IN MEMORIAM—JOH N YARKER

ὀ xvii
 IN MEMORIAM—JOH N YARKER
WE deeply regret to have to record that the Most Illus-
trious Brother John Yarker, 33°, 90°, 97°, Sovereign Grand
Master General of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry
in and for Great Britain and Ireland, Honorary Member of
the Sovereign Sanctuaries in and for the German Empire,
France, Spain, America, Cuba, etc., died on March 20, 1913,
EV. at Manchester. Regm'escaz‘ m Pace!
We are obliged to the Universal !??/8877405074 for the
following Memorial Article:
In the death of Brother John Yarker, of Didsbury, Manchester, England,
whom the Great Architect of the Universe called from labour in March last,
Masonry has lost her greatest living authority on high grades, of all of which
Brother Yarker was a Past Master, an ardent devotee, and on which he was
a voluminous writer. We had the honour of Brother Yarker’s acquaintance
nearly three decades ago, he having been a contributor to the Scottzlsk Free-
mason when we edited that. journal. The following leading events in Brother
Yarker’s Masonic career we quote from the Co-Mason, of London, England:
It was in Manchester that Brother Yarker entered on his Masonic career
and took up those studies which were to make him famous throughout the world
in his after-life. He was initiated at the age of 21 in the Lodge of Integrity,
No. 189, Manchester, on the 25th day of October, 1854, and after an interval of
three months was duly Passed and Raised. The year after saw him occupying
the Senior Warden’s Chair of the Lodge of Fidelity, No. 6231‘, and in 1857 he
was elected Master of this Lodge. He still retained his membership of his
Mother Lodge and served as Secretary in 18 56; other offices were offered, but
he resigned in 1862. He entered Mark Masonry at Mottram in 18 55, and took
also the Ark and Link degrees, and became the first Worshipful Master of the
Fidelity Lodge of Mark Masters, No. 31.
In 1856 he was exalted to the degree of a Royal Arch Mason in the Industry
Chapter, No. 466$, and became P.Z. of the Chapter of Fidelity in 1858, and
occupied the same office in the Industry Chapter for two years: 1861, 1862.
ὁ2 xix
 THE EQUINOX
When he was 23 years of age he was installed a Knight Templar in the
Jerusalem Conclave on the 11th of July, 1856.
In 1861 he was elected Commander of the Love and Friendship Precep-
tory, Stockport, and in 1863, succeeding Brother William Romaine Callendar,
M.P., D.L., he became the Commander of the Jerusalem Conclave. Further
honours fell to his share, and he was elected Grand Vice-Chancellor of the
Province under Brother William Courtenay Cruttenden, P.G.C., and in 1864
was appointed Grand Constable of England. In the same year he was called
abroad on commercial business and travelled extensively in America, the West
Indies and Cuba. Before he left England he revived the old York degrees of
Heredom-Kadosh, formerly worked under the Duke of Sussex, being helped in
this important work by old members who had been admitted in 1823 and 1833.
In 1869 he was admitted into L’Ordre du Temple, the continuation of the
Knights Templars in Paris. This body claims an uninterrupted succession of
Grand Masters from the time of Jacques de Molay, who, it is said, invested as
Grand Master Marc Larmenius in 1307, when the Order was first impugned,
before he himself perished at the stake. Later, Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, and
several scions of the French Royal Family, were Grand Masters.
It was a time of much activity, a Masonic Renaissance, in which the Very
Illustrious Brother John Yarker played an important röle, and many other old
