Table Of ContentRoutledge Revivals
The Elder Brother
A leading figure in the Theosophical Society, Leadbeater was a prolific author,
writing on subjects ranging from Buddhism, Masonic history and the origins
of Christianity through to the power of thought and the fourth dimension.
Leadbeater was also the force behind Annie Besant, the discoverer and edu-
cator of Krishnamurti, and became Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic
Church.
For all his influence Charles Leadbeater remains largely unknown as a man.
This biography, first published in 1982, dispels many of the mysteries sur-
rounding his life, and Leadbeater emerges as neither evil degenerate or
infallible saint, but as a complex and eccentric adventurer into the realm of
the occult. This title will be of particular interest to students of history and
theology.
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The Elder Brother
A Biography of
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Gregory Tillett
Firstpublishedin1982
byRoutledge&KeganPaulLtd
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2016byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©1982GregoryTillett
All rightsreserved.No part ofthis bookmaybe reprintedor reproducedor utilisedin
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Publisher’sNote
Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbutpoints
outthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent.
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The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes
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ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderLCcontrolnumber:81021133
ISBN13:978-1-138-11980-2(hbk)
ISBN13:978-1-315-65186-6(ebk)
T he E lder
B roth er
A biography of
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Gregory Tillett
Routledge & Kegan Paul
London, Boston, Melbourne and Henley
First published in 1982
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD,
9 Park Street, Boston,
Mass. 02108, USA,
296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park,
Melbourne, 3206, Australia, and
Broadway House, Newtown Road
Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1FN
Set in Journal by
Columns, Reading
and printed in Great Britain by
The Thetford Press Ltd, Thetford, Norfolk
©Gregory Tillett 1982
No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Tillett, Gregory.
The elder brother.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Leadbeater, C.W. (Charles Webster), 1847-1934.
2. Theosophists — Australia — Biography.
I. Title.
BP585.L4T54 299\934'0924 /B/ 81-21133
ISBN 0-7100-0926-7 AACR2
Contents
Preface and acknowledgments vii
A note on sources xii
1 The man and the myth 1
2 A life of manifold adventures: mysterious beginnings 11
3 The High Church curate: Ang^canism and psychic research 19
4 Through spiritualism to Theosophy: Spirit guides,
Masters and Mr Sinnett 26
5 ‘A nice occultist’: Madame Blavatsky startles the curate 33
6 Buddhism in passing and Adyar at last 41
7 The Masters and the Path: the rising star 46
8 The ‘astral plane’: the inner side of things 56
9 Serious charges preferred: the fallen prophet 77
10 A disciple reinstated: the prodigal returns 91
11 Many candles in the sun: Krishnamurti and the new vision 103
12 ‘In the lives, in the lives . . .’ in which everyone
is reincarnated 114
13 Eggs, English and exercises: the preparation of the Vehicle 123
14 The rising star: the emerging Arhat and
a question of custody 140
15 Masonry, the war and a new sub-race:
preparation for the Coming 158
16 The priesthood recovered: Leadbeater and the
Liberal Catholic Church 171
17 ‘Where Leadbeater bishes’: the Sydney police investigate 185
18 ‘Amid the Stygian darkness’ — towards the sunrise 205
19 A star sets suddenly: the abdication of the Messiah 226
20 The elderly patriarch: the final years 240
21 ‘To those who mourn’: the judgment after death 256
Notes 288
Bibliography 316
Index 331
v
Illustrations
between pages 148 and 149
1 Charles Webster Leadbeater
(Theosophical Publishing House)
2 The birth-certificate: seven years later than the myth
3 The Curate at Bramshott, 1882 (Theosophical Publishing
House)
4 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Theosophical Publishing House)
5 The rising star of Theosophy, with Colonel Olcott and Mrs
Besant (Theosophical Publishing House)
6 (i) Adyar: The headquarters from the river
(Theosophical Publishing House)
(ii) Adyar: the Octagonal Bungalow (Theosophical
Publishing House)
7 Mrs Annie Besant (Theosophical Publishing House)
8 Rukmini Devi Arundale (Theosophical Publishing House)
9 Research on the Lives: from left to right, Dick Balfour Clarke,
Irving Cooper, Fabrizio Ruspoli, Leadbeater (private
collection)
10 A genealogical chart of the Lives: from left to right, Ernest
Wood, Mrs Gertrude Kerr, Leadbeater, Mrs Dorothy
Jinarajadasa, Dr Raimond van Marie (private collection)
11 Two bishops: Leadbeater and Wedgwood in Sydney, 1920
(private collection)
12 (i) The Manor: from Sydney Harbour (private collection)
(ii) St Alban’s Cathedral: exterior (private collection)
13 St Alban’s Cathedral: the consecration of Irving Cooper as
Bishop by Mazel, Wedgwood and Leadbeater
(private collection)
14 Leadbeater and students on a picnic (private collection)
15 The cremation of Annie Besant at Adyar, 1933
(private collection)
16 The requiem for Leadbeater, Perth, 1934 (private collection)
vi
Preface and acknowledgments
The elderly lady gestured towards the large portrait dominating
the library. ‘That is Brother/ she said in a voice reflecting awe and
reverence, ‘our Elder Brother, Bishop Leadbeater.’ The eyes in the
portrait were sparkling, almost laughing; a large pectoral cross
hung ostentatiously on the breast, and an episcopal ring was much
in evidence on the right hand. ‘He was the world’s greatest clair
voyant and occultist,’ she said, leading me to a shelf of books,
ranging from pamphlets to weighty tomes. ‘He wrote all these
books from his clairvoyant investigations.’ Her hand brushed
lightly over titles ranging from Occult Chemistry and Life after
Death, Man Visible and Invisible, to Thought-Forms, The Lives of
Alcyone and The Science of the Sacraments.
Such was my introduction to Charles Webster Leadbeater, in
the library of the Theosophical Society in Perth, Western Australia.
I later learnt that he had died in that city in his eighty-seventh
year, and that in the wall of a church not ten minutes’ walk away
from the library reposed a small portion of his ashes. At the
librarian’s suggestion I read his books, two a week, until I had read
them all; fascinated, I wanted to know more about the man who
had written them. There was no biography, only fragments of
biographical material scattered in various Theosophical magazines.
And so, having entered the library to obtain a book on hatha yoga,
I began an investigation that is still not completed, twelve years
and many thousands of miles later. The subject is as controversial
today as he was in his lifetime, from his birth in the obscurity of
an English industrial town, seven years later than he claimed it had
been, to his death as a figure of acclaim and notoriety. Of his birth
there is but a certificate to demonstrate the falsehood of the date
he gave; of his death there are obituaries in The Times of London,
The Hindu of New Delhi and the Sydney Morning Herald.
vii
