Society, and the Theosophical Society Adyar.
Besant identified with the freethought movement and held religious or worldview affiliations with Hinduism and Theosophy. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her children were Mabel Besant-Scott and Jiddu Krishnamurti. She died in Adyar in 1933. Her work has been described by sources such as *Svensk uppslagsbok*, *The Nuttall Encyclopædia*, and *New International Encyclopedia*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Europeana Sparql, Open Library. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 0
Top works
- The Ancient Wisdom
via Open Library + Wikidata
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Annie
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- London
- Place of death
- Adyar
- Child
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Occupation
- freedom fighter
- Educated at
- Birkbeck, University of London
- Political party
- Indian National Congress
- Languages spoken
- Marathi
- Religion
- Theosophy
- Award
- Silver Wolf Award
- Field of work
- essay
- Movement
- freethought
- Image
- Portrait of Annie Besant (1847 – 1933), c. 1910.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Annie Besant
- date of birth
- 1847-01-01
- date of death
- 1933-01-01
- Commons Creator page
- Annie Besant
- topic's main category
- Category:Annie Besant
- Commons gallery
- Annie Wood Besant
- birth name
- Annie Wood
- member of
- Theosophical Society Adyar
- nominated for
- Nobel Peace Prize
- name in native language
- Annie Besant
- writing language
- English language
- partner in business or sport
- G. R. S. Mead
- P12749
- Chaetosphaeriales
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
19 objects attributed to Annie Besant, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Annie Besant (/ˈbɛzənt/; née Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and activist, educationist, involved in women's rights, Home Rule, and Indian nationalism. She gave support both Irish and Indian self-rule. She had been the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.
She got the position of a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll, even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Annie Besant” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.