History
| Part of a series on |
| Theosophy |
|---|
| Founders of the Theosophical Society |
| Helena Blavatsky · Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge |
| Theosophists |
| Annie Besant · Abner Doubleday Geoffrey Hodson · Archibald Keightley C. W. Leadbeater · G. R. S. Mead Isabel Cooper-Oakley · William Scott-Elliot Alfred Percy Sinnett · Brian Stonehouse Katherine Tingley · Ernest Wood |
| Philosophical concepts |
| Round Seven rays · Root races |
| Organisations |
| Theosophical Society TS Adyar · TS Pasadena TS Point Loma-Covina · TSA Hargrove United Lodge of Theosophists |
| Theosophical texts |
| Isis Unveiled |
| Theosophical Masters |
| Sanat Kumara Maitreya Morya · Master Jesus · St. Germain |
| Related topics |
| Agni Yoga · Alice Bailey · Anthroposophy Ascended masters · Ascended Master Teachings Benjamin Creme · Esotericism Jiddu Krishnamurti · Liberal Catholic Church Living Ethics · Neo-Theosophy Order of the Star in the East |
The London Lodge was founded on June 27, 1878 in London by Charles Carleton Massey (1838-1905) under the name British Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj of Aryavart. Apart from unofficial lodges in places like Liverpool or Korfu, the London Lodge was the first official lodge of the Theosophical Society since the foundation of the society in 1875. The new society, which was often abbreviated as British Theosophical Society or British TS was also affiliated with the Hindu reform movement "Arya Samaj". In 1882, the Arya Samaj and the TS separated, and the name of the lodge was changed to British Theosophical Society.
On June 3, 1883, the name of the lodge was changed to London Lodge of the Theosophical Society, usually written as London Lodge TS or simply London Lodge. In February 1909, the lodge separated for a short time from the TS, and changed its name to The Eleusinian Society during this time. In spring 1911, the lodge became again part of the TS, and changed its name back to London Lodge.
The first president of the British TS was Charles Carleton Massey from 27. June 1878 to 6. January 1883. After 7. January 1883 Anna Kingsford was president, under her leadership the lodge changed its name to "London Lodge" on 3. June 1883. In April/May 1883 Alfred Percy Sinnett became a member of the London Lodge. In autumn 1883, the London lodge separated into two parts, the followers of Sinnett, and the followers of Kingsford. On 6. (7.?) April 1884 Gerard B. Finch was elected as president. But Sinnett remained the most important figure in the lodge, which was often known as "Sinnett's London Lodge". He became the President of the Lodge on January 1885.
14 members of the London Lodge founded in May (July?) 1887 the Blavatsky Lodge, the second official theosophical Society in England, and the third in Europe after the Loge Germania in Germany. In December 1888, the British Section of the Theosophical Society was founded. But the London Lodge remained autonomous. In 1890 Blavatsky founded the European Section of the Theosophical Society, of which the London Lodge was only nominally a member.
Charles Webster Leadbeater became on 21. November 1883 a member of the London Lodge. Because of the Leadbeater scandal, the London Lodge separated itself from the TS in February 1909 for two years, and temporarily changed its name to the The Eleusinian Society. In spring 1911, the lodge became again part of the TS under its earlier name London Lodge.
Read more about this topic: London Lodge
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)