Josephine Maria Ransom, née Davies (1879-1960) was an Australian Theosophist and writer. She served as General Secretary of three different national sections of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

, and wrote ''A Short History of the Theosophical Society''.Philip Sydney Harris
Ransom, Josephine Maria
''Theosophical Encyclopedia'', Manila: Thesophical Publishing House. Ransom was also Honorary Secretary of the Britain and India Association, and editor of its magazine ''Britain and India''.

Life

Josephine Davies was born in

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. I ...

, Australia on 22 March 1879. She travelled to India, where she became a member of the Theosophical Society in 1897, and worked with Annie Besant in Ceylon (today Sri Lanka). After moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, she attempted to make the English more aware of Indian attitudes. In 1918 she lectured English audiences advocating Indian self-government. After the

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independenc ...

she founded an illustrated monthly magazine, ''Britain and India'', 'for the Promotion of Friendliness, Understanding and Sympathy between Britain and India'.Cover of Britain and India magazine

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. Accessed December 8, 2020.

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the ...

, persuaded by Annie Besant that "womenhood everywhere is one", contributed an address to Indian women in support of the franchise for Indian women.

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (''née'' Chattopadhyay; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist, feminist and poet. A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important person in Ind ...

, then living in London, also wrote for the journal, and it featured interviews with other intellectuals such as

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. By August 1920 the magazine needed to become bimonthly, and financial difficulties forced its closure at the end of the year.Britain and India
''Making BRitain'',

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study o ...

. Accessed December 8, 2020. Ransom also regularly lectured on different aspects of Theosophy, and was active in the organization of the Theosophical Society. She was General Secretary of the Australian Section of the Theosophical Society in 1924–5, and General Secretary of the South African Section in 1926–7. She was General Secretary of the English Section between 1933 and 1936. . Though Ransom was nominated Vice-President of the Theosophical Society in 1960, she never assumed office. After a traffic accident in London, she died on 2 December 1960.

Works

* ''Schools of To-morrow in England''. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1919. * ''Indian Tales of Love and Beauty''. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophist Office, 1912. With a foreword by Annie Besant. * ''Irish Tales of Love and Beauty''. London : Arthur H. Stockwell, 1924. * ''Madame Blavatsky as Occultist''. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1931. * ''Studies in the Secret Doctrine''. Wheaton, Ill., The Theosophical Press, 1934. * ''The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Theosophical Society: a short history of the society's growth from 1926-1950''. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1950. * ''A Short History of the Theosophical Society''. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1938. With a preface by G. S. Arundale.

References

External links

Josephine Ransom
at the Theosophy wiki {{DEFAULTSORT:Ransom, Josephine 1879 births 1960 deaths Australian Theosophists Australian religious writers People from Armidale