Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00823)

Pedro asks:

"Incidentally, did Leadbeater have a copy of his birth certificate? If he 
had, why Jinarajadasa did not mention it in his biographical notes about 
CWL?"?

If the implication is that Leadbeater may not have known of his own 
birthdate, it is absurd! It may be that a person is misled as to the day 
or month of birth or even deceived as to the year where is is within a 
year of the actual birth. This may happen when the child is conceived or 
born out of wedlock and the parents wish to conceal this fact. But 
Leadbeater was SEVEN years younger than he claimed! Presumably, when 
seven years old he could not have been persuaded that he was only a 
newborn, or when fourteen that he was actually seven.

Leadbeater gave his correct age in the census return (to which I have 
referred in an earlier posting) when he was resident with his mother (and 
presumably could not lie even if he wished to) and when he applied as a 
candidate for the ministry of the Church of England (when supported by 
his uncle, William Capes, who presumably knew his age). The change of 
birthdate occurs only after his joins the TS: it seems to appear first in 
the official record in the census return completed when Leadbeater was 
living with Sinnett.

Leadbeater would not have needed a birth certificate for any official 
reason. As diffiocult as it is for those of us who live in the "multiple 
forms of official identification" era to appreciate, Leadbeater's career 
took off in an age when a gentleman's word was sufficient!

There was no copy of his birth certificate in any files I saw in the 
archives at Adyar. The family tree drawn by Jinarajadasa was noted as 
based on information given by Leadbeater. The family tree is accurate (as 
genealogical research has established), but it does not include any 
dates. This is yet more (if such was needed) evidence that the Charles 
Webster Leadbeater of Jinarajadasa's chart is the same Charles Webster 
Leadbeater who was born in 1854. Various biographical statements were 
published during Leadbeater's TS career; they are consistent as to 
(false) birthdate.

Dr Gregory Tillett