Henry Steel Olcott

 

Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helped Buddhism into a new renaissance. He is still honoured in Sri Lanka for these efforts.

Olcott had grown up on his father's New Jersey farm. In 1860 he married Mary Epplee Morgan daughter of the rector of Trinity parish, New Rochelle; they had three sons. Olcott was agricultural editor of the New York Tribune (1858–60), and sometimes submitted newspapers articles on various other subjects. He served in the Civil War and afterward was admitted to the bar in New York City. With the rank of colonel, he was special commissioner in the U.S. War and Navy departments (1863–66). He published a genealogy of his family that traced him back to Thomas Olcott, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut in 1636.

Some of his newspaper articles covered the Spiritualist movement. In 1874 while writing a series of articles on the seances of the Eddy brothers of Chittenden, Vermont he met Helena Blavatsky when both visited the Eddy farm. In early 1875 they were both involved in a spiritualist fiasco involving the famous spirit controls Katie King and John King.

In September of 1875, Henry, Helena and others, notably William Quan Judge formed the Theosophical Society. In December 1878 they moved the headquarters of the Society to India, where it later was established at Adyar. Blavatsky eventually went to live in London where she died, but Henry stayed in India and pursued the work of the society there. The Theosophical society built several Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka, most notably Ananda College, Nalanda College, Dharmaraja College and Visakha Vidyalaya. After his death, the leadership of the society devolved onto the shoulders of Blavatsky's protege Annie Besant.

Olcott Road, a major street in Colombo, has been named after him. A statue of him has been built in Maradana. He is still fondly remembered by many Sri Lankans and especially the students of these schools who have gone on to become Prime Ministers and industry leaders of the country.