A Journal of Her Own: The Rise and Fall of Annie Besant's Our Corner

Following the notoriety of the Knowlton pamphlet trial and her own trial for custody of her daughter, atheist and Freethinker Annie Besant (1847-1933) founded and edited the monthly journal Our Corner from 1883 through 1888. This essay provides an overview of that six-year run, characterizing the typical format of an individual issue and describing its recurring signature features, or "corners," on politics, science, literature, and the arts, as well as highlighting the work of specific contributors. Although Our Corner increasingly brought to the fore Besant's Socialist convictions, her hopes for social reform began to diminish and, combined with lack of financial support from her lecture circuit for the National Secular Society, led her to terminate publication of the journal--leaving her poised for her next adventure on the worldwide stage of Theosophy.