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.
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.
48-9
As well as such often controversial writings, AB
published short fiction.
Mitchell, David J. The Fighting Pankhursts: A Study in Tenacity. MacMillan.
24
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
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.
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
Florence Marryat
FM
's aunt Ellen Marryat
was a significant influence on the education of Annie Woods (later 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, 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, pp. 51-157.
146
A portrait of Alice...
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
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.
190:125
Glasier, Katharine Bruce. The Glen Book. London.
79
John Bruce Glasier had...
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.
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
