Theos-Talk Archives (August 2006 Message tt00266)

Dear Gregory, Dear Friends, 

Thanks to Gregory. I did some investigation about that. 

There was no such thing as the violent revolt and other events in Brazil as described by Leadbeater in the text you discuss. 

Brazilian indigenous peoples (as also black people) here were and are peaceful and not violent at all. 

To formalize that, I got the testimony of a Historian -- and bibliography also clarifies that.  

This is one of the things already investigated by me and which I still have to put into English and bring here. 

I wrote to Ms. Joy Mills in December 1999 and among other topics confronted her with these facts and asked her opinion.  She then wrote to me considering it an established fact that Leadbeater never came to Brazil. And Joy referred to Tillett's book without naming it.  Yet she apparently wanted me to remain silent about the facts. That I did not do. 


The response to the fact that Leadbeater never came to Brazil,  from other Adyar TS  leaders (in Brazil and elswhere),  has been one of pure DENIAL.  They simply avoid the subject so far.  

I would like them to see and realize that no theosophical institution, corporation  or group can benefit from denying facts.  

In the long run,  legitimate institutions can only benefit  from searching for truth and accepting events as they are.  

I say this because true peace  -- or a lasting truce in the movement -- cannot be separated from Ethics, Justice  or Truthfulness.  

We may well suffer from a thousand illusions; but there must be a mutual permission to be sincere and to share our views about truth, as this is an essential part of any learning process. 

Of course, all of the groups in the movement have made and still make mistakes, so it is not an exercise of finger-pointing. It is but the practice of opening one's mind and sharing one's thoughts. 

Perhaps Pedro Oliveira and others can help us get to another and better level of dialogue.   

I am reasonably confident about that. 

Hopeful regards,  Carlos. 


De:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Para:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com

Cópia:

Data:Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:35:23 +1000

Assunto:Theos-World Leadbeater's Brazilian Adventure

> Leadbeater’s story about his alleged time in Brazil is found in “Saved by a
> Ghost. A True Story of an Adventure in Brazil, Near Bahia, 1861-2” published in
> “The Theosophist” (1911), subsequently published as an off-print edited and
> annotated by Jinarajadasa (1911) and then included in a collection of
> Leadbeater’s short stories, “The Perfume of Egypt” (1911). It can be
> supplemented by notes left by Jinarajadasa and A.J. Hamerster in the TS
> archives at Adyar. Jinarajadasa also undertook research in Brazil in an attempt
> to confirm the details.
> 
> The essential claims made by Leadbeater were:
> 
> 1. He and his family were in Brazil between 1858-62: the story in “Saved by a
> Ghost” allegedly occurs in 1861-2, biographical notes made by A.J. Hamerster
> and corrected by Leadbeater record the family being in Brazil from around 1858
> to 1862, and a “Memo for a Biography of C.W.L.” written by Jinarajadasa on the
> basis of information given to him by Leadbeater states that the family went to
> Brazil in 1858 and returned to London in 1861. The 1861 British Census records
> show Leadbeater and his parents in England: Charles Leadbeater (35), who
> described himself as a “railway clerk”, his wife Emma (39) and their son,
> Charles W. (7) were lodgers in the house of a Mr Allen in Brompton, London.
> Emma is described as having been born in Liverpool and Charles W. in Stockport.
> The census return submitted by Leadbeater when he was Curate of Bramshott in
> 1881 reports that he was 34 (i.e. born in 1854) and had been born in Stockport,
> and that his mother was 59 (i.e. she would have been born in 1822, and would
> have been 39 in 1861). Unless it is claimed that the father, as a railway
> clerk, took his family to Brazil around 1858, and returned with them to London
> for the 1861 census, and then returned to Brazil for the “Saved by a Ghost”
> adventure, but came back to London to die in 1862 (when Leadbeater reported his
> death, describing his father as “book-keeper for a railway company”), the story
> must be regarded as fantasy or fraud.
> 
> 2. His father was the leading director of a railway company (which Leadbeater
> did not identify but which Jinarajadasa, from his research in Brazil, claimed
> was The State of Bahia South Western Railway Company). Leadbeater’s father
> must moved from being a “railway clerk” (1861 census) to “leading director”
> (for the adventures in Brazil) to “book-keeper for a railway company” (1862
> death certificate).
> 
> 3. The company was building the Bahia and San Francisco railway. There was
> indeed a company, The State of Bahia South Western Railway Company, which built
> this railway around 1860.
> 
> 4. There was a rebellion under a General Martinez (“the best swordsman in South
> America”). However, no standard history of Brazil includes any reference to
> uprisings in Brazil, 1850-1889, or to any general, rebel or otherwise, by the
> name of Martinez. The Brazilian Embassy in London, having examined Leadbeater’s
> account of his adventures in Brazil, stated that the events could not be
> identified in Brazilian history.
> 
> 5. Leadbeater’s brother, Gerald, was murdered by the rebels. However, there is
> no record any child other than Charles Webster being born to Charles and Emma
> Leadbeater in the period 1840-1870. None of the major international
> genealogical search engines produces any result for “Gerald Leadbeater”. There
> is no record in the British records of deaths of its citizens abroad of anyone
> named Leadbeater. No British press reports have been located reporting the
> murder of a British child in Brazil, 1860-1870.
> 
> 6. Leadbeater’s father joined the army in fighting the rebels.
> 
> 7. Leadbeater (aged either 15 by his account or 8 according to his birth
> certificate) went with his father and the army to capture Martinez.
> 
> 8. Leadbeater helped in the capture of Martinez, and was present at his
> execution.
> 
> 9. Leadbeater and his father were awarded decorations by the government for
> their services to Brazil. The Brazilian Embassy in London, having examined
> Leadbeater’s account, stated that the events could not be identified in
> Brazilian history.
> 
> Perhaps Pedro’s South American connections may be able to provide more
> information.
> 
> Dr Gregory Tillett
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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