Who was Annie Besant

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A.� Victorian. Independent woman, vicar's wife, atheist, feminist campaigner.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Interesting combination. Background

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Q.� So, a real vicar's wife

A.� Don't you believe it. Annie began to disagree with her husband's views - and then to question her religious beliefs. When Annie refused to take communion, the vicar threw her out of the family home. Digby stayed with his father; Mabel went to live with Annie in London.

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Q.� And this was the beginning of her atheism

A.� Yes. She rejected Christianity and in 1874 joined the Secular Society. She soon developed a close relationship with Charles Bradlaugh, editor of the radical National Reformer and leader of the secular movement in Britain. Annie began working for the National Reformer and during the next few years wrote extensively about marriage and women's rights. Then came big trouble.

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Q.� How

A. In 1877, Besant and Bradlaugh decided to publish The Fruits of Philosophy, a book by Charles Knowlton advocating birth control. They were charged with publishing material that was 'likely to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to immoral influences'. The prosecutor said:

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'I say that this is a dirty, filthy book, and the test of it is that no human being would allow that book on his table, no decently educated English husband would allow even his wife to have it ... the object of it is to enable a person to have sexual intercourse, and not to have that which in the order of providence is the natural result of that sexual intercourse.'

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Besant and Bralaugh argued in court that that it was it more moral to prevent conception of children than, 'after they are born, to murder them by want of food, air and clothing'. They were both convicted of publishing an obscene libel and jailed for six months. They were cleared on appeal.

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Q.� And acclaimed heroes

A.� No. Besant soon wrote her own book advocating birth control. The Times described it as 'indecent, lewd, filthy, bawdy and obscene'. Besant used the publicity to persuade the courts that he should have custody of their daughter Mabel. Charles Bradlaugh in 1880 was elected MP for Northampton, but would not take the Christian oath - so he could not take his seat in the Commons.

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Q.� They were becoming political

A.� Yes. Besant also became friends with socialists such as Walter Crane, Edward Aveling and George Bernard Shaw. She joined the Social Democratic Federation and started her own campaigning newspaper called The Link. Like Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army (click here for a feature on the Sally Army), Annie was concerned about the health of young women workers, particularly at the Bryant & May match factory. (Click here for a feature on the matchgirls' strike). Besant also joined the Fabian Society and became a member of the London School Board, where she pioneered a series of reforms including free meals for undernourished children and free medical examinations.

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Q.� And she remained atheist

A.� She changed her views in the 1890s when she turned to Theosophy, a religious movement based on Hindu ideas of karma and reincarnation with nirvana as the eventual aim. Besant pursued this in India, where she went to live, but remained interested in women's rights, particularly suffrage. She also supported Indian home rule and was even interned in the First World War for her revolutionary views. She died in 1933.

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Steve Cunningham