February 17

Events

• Current events

• 1847 - It's not like he gave them a demonstration! - Charles Webster Leadbeater was born on this date. In the 1870's became a priest and teacher at the school attached to Trinity Church in Tottenham, North London. The young Leadbeater was a very active minister. He opened several local branches of clubs and societies associated with the Church of England: the first being a local "study" club for boys. Around 1900, Leadbeater had acquire an impressive reputation as a writer, a lecturer, and a teacher. Many members sent their children to him to be trained by him. Some came for short periods of time, others stayed for several years. On his long lecture tours, he sometimes took some students with him when travelling. In 1906, Leadbeater was accused of advising a group of young men in the United States about masturbation. That advice is the one that European doctors and members of the Clergy of that time would give to boys having sexual problems, but in the United States, the general opinion was that masturbation led to mental illness. The executive committee of the Theosophical Society in America ordered the British Section to brand Leadbeater as an homosexual and pedo. The complaints of a boy from San Francisco (1901) and another from Chicago (1904) about recommendations to practice masturbation were presented as evidence. Leadbeater never attempted to say anything for his defense. He resigned from his position in the church. He had the benefit of the friendship and even financial support of many supporters and defenders he had kept in the Society. He was still asked to be responsible for the education of many children.