Theos-Talk Archives (January 1995 Message tl00094)

Some notes re C.W.Leadbeater:

Some information is to be found in the biography of CWL by
Gregory Tillett (not popular among some) called "The Elder
Brother" and published by Routledge & Kegan Paul [London, Boston,
Melbourne, and Henley] in 1982.  My own "Bishops Irregular"
[E-mail me for info] of 1985 lists his Liberal Catholic Church
activities, and touches upon his reputed sexual interests.
Historically, there seems to be no doubt that apart from his
sexual proclivities, he _did_ lie about his age, as the
photograph if his birth certificate published by Tillet shows him
as having been born seven years later than he claimed, hence the
oft-repeated comments by his contemporaries that "he had such
vitality for a man of his age" (paraphrase of comments in
general).

Tillet did his research in Australia, mostly Sydney and
Melbourne, I believe, and seems to have actually interviewed some
of the men upon whose evidence some of his claims for CWL's
sexual practices were based.  The last contact I had with Tillet
was circa 1984-5, but I seem to recall that he was connected with
the University of NSW, Australia, which is or was his home
country.

Prior to Tillet's book, LCC and theosophical sources gave CWL's
birth as 17 Feb 1847.  His birth certificate gives an unequivocal
16 Feb 1854.

There may be more in the archives of the defunct Theosophical
History Section originally based in London, whose work I
understand is now continued by interested theosophists in the
USA.

Bookseller R.A.Gilbert of Bristol, UK, most probably has
considerable data on CWL, and I shall ask him if he has anything
useful I could post to the group.  (He is not online anywhere,
but is a regular visitor to Boston, MA).