Rites were rescued from the oblivion into which they had fallen—such were the
Rite of Mizraim, the degree of Ark Mariners, the Red Cross of Constantine,
Babylon, Palestine, Philippi, etc., and, the most notable of all, the Ancient and
Primitive Rite which was established by him in Manchester in 1871.
Very properly, therefore, we find that in 1870 the Royal Grand Council of
Ancient Rites appointed him Royal Grand Superintendent of Lancashire of
these and other old Orders. For his Masonic scholarship and literary work, he
was elected a member of the Masonic Archaeological Institute at its establish-
ment in 1862. The same year he was created a Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of
the Palatine Chapter of the A. and A. Rite by Brother Cruttenden, M.W., but
as their claims conflicted with the old Templar grades he ceased attending.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the offices he held and all the honours
that were bestowed upon him; here, however, is a short list of the more
important:
Royal Grand Commander of the Rose Croix and Kadosh, 1868 to 1874.
Scottish Rite of 33° (and received certificate dating from 1811), January
27th, 1871.
Admitted 33° of Cerneau Rite and honorary member in New York, August
21st, 1871.
Installed Grand Master 96° of Ancient and Primitive Rite at Freemasons’
Hall, London, October 8th, 1872.
XX
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
Absolute Sovereign Grand Master, Rite of Mizraim, 90°, from 1871 down to
the present time.
Received over twelve patents of 33° of the Supreme Council in various
parts of the world.
Past Senior Grand Warden of Greece by patent, July Ist, 1874.
Hon. Member of Lodge 227, Dublin, 1872, and of various foreign bodies,
1881-3. Among these he received the “Crown of Kether,” admitting to the 5°
of the Grand Lamaistique Order of Light.
In 1882—3 he acted as General Guiseppe Garibaldi’s Grand Chancellor of
the Confederated Rites, which he arranged throughout the world.
Hon. Grand Master of the Sovereign Grand Council of Iberico, October 5th,
1889.
Rite of Swedenborg: In 1876 he was appointed Supreme Grand Master for
the United Kingdom under the Charter of T. G. Harrington, P.G. Master of
Craft Grand Lodge of Canada; Colonel W. Bury M’Leod Moore, Grand Master
of Templars, 33°; and Geo. C. Longley, 33°.
Elected Imperial Grand Hierophant, 97°, in Ancient and Primitive Rite,
November 11th, 1902.
Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Germany, 1902-6.
Hon. Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Cuba (by patent), January 5th,
1907.
Hon. Grand Master and vitam of the United Sup. Grand Council of Italy at
Firenze, and of the Society Alchemica, etc. etc., 1910—12.
He also was interested in many of the concordant orders, and held office in
several. He was appointed President of Sat Bhai of Prag, and was co-sponsor
from 1871 to 1912.
Head of the Rite of Ishmael in England in succession to Dr. Mackenzie and
Major F. G. Irwin.
Chief of the Red Branch of Eri in succession to Major F. G. Irwin.
High Priest of the 7th degree of Knight Templar Priests, Manchester,
revived from 1868 to 1875.
In addition, he received many civil decorations from foreign countries as a
testimony of appreciation for his notable work. It would fill pages to give a
detailed list, but these are a few of those best known in this country:
Constantinian Order of St. George, granted 1874 by H.H. Demetrius Rho-
dacanakis, Hereditary Grand Master and Prince of Rhodes, descendant of
the Emperors Constantine and the Paleologi, actual heir of the Byzantine
Empire. —

