Annie Wood Besant

Annie Besant (; née Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and activist, educationist, involved in women's rights, Home Rule, and Indian nationalism. She supported both Irish and Indian self-rule. She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917. She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prose…