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Hello, in the summer of 1873, a vicar in Lincolnshire, the Reverend Frank Besent,

issued an ultimatum to his wife. She must either take Holy Communion regularly at his church

or leave him. His wife would be gone to doubt her Christian faith later wrote,

hypocrisy or expulsion, I chose the latter. The woman's name was Annie Besent, and she went on

to become one of the most prominent social reformers of the late 19th century. The causes she fought for

included not only secularism and women's rights, but also freedom of speech, socialism, Irish

home rule and better conditions for workers. She spearheaded the celebrated strike by matchgaures

of the Bryan and May factory in Burhe, East London in 1888, and was put on trial for obscenity for

daring to publish a pamphlet on birth control. About midway through life she became a theosavist

and moved to India, establishing herself as a leading figure in the nationalist movement there

and being appointed the first woman president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

With me to discuss the life and work of Annie Besent are Lawrence Goldman,

fellow in modern history at St Peter's College University of Oxford, David Stack,

Redrin history at the University of Reading, and Yasmin Khan, senior lecturer in politics and

international relations at Royal Holloway University of London. Barnes-Goldman, Annie Besent

should born Annie Wood in 1847 in London. Can you give us some idea of her family?

Yes, her parents in fact were Irish, her father was William Wood, her mother was Ellen Morris,

they'd met in Dublin and married there and they came over in 1845 to London at the time of the

famine and her father in fact was an underwriter working in the city of London. Wood, William Wood was

actually from a very notable family and Annie had very notable relations. One of her wood relations

...