Star of Merit of H.H. Sir Sourindro Mohun Tajore, Rajah of Calcutta,

granted April 30th, 1886. (The Melusinia of Honour, Princedom of Lusignians
tendered at the same time.)
xxi
 THE EQUINOX
Honorary Fellow of The Society of Science, Letters, and Arts, 1882.
Served five years on the Council. Gold medal granted 1887 (Sir Henry Valentine
Gould, Baronet, President).
`

Docteur en Science Hermetiques. Conferred October 10th, 1899, by the

Free University of Paris.
Nischal al Iftikhar, or Order of Glory. Founded in one Class by Sultan
Mahmoud II in 1831. Granted by Sultan Abdul Hamid, June 13th,19o5.
Honorary Fellow of the Theosophical Society 1879—presented with a com-
plimentary Jewel of the Society.
Early1n his career V. .Illust. Br. John Yarker turned his attention to
literature. He was a prolific writer on many subjects other than Masonic. In
1869 he compiled “Notes on the Temple and Hospital, and the Jerusalem
Encampment, Manchester ”--—the Provincial Grand Conclave appreciated this
work and complimented the author. Two years later saw an interesting work
from his pen, Notes on Με Scientific and Religious Mysteries of Antiquity;
Με Gnosis and Secret Sclzools of Με Middle Ages, Modern Rosicracianism;
and Με various Rites and Degrees of Free and Accepted Masonry, a book
which has been exceedingly well reviewed. A little later, but about the same
date, the “Egyptian Ritual of the Book of Dead,” another paper on the Old
Rosicrucian Doctrines and one on Astrology, made their appearance. All this
time articles were being written for the Masonic perodicals, and from 1855 up to
the present time the best journals considered it an honour to publish his
writings. These therefore can be found in the Freemason’s Magazine, Free-
mason, Freemason’s Ckronicle, !}₪;/2 (which he edited from 188 5), the
Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Research Lodge, and latterly in this maga-
zine. Being much interested in Heraldry and Genealogical studies, he compiled
in 1881 a book on the pedigree of the House of Yarker, containing much
interesting information in regard to the origin, name and allied families in
York, Westmorland and Lancashire.
In 1909 the Arcane ‘Sc/zools, an epoch-making book, was produced. It is the
flower of his devotion to the Craft, and the crown of all his labours, so in accord
with his family motto, “the end crowns the work!” The data for this book
took years to collect, and the result is monumental—an immense array of facts,
systematically arranged, which form a valuable reference book. In it he
traces the sources of the teaching of the philosophy and rites of the Craft, right
back into the night of time—before the Aryan civilization. The mystery
tradition was the sole survivor in the West, and in the Operative Guilds a
genuine mystery tradition was preserved and handed down to modern times.
This splendid book carries conviction in every line, and all brethren who take a
serious interest in Masonry should study it.

xxii
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER

[Tlzz's Manifesto following has issued by order of 6/68 new MI. Sovereign
been
Grand Master Generalfor G. B. and I.] .

To all Sovereign Sanctuaries, Supreme Councils and Masonic

Bodies in friendship with the Sovereign Sanctuary of
the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry in and for
Great Britain and Ireland.
WE, Grand Secretary General of the Sovereign Sanctuary
of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry in and for
Great Britain and Ireland, hereby give due Notice to all
Sovereign Sanctuaries, Supreme Councils and Masonic
Bodies in friendship with the Sovereign Sanctuary in and for
Great Britain and Ireland, and to all Members of the said
Rite, that the lamented Most Illustrious Bro. John
Yarker, 33°, 90°, 97°, Sovereign Grand Master General of the
Antient and Primitive Rite, departed this earthly life and was
called to the Grand East on March 20th, 1913, E.V., and that
a Convocation of Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators of
the said Rite on June 30th, 1913, Εν. held in London,
unanimously elected the Very Illustrious Bro. Henry Meyer,
33°, 90°, 96°, henceforth to be Sovereign Grand Master
General in and for Great Britain and Ireland.
With fraternal greetings,
Yours in the Bonds of the Order,
Leon Engers-Kennedy, 33°, 90°, 95°,
Grand Secretary General.
Follows a copy of the Minutes of the Special Convocation
of the Supreme Sanctuary of the Antient and Primitive Rite
of Masonry held at 33 Avenue Studios, 76 Fulham Road,
South Kensington, London, S.W., on Monday, June 30,
1913, at five o’clock of the afternoon.
xxiii
 THE EQUINOX
The brethren present having proved their right to sit, speak
and vote, Brother Quilliam called the Convocation to order,
and called upon Brother Crowley to read the summons, a copy
of which is here appended. This was done.
Brother Crowley remarked that no written protest against
the present Convocation had been received from any Prince
Patriarch, and that it might therefore be taken that no question
could hereafter be raised as to the legality of the Convocation.
Brother Crowley proposed, and Bro. Theodor Reuss
seconded, that Bro. Henry Meyer take the chair. This was
unanimously agreed. to.
Brother Meyer having done so, Brother Quilliam moved
that a letter of condolence should be sent to the widow of the
late Sovereign Grand Master General. This was agreed to.
Brother Meyer then called upon Brother Crowley to read
his report of the proceedings at Manchester. Brother Crowley
complied.
The report of the proceedings at Manchester was approved
and adopted and ordered to be recorded in the Minutes of the
Convocation. Follows a copy of aforesaid report.
The election of the Sovereign Grand Master General was
then duly held. `

