Annie
Besant was the second president of the Theosophical Society of Adyar,
she was born in 1847, and here I'm going to show you the photos where
she appears.
The oldest photo I know of is the following when Annie Besant was a child:
WHEN BESANT WAS YOUNG
Photo taken in 1869 by Dighton's Art Studio, in Cheltenham, when Annie Besant was 21 years old.

Other photos probably taken during this session:
Here with her mother:
Other photos taken during her youth in other photo shoots:




AROUND FORTY YEARS OLD
Photo taken in 1885 by photographer H.S. Mendelssohn, located at 27 Cathcart Road, South Kensington, London.



The following photos appear to have been taken around this time:



Photos taken in 1897.




Portrait painted by Dan Doolin.

Photos taken around the year 1900.

PHOTO SHOWING BESANT AS A SOCIAL ACTIVIST
In 1888, the strike of the match factory workers broke out in England, which resulted in the founding of the matchmakers' union.
This
is a photo of the strike committee. Annie Besant is in the middle; she
was the first secretary of this union. Next to her is Herbert Burrows,
who was also an activist and Besant's friend.

Besant becomes involved in the Theosophical Society
Annie Besant and Herbert Burrows met Blavatsky in March 1889 and became her students, but sadly Blavatsky died two years later on May 8, 1891.
The
following photo was taken between July 9 and 10, 1891 in London at the
Blavatsky Lodge, where Blavatsky's closest students gathered to
commemorate their recently deceased teacher.
Burrow
is seated on the left, Besant two chairs behind, Countess Wachtmeister
in the middle, and Colonel Henry Olcott can be seen in the background on
the left.
Besant's Zoom
This photo features Annie Besant, Colonel Olcott, and William Judge.
At that time the Theosophical Movement had three great leaders:
- William Judge in America
- Annie Besant in Europe.
- And Colonel Olcott in Asia, who was also the president of the T.S.
PLOT AGAINST WILLIAM JUDGE
Two
years after Blavatsky's death, Annie Besant allied herself with Colonel
Olcott to expel William Judge from the Theosophical Society.
This began at the World Parliament of Religions, an event that took place from September 11 to 27, 1893, in Chicago, and one of the Theosophical delegates who attended this Parliament was Annie Besant.
Image showing the delegates of the Theosophical Society who attended this event:

There Besant met the orthodox Brahmin Chakravarti who became her guru and incited her to attack William Judge,

Zoom:
Three
months later Annie Besant and Countess Wachtmeister (who was her main
collaborator) traveled from London to India to attend the International
Convention of the Theosophical Society held at its headquarters in Adyar
(which is one of the neighborhoods of the city of Madras, now known as
Chennai).
Photo of the Adyar Convention held in December 1893.
Detail
of the photo showing Annie Besant, Colonel Olcott, and behind them
Anagarika Dharmapala, a famous Sri Lankan who spread Buddhism; the
Countess is on the other side of Olcott but does not appear in the zoom.
Here
is another photo probably taken at this same convention where the
following appear in the front row: Colonel Olcott, Countess
Wachtmeister, Annie Besant and Upendranath Basu.
Another group photo, in the middle are Besant and Olcott, and perhaps the lady on the right is Countess Wachtmeister.
Another group photo, in the middle are Besant, Olcott, and Countess Wachtmeister.
Photo probably taken around this time showing Annie Besant, Colonel Olcott and Countess Wachtmeister.
Privately
during this Convention, the plan to accuse William Judge of being a
fraud was discussed, and after a long lawsuit that lasted for months,
this caused the first division of the Theosophical Society and the
premature death of William Judge, who died in 1896.
PHOTOS OF BESANT WITH HER DESCENDANTS
These photos were taken in 1895 by O. Shanessy and Co., in Melbourne. In the second photo, Besant appears with her daughter and granddaughter.
PHOTOS TAKEN WHEN BESANT WAS AROUND SIXTY YEARS OLD
This
photo was taken in London in 1901. The chalatan Charles Leadbeater is
standing behind Annie Besant watching what she is writing.
This photo was taken in Adyar in December 1905, and shows Colonel Olcott, Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater.
Leadbeater
was expelled from the Theosophical Society for perversity, but in 1907
Colonel Olcott died and Besant was elected as the new president, and she
readmitted Leadbeater into the Theosophical Society, expelled all those
who did not agree with her decision, and allowed herself to be
completely manipulated by Leadbeater until the end of her life.
This
photo was taken in Munich in 1907 where Annie Besant appears with
Rudolf Steiner (who was also a charlatan), who was the leader of the
German Theosophical Section, but later separated from the Theosophical
Society to found his Anthroposophical Society.
The following image shows several photos taken of Annie Besant while she was giving a lecture in the Indian city of Varanasi.
PHOTOS OF ANNIE BESANT DRESSED AS A MASON
PHOTOS WHERE ANNIE BESANT LOOKS OLDER

Photo taken around 1910 by Falk Studio.


This photo was published in 1911 in "Andhra Patrika," which was the weekly newspaper of the nationalist movement in the Telugu-speaking region.

Other photos:



This photo was taken in Sydney in 1922.





