British author, priest and occultist, a remarkable clairvoyant and author of many books. The son of a railway clerk, he moved to London where his dad died in 1862. His mom brought up her two boys in reduced circumstances and Charles took a number of menial jobs before becoming ordained in 1878 as a priest in the Church of England, securing a curacy at Bramshott. His mom died in 1882 and he was introduced into the Theosophical Society by Sinnett the following year. Keen to get in touch with the Masters of Wisdom, Leadbeater became a remarkable clairvoyant, often relating his conversations with Koot Hoomi that continued on a daily basis.
Leadbeater was tall and robust with a firm voice and great vitality that was attractive. In 1890, he met Annie Besant. They had an intense attraction, not sexual by any means as his taste ran to little boys and he found women for the most part repulsive, but he and Besant had spiritual ambitions in common and each found the other a useful foil. In 1895, Leadbeater and his companion, Jinarajadasa, moved to into Besant’s London home. Leadbeater and Besant rewrote the geology and history of the world in their occult books from the story of Atlantis and Lemuria to the true roots of Christianity.
Leadbeater was perhaps at the top of his game, immensely popular in the Theosophical Society when he met his downfall. On 1/25/1906, the mother of one of his students wrote to Besant that he was secretly teaching his boys to masturbate, with a suspicion of pedophilia. This put Besant into an awkward position; if she disavowed her close relationship with Leadbeater, their daily psychic instructions from the Masters would lose their credibility, and if she supported Leadbeater, the scandal could pull down their entire structure. If Leadbeater was not pure he could not be an Initiate and if he were not an Initiate the visits to the Masters could not have taken place.
The decision was taken out of her hands by the discovery of a letter written by Leadbeater to “My darling boy ….” with certain intimate instructions. Leadbeater never again held office in the Society, although he and Besant continued their occult researches together on reincarnation.
After his disgraceful reputation in India, Leadbeater moved to Australia, where he became an ordained priest in the Liberal Catholic Church in 1916, being consecrated bishop just seven days later. He took to wearing purple robes, a gigantic pectoral cross and an amethyst ring. By 1917 he was the target of several attacks from the Theosophical society, whose leaders were not willing to be integrated into rebel Catholicism. Now a resident of Australia, he began to accumulate morals charges from his contacts with young boys.
Leadbeater died on 3/01/1934 in Sydney.
Link to Wikipedia biography