View source for Maria Jane Burnley Hume

'''Maria Jane Burnley Hume''', also known as "Minnie Hume", was the only daughter [[Allan Octavian Hume]]. She married [[Ross Scott]], an associate of [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] and [[Henry Steel Olcott]], [[Founders#The Founders|the Founders]] of the [[Theosophical Society]], during their early days in India.

== Personal life ==

Maria Jane Burnley Hume was born on January 3, 1854 in Umballa, Bengal, India to [[Allan Octavian Hume]] and his wife Mary Anne.<ref>India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947.</ref> She was known to her family as "Minnie." Not much is known of their family life, but the 1861 census shows Mary Anne and her daughter living in the St. Sidwell parish of Exeter in Devon, England.<ref>1861 England Census.</ref> They had possibly taken refuge there from the rebellions taking place in northern India at that time. The mother, Mary Anne Hume, died on March 30, 1890.<ref>''Pall Mall Gazette'' (April 1, 1890), 6. See [http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000098/18900401/020/0006 British Newspaper Archive].</ref>

Minnie does not seem to have been a member of the [[Theosophical Society]], but after moving to England she became a member of the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]].<ref>Ellic Howe, ''Fringe Masonry in England, 1870-1885'' Holmes Publishing Group, 1996.</ref> In her later years, Minnie lived with her widowed father in England.<ref>1901 England Census.</ref> She died in 1927.

== Marriage to Ross Scott ==

On [[December 28]], 1881, she married [[Ross Scott]]. This marriage seems to have been a request from the [[Masters of Wisdom|Masters]]. The [[Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett (book)|''Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett'']] states:

<blockquote>HPB was told by the Mahatmas to try to find a suitable wife for him — certainly one of the strangest things in the [[Mahatma letters|Letters]].<ref>George E. Linton and Virginia Hanson, eds., ''Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett'' (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 244.</ref></blockquote>

This is confirmed in a letter from [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Mme. Blavatsky]] to [[Alfred Percy Sinnett|A. P. Sinnett]]. She asked the Masters to help Mr. Scott and "... was told to provide him with a wife — 'Miss Hume would do first rate for him.'"<ref>A. Trevor Barker, ''The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett'' Letter No. 10c (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1973), 15.</ref>

They had a son, Montague Allan Hume Ross Scott, who served with the Royal Engineers in India. Ross Scott died in 1908.

== Encounter with Mahatma ==

One day Mrs. Scott was at the headquarters of the [[Theosophical Society]], in Bombay, along with her husband, [[, [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Madame Blavatsky]], [[Henry Steel Olcott|Colonel Olcott]],  [[Damodar K. Mavalankar]], [[Godolphin Mitford|M. Murad Ali Beg]], and [[Bhavani Shankar]]. They all saw [[Morya|Master M.]] appearing into the room next to the one they were occupying and leaving a letter, before disappearing again.<ref>First Report of the Committee of the Society for Psychical Research, Appendix XIV at http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/app14.htm Published by The Blavatsky Archives Online</ref></blockquote>

== Notes ==
<references/>

[[Category:Associates of HPB|Hume, Maria J. B.]]
[[Category:Nationality English|Hume, Maria J. B.]]
[[Category:People who encountered Mahatmas|Hume, Maria J. B.]]
[[Category:People who witnessed phenomena|Hume, Maria J. B.]]
[[Category:People|Hume, Maria J. B.]]