PHOTOS WITH TEENAGE KRISHNAMURTI
Charles
Leadbeater met Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1909 when Krishnamurti was
fourteen years old, and Leadbeater claimed that this boy had the
potential to become the vehicle of Lord Christ Maitreya, the World
Teacher (who was a fictional character invented by Leadbeater) and that
therefore Krishnamurti had to be trained for this purpose.
Annie Besant completely believed this lie and worked hard to maintain it.
This photo was taken in 1911 and from left to right are Nitya (Krishnamurti's younger brother), Besant (who was 64 at this time), Krishnamurti and George Arundale who was one of Besant's main assistants.
Here we see Leadbeater, Besant, Krishnamurti and below is Jinarajadasa who was Leadbeater's protégé.
This
photo was taken in 1911 in Adyar where a group of members pose around
the bust of Colonel Olcott; in the middle from left to right are
Leadbeater, Krishnamurti, Nitya and Besant.
Another group photo, in the center are Krishnamurti, Besant and Nitya.
This
photo was taken in late 1911 during the annual convention of the
Theosophical Society of Adyar, but on this occasion it was held in
Benares.
Zoom; in the middle appear Besant, Krishnamurti and Leadbeater, and Nitya is below Besant;
Detail of another group photo featuring Krishnamurti and Besant.
This
photo was taken in the Sicilian city of Taormina, Italy, in 1912;
standing are George Arundale (who was also one of Krishnamurti and
Nitya's tutors) and Jinarajadasa, seated are Krishnamurti (who already
looks like a young adult), Besant, Leadbeater and Nitya.
BESANT ACTING LIKE SHE IS INDIAN
When
Annie Besant went to live in India, she wore Indian clothing and
pretended to adopt Indian customs, I suspect to please the Indians.
BESANT ENTERS POLITICS
Photo showing Annie Besant with a delegation of Indians who support local self-government.
Besant is driving a car, BP Wadia is next to her.
Photo taken in Adyar in 1915 showing Gandhi and his wife.
Zoom: on the left is Annie Besant, in the middle is Gandhi
(he's the short one), and on the right is Gandhi's wife: Katurba.
Photo taken in Adyar in 1917 with members of the Order of the Brethren of Service founded by Besant
Photo
taken in 1917 where Besant appears next to Sir Subbier Subramania Iyer,
who was an Indian lawyer and jurist who worked with Annie Besant to
establish the Indian Autonomy Movement.
Photo taken in 1917 when Annie Besant was under house arrest for promoting Indian independence.
Photo taken in Madras in 1921 where Annie Besant is walking behind Gandhi.
In this photo Annie Besant is at a meeting with Gandhi and other independence activists.
Annie Besant with some members of the Home Rule League, which was a key movement in the fight for Indian independence:
Other photos:
FIRST WORLD CONGRESS
Photo
taken at the First World Congress of the Theosophical Society of Adyar,
which took place in Paris in 1921, and where Annie Besant gave the
opening speech.
These photos also appear to be from this event, but I'm not sure:


PHOTOS WITH ADULT KRISHNAMURTI
From
1924 onwards, Krishnamurti's followers met every year at a camp that
was organized near the village of Ommen in the Netherlands.
This
photo shows Annie Besant arriving by plane in the city of Arhnen, also
located in the Netherlands, to then head to that camp.

Photos from this camp:



The following photo is a group shot taken at one of those meetings where Annie Besant is in the middle.

Zoom: to the left of Annie Besant is George Arundale, and behind him appears to be Charles Leadbeater.

Photo where Annie Besant lights a bonfire and Krishnamurti is behind her:

Zoom:

Another photo from this meeting:

In
the following photos, Annie Besant accompanies Krishnamurti on some of
the world tours she organized to promote him as the new messiah.
In the city of Arnhem, in the Netherlands, in 1924.
Arrival in Bombay of Nitya, Besant and Krishnamurti in November 1924.
This
photo was taken on August 29, 1926. Annie Besant lays the first stone
in a ceremony attended by Krishnamurti and a crowd, to begin
construction of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society of Adyar in
the United States, which was established in Wheaton, Illinois.
This
photo was taken on October 3, 1926, when Annie Besant visited the
Krotona Institute of Theosophy located in Ojai, California. Next to
Besant is Max Wardall, and Eugene Munson, dressed in white, is in the
center.
In Ommen in 1928.
These photos appear to have been taken at that meeting as well.
In New York in 1928.
The following photos appear to have been taken when they disembarked in New York from Europe.
I'm
not sure if the next photo was also taken that same day, or when they
took the train to travel to California, or if it was when they returned
from their tour in the United States.
Leadbeater sometimes accompanied them, but he was already very focused on living like a king in Australia.

THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
Under
Leadbeater's direction, Besant replaced the original Theosophy with a
pseudo-Theosophy that is full of errors and lies, transformed the
Theosophical Society into a dogmatic Adventist group, introduced
Freemasonry into the Theosophical Society (despite Blavatsky saying that
it should not be done), and developed a so-called
Theosophical-Christian sect called "The Liberal Catholic Church" which
its false bishops have since controlled and lived off of the
Theosophical Society of Adyar.
This
photo was taken during the consecration of George Arundale which took
place in Huizen, in the Netherlands, on August 4, 1925; in the front row
from left to right are: Adrian Mazel, George Arundale, Annie Besant,
James Wedgwood and Frank Pigott .
This
photo shows Annie Besant and the false bishops Oscar Kollerstrom, James
Wedgwood and George Arundale (who became the third president of the
Adyar Theosophical Society after Besant died in 1933).
In this photo, Besant and Leadbeater appear on the left during one of the liturgies of the Liberal Catholic Church.

PHOTOS WHERE BESANT IS ALREADY OLD
This photo was taken in July 1925.

Other photos:








In this photo Annie Besan is with the Belgian painter Jean Delville.

This photo features Annie Besant, Jinarajadasa, and Charles Leadbeater.
Photo
taken at one of the conventions to promote "the imminent arrival of
Lord Christ-Maitreya", and in the front row you can see Krishnamurti,
Leadbeater, Besant and Jinarajadasa.
This photo was taken at that meeting; Leadbeater and Besant already look very old.
This appears to be the last photo where they appear together:
This photo was taken in 1930.
Annie Besant died in September 1933 at almost the age of 86, and Leadbeater died five months later at the age of 80.