RECORD OF THE ELECTION OF THE SOVEREIGN

GRAND MASTER GENERAL
THE Members of the Sovereign Sanctuary having pro-
duced their certificates and all other documents requisite for
the purpose of establishing their right to be present and vote
in this Convocation of Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators,
and the same having been examined and found to be legal and
xxiv
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
in due order, Bro. W. Henry Quilliam, 33°, 90°, 96°, called
the Convocation to order, and called upon Brother Crowley,
33°, 90°, 95°, to read the summons calling this Convocation.
This was duly done, and a copy of such summons so there
read15 set out in extenso in the minutes hereinafter written.
On the motion of Bro. W. Henry Quilliam, seconded by
Bro. Aleister Crowley, 33°, 90°, 95°, the Very Illustrious Prince
Patriarch Grand Conservator, 33°, 90°, 95°, Bro. Henry
Meyer, of 25 Longton Grove, Sydenham, SE., County of
Kent, was unanimously elected Sovereign Grand Master
General of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry in
and for Great Britain and Ireland. The Most Illustrious
Sovereign Grand Master General then took the chair and,
after returning thanks for the election, closed this Special
Convocation. Done in our Sanctuary in the Valley of
London, this thirtieth day of June, Nineteen hundred and
thirteen, Εν.
ἩΕΝκγ MEYER, 33°, 90°, 96°,
Sovereign Grand Master General.
SAINT EDWARD ALEISTER CROWLEY, 33°, 90°, 96°,
Patriarch Grand Administrator General.
WM. HY. QUILLIAM, 33°, 90°, 96°,
Patriarch Grand Keeper General of the
Signedfi Golden Book.
LEON ENGERs-KENNEDY, 33°, 90°, 95°,
Patriarch Grand Secretary General.
THEODOR REUss, 33°, 90°, 96°,
Sovereign Grand Master General ad Vitam
for the German Empire and Grand In-
spector General.
XXV
 THE EQUINOX
The Most Illustrious Sovereign Grand Master General
then opened the Convocation as a Supreme Grand Council
of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of 33° and last degree
of the Antient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and he was duly
elected Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander.
He then opened the meeting as an Absolute Grand
Sovereign of the 90° and last degree of the Oriental Rite of
Mizraim, and was duly elected as its Patriarch.
The Sovereign Grand Master returned thanks in an
eloquent speech for his election, and conferred the degree
of Prince Patriarch Grand Conservator of the Rite on Bros.
Robert Ahmed Quilliam, 32°—94°, Leon Engers-Kennedy,
3o°—90°, and Bro. F. B. Gibson, 32°~94°.
He further made the following appointments:
Brother Crowley—Patriarch Grand Administrator General.
Brother Quilliam—Patriarch Grand Keeper General of the
Golden Book.
Bro. Frederick B. Gibson—Patriarch Grand Master
General of Ceremonies.
Brother Kennedy—Patriarch Grand Secretary General.
He also expressed. his wish to confirm Brother Higham
in his appointment as Grand Chancellor General, which he
has so long and so illustriously filled.
The Sovereign Grand Master General appointed 33
Avenue Studios, 76 Fulham Road, South KensingtOn,
London, S.W., as the head-quarters of the Rite.
The Convocation was then closed in Antient and Primitive
fornL

