Henry Rhodes Morgan
Major-General Henry Rhodes Morgan was an early Anglo-Indian member of the Theosophical Society, who had retired from the British Army. He and his wife were staunch friends of the Founders and defended H. P. Blavatsky during the controversy started by the Coulomb conspiracy. NOTE: The 1938 Theosophical Yearbook lists the general under the name Rhodes E. Morgan.
Personal life and career
The Major-General and Mrs. Morgan lived at Ootacamund, a hill station where he was one of the first English settlers in 1845. He worked for the English Government in India as a Forest Officer and Inspector and wrote a book entitled Forestry in Southern India encouraging forest conservation. Mrs. E. H. Morgan "studied scientific agriculture and was responsible for introduction into Ooctacamund of Australian Eucalyptus, Assam tea plant, and to a great extent the cinchona."[1] The couple had eight children, of whom only three survived to 1938.[2]
Theosophical Society involvement
In the summer of 1883 Mme. Blavatsky and Col. Olcott stayed with the Morgans for a short vacation in the benign climate of the Nilgiri Hills. Agriculture was an interest that Col. Olcott held in common with the Morgans.
The general was the President of the local Doddabeta Theosophical Society.
Writings
- Forestry in Southern India.
- Reply to a Report of an Examination by J. D. B. Gribble. 2nd ed. Ootacamund: Observer's Press, 1884. 21 pages. The British Library has two copies.[3]
Notes
- ↑ "Morgan, Mrs. E. H.," 'The Theosophical Year Book, 1938. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 202.
- ↑ "Morgan, Gen. Rhodes E.," 'The Theosophical Year Book, 1938. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 202.
- ↑ Boris de Zirkoff letter to British Museum Department of Printed Books (predecessor to British Library). July 16, 1955. Boris de Zirkoff Papers. Records Series 22. Theosophical Society in America Archives.