Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00228)

The claim that Leadbeater was a member of ³HPB¹s circle in Avenue Road² both lacks any support from historical evidence, and is contrary to such evidence as there is. It was a claim only made (of course) after HPB¹s death. What is meant by ³a member of HPB¹s circle²? Clearly, it does not mean membership of the ES, let alone of the IG of the ES; membership lists for both exist and Leadbeater was not among those named. Why was he nota member of either of these two groups?
No correspondence between HPB and Leadbeater exists to support any intimaterelationship, and no correspondence of HPB exists in which there is any reference to Leadbeater implying any such relationship. Leadbeater is known to have visited HPB twice between his return to England from India and her death. Boris de Zirkhoff stated that there was no evidence in any of HPB¹spapers or correspondence to suggest any close relationship between Leadbeater and HPB, and Alice Leighton Cleather, a member of HPB¹s Inner Group, denied that HPB had ever referred to Leadbeater as a pupil or associate, and said she had never seen him at the London headquarters during HPB¹s life. Leadbeater¹s own accounts of his life at that period make no referenceto or claim of a special relationship with HPB - until he revised his history well after HPB¹s death. Indeed, Leadbeater was a member of the LondonLodge, and a close associate of A.P. Sinnett, at a time when there was tension, if not conflict, between Sinnett and the London Lodge, and HPB and the Blavatsky Lodge. Leadbeater acted as a medium in Sinnett¹s quest to make contact with the Masters, and was a member of what was, in effect, Sinnett¹s ³Inner Group².
Jinarajadasa, who was living with Leadbeater at the time, made no claim forany special relationship between HPB and Leadbeater in his accounts of theperiod. See, for example, Jinarajadasa¹s ³K.H.Letters to C.W.Leadbeater², 1943:68-69. 
Given the total absence of evidence to support the claim that Leadbeater was a member of ³HPB¹s circle in Avenue Road², and the evidence againstthe claim, anyone asserting Leadbeater¹s special relationship is obligedto present their evidence.
The claim that HPB presented Leadbeater with the ³first copy² of ³TheVoice of the Silence² is similarly entirely unsupported by historical evidence. That she presented him with a copy is certain; curiously enough, her inscription in that copy does not correctly name Leadbeater. She inscribed it to ³W.C.Leadbeater². This implies either that she did not even correctly recall his name, or that she was making a peculiarly English joke athis expense. Neither explanation suggests a close or personal relationship. As with all claims about Leadbeater, those who make them should present evidence, not mere assertions in the absence of evidence. Given that Leadbeater was obviously a pathological liar, nothing can be taken on his word alone.

Dr Gregory Tillett