R. B. Westbrook
R. B. Westbrook was a judge who was present at the October 30, 1875, meeting of the newly formed Theosophical Society at Mott Memorial Hall in New York City. He was elected as a Councillor. Historian Josephine Ransom wrote of him:
JUDGE R. B. WESTBROOK was for a time a Professor of Philology in a British University. He was made a Vice-President of the Society in 1877, and was much appreciated by H.P.B.; but nothing more was said of him.[1]
Personal life and career
Richard Broadhead Westbrook was born on February 8, 1820 to John and Sarah Broadhead Westbrook in Sussex, New Jersey.[2]
Connections with Theosophists
His wife was also acquainted with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, according to one of her letters.[3]
In September 1889 he published an article entitled "Reminiscences of Original American Theosophists" in ..The Religio-Philosophical Journal. It describes in incident when he introduced a "distinguished Unitarian preacher, Rev. W. R. Alger, of Boston" to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott. Westcott had great respect for the Colonel, but came to believe Madame Blavatsky to be a fraud.
Notes
- ↑ Josephine Ransom, A Short History of The Theosophical Society (Adyar, Madras, India: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1938), 114.
- ↑ 1820 U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records.
- ↑ H. P. Blavatsky, The Letters of H.P. Blavatsky, Volume 1 (Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 2003), 253 and 256.