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Annie Besant

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The Resume

    (October 1, 1847-September 20, 1933)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Birth name was Annie Wood
    Causes included women's rights, socialism, Theosophy, and home rule for Ireland and India
    Joined the Fabian Society and the Social Democratic Federation
    Named president of the Theosophical Society (1908)
    Founded the Home Rule League (1916)
    Elected president of the Indian National Congress (1917)
    Wrote 'The Political Status of Women' (1874), 'My Path to Atheism' (1877), 'Marriage As It Was, Is, and Should Be' (1878), 'The Ancient Wisdom' (1898), 'Thought Forms' (1901) and 'The Case for India' (1917)

Why she might be annoying:

    She went from being a minister's wife to an atheist freethinker to a follower of the New Age-y Theosophy movement.
    She claimed to be clairvoyant.
    She published 'Occult Chemistry' (1909), an attempt by Theosophists to determine the structure of molecules and atoms by ESP. (Surprisingly, their results do not match those of modern physics.)
    She was a vegetarian.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She lost custody of her children after she was arrested on obscenity charges for distributing information about birth control.
    She was elected to the London School Board and established a program to serve free breakfasts to impoverished schoolchildren.
    She was the only non-Indian to be president of the Indian National Congress.
    George Bernard Shaw said, 'She is the greatest orator in England, and possibly in Europe.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 84.62% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 22 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 32 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 14 Votes: 64.29% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 36 Votes: 66.67% Annoying