xxvi
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AT MAN-

CHESTER, WITH Α ΝΟΤΕ ΟΝ ΤΗΕ CIRCUM-
STANCES WHICH LED UP ΤΟ ΤΗΕΜ
ALTHOUGH the Sovereign Grand Master General departed
this life on March 20, 1913, no official notice of the fact was
sent out by the senior active officer, the Grand Chancellor
General; but a few days after he had received the summons
issued in default of such action by the Acting Sovereign
Grand Master General, he sent another summons couched in
similar terms, calling a special Convocation at Manchester fer
4 p.m., June 28, 1913. This was illegal for two reasons : First,
because Article XI of the Constitution provides that twenty
days’ notice must be given ; secondly, because by Article II the
Grand Administrator General or his substitute had not fulfilled
the conditions there imposed upon him, and because notices
were not issued to all the Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators
of the Rite. Brother Crowley, however, attended in order to
protest against the illegalities. He further found a person
claiming admission whose status he knew to be doubtful.
The proceedings therefore began and ended with the
following Speech:
Very Illustrious Prince Patriarch Grand Conservators of
the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Antient and Primitive Rite,
Although I rise to protest against the illegality of the
present Convocation, it is not in order to quibble over the
letter of our Constitution that I have left my peaceful
encampment in the Valley of Paris.
When I see illegality, I ask myself, What has prompted it?
xxvii
 THE EQUINOX
and in this case, the Chancellery fortunately reposing in the
trained legal hands of Very Illustrious Brother Higham, it is
certain that no inadvertence has been committed.
I pass over therefore the breach of Article II and Article
XI, which render this Convocation powerless to proceed to the
business for which it purports to have been summoned, and I
ask at whose instigation these illegalities have been committed?
There is not one of you who is ignorant of the answer.
The age and infirmity of our lamented Grand Hierophant
allowed him to yield to improper persuasion, to be deceived
by an intrigue no wilier than those he had so often defeated
in his prime, and to relax the strict rules of our Constitution.
Even to this exalted Sanctuary there has been admitted,
in flagrant violation of Article VI of our Constitution, a man
who is not and never was a member of a lodge in good
standing working under a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons. The Sanctuary must be purged.
But it is not for this that I have left my very pleasant
encampment in the Valley of Paris. Were the man of whom
I speak a man free and of good report, I should perhaps have
held my peace. I am not here to stickle even for the funda-
mentals of our Rite. But he is not even a free man, but the
hired tool of a woman. Do you wonder if I protest that a
woman——and women are excluded even from symbolic
Masonry—should seek the usurpation of our Sovereignty?
And yet this alone would not have induced me to exchange
the amenities of my encampment in the Valley of Paris for the
sterner and gloomier grandeurs of the Valley of Manchester.
Who is the woman of whom I speak? What are her
antecedents? Is it a Blavatsky or a Joan of Arc that seeks to
xxvui
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
don the armour of a Knight? If it were so, perhaps it might
be hard to say her nay. But it is none of these. This
woman—pollution to that pure word l—comes to us from the
nauseous fraud by which she made herself the real if not the
nominal mistress of the TS, the fraud which did not shrink
from profaning the death-bed of that master-fool of the
movement, who was at least unquestionably honest.
Is it then to defeat her intrigues that I am come to this
Valley of Manchester from my peaceful encampment in the
Valley of Paris? No, a thousand times N 0! Let our Rite,
the heir of all secular glory, be soiled and degraded by this
creature as she will; I for one will not lower visor or lay
lance in rest.
What is it then that has brought me hot—foot to this illegal
Convocation? What but that last infamy which has roused
even the holy calm of our Most Illustrious Sovereign G.M.
General in Austria to hurl the lightnings of his excommunica-
tion against its perpetrators?
VeryIllustrious P.P.,I am no prude. But I am a stickler for
the value of words: and I deem that the French slang “ Petit
Jesus ” is being taken too seriously when a senile sex-maniac
like Leadbeater proclaims his catamites as Corning Christs.
It is this, Very Illustrious P.P. Grand Conservators of our
sublime Rite, which brings me here to-day. This is the hand
which moves the wooden-headed pawn Wedgwood, hardly a
man, certainly no Mason, and of what freedom and good
report his present intrigue is the best evidence.
This is why our Masonic Polonius has been interred
hugger—mugger !

This is the secret object of the attempt to hold the election

XXIX
 THE EQUINOX
of S.G.M.G. without due notice, to drag our holy Rite into
the mire, to chain it to the chariot wheels of a Krishnamurti,
to make us pandars to the antique and impotent uncleanness
of a senile sodomite.
Shall we allow the Antient and P. Rite to be dragged at
the heels of this filthy and ridiculous movement? Shall we
be beslavered by these blasphemous bestialities; we, the
Conservators of a Rite hallowed alike by its own nature and
by the glory with which antiquity surrounds it; we, generation
after generation of whose ancestors, even beyond the ages of
history, have handed it down to us, spotless and radiant, veiled
only ever and evermore by the blinding light of its own
glories, unsullied by even the shadow of disgrace?
No, Very Illustrious Prince Patriarchs, if it is to be done at
all, let it be done prOperly. Let us elect Lord Alfred Douglas
S.G.M.G., and replace the name of the Grand Architect of
the Universe by that of Oscar Wilde 1

That would at least be honest, if not clean. I have no

concern with the morals of Mr. Wedgwood or Mr. Leadbeater:
it is one of the many favours which my daily thanksgiving
recites before the Father of us all that I have no concern with
them; but that the latter should impose his boy-mistress,
imbecile from abuse, upon us for the Incarnation of the
Logos—that is a thing for which I find no name.
V.I.P.P.s, I have unveiled Medusa, and she has no
glance to make me quail. Let us but set our heels once
firmly upon the worm, let us rid ourselves once and for ever
of the pestilence l `

All those who will not do so stand self-confessed advocates

and partisans of this blasphemous elaboration of sodomy.
xxx
 IN MEMORIAM—]OHN YARKER
I invite not merely every Very Illustrious Ρ.Ρ., but every
decent man, to sustain my protest by following me from this
illegally and treacherously convoked assembly.
The Convocation was then adjourned sine die by
unanimous consent.
To this speech we attach an account of the legal proceed-
ings on which it is based :

IN THE COURT OF THE DISTRICT JUDGE OF

CHINGLEPUT
O. 5. No. 47 of 1912

J. NARAYANIAH -P!az'7ztzj
Versus
M RS. ANNIE BESANT—Defendant

THE WRITTEN STATEMENT OF THE _PLAINTIFF

I. J. NARAYANIAH, the plaintiff above, is a Government
Pensioner living at 118 Big Street, Triplicane, Madras.
His address or service of all notices and processes,
through his Vakil at Madras, care of Mr. P. N. Anantana
Chariar, B.A., BL., High Court Vakil, Chingleput.
2. Mrs. Annie Besant is the President of the Theo-
sophical Society and has her permanent place of residence
at Adyar, near Madras, at the Head-quarters of the said
Society.
3. The plaintiff, who had been a member of the Theo-
sophical Society prior to his retirement, was, at the beginning
of 1909, invited by the defendant to take up his residence
xxx1
 THE EQUINOX
at Adyar and do the work of Assistant Correspondence
Secretary of the Esoteric Section. The plaintiff had at the
time very great respect and veneration for the defendant,
whom he regarded as his spiritual preceptress and whom
he credited with more than human attributes, and he agreed
to serve her as the Assistant Correspondence Secretary with—
out receiving from her any remuneration whatever. The
plaintiff accordingly took up his abode at Adyar along
with his second and third sons, J. Krishnamurti and J.
Nityananda, who are respectively aged 17 and 14. The
boys were receiving their education in the Penathoor
Subramanyam High School at Mylapore, Madras. But as
Mr. R. B. Clarke and Mr. C. W. Leadbeater of the
Theosophical Society undertook their education, and as the
boys were not making much progress in their studies,
the plaintiff stOpped them from school and put them under
their charge at Adyar. In or about December 1909 the
defendant, who is frequently on tour in connection with her
theosophical work, returned to India and promised to help
undertake the future education of the boys. Accordingly the
plaintiff stopped the boys from school altogether and kept
them with himself at Adyar.
4. About the beginning of 1910 the defendant requested
the plaintiff to give a letter constituting her the guardian
of the boys; and after some persuasion both on the part
of the defendant and Sir S. Subramania Iyer, for whom the
plaintiff had great respect, the plaintiff gave such letter,
especially as the defendant had assured the plaintiff that
the only reason for asking the letter was that after the
plaintiffs lifetime his relations might give trouble~ to the
xxxu
 IN ΜΕ MORIAM—JOHN YARKER
defendant but for such a letter. The boys, however, continued
to live with the plaintiff.
᾽

5. In or about the latter part of March 1910 the

plaintiff discovered that his son J. Krishnamurti was being
led into imprOper habitsby C. W. Leadbeater, who held
a very high position in the Theosophical Society; and
on one occasion the plaintiff himself saw Leadbeater com-
mitting an unnatural offence with the first minor. A few
days after, the plaintiff strongly remonstrated with Mr.
Leadbeater, and made preparations for leaving Adyar with his
sons, but on the persuasion of Sir Subramania Iyer, the
Vice-President of the Theosophical Society, to stay on until
the return of the defendant, who was then on tour, and in
deference to the request of the defendant by wire, the plaintiff
did not carry out his intentions. 'On her return, the plaintiff
complained to the defendant about the conduct of Leadbeater,
and she promised to keep the boys away from him, and
immediately ordered the shifting of their bathrooms and
residential rooms from the down-floor to the first-floor;
and later on, when C. W. Leadbeater shifted his own room
upstairs, the defendant arranged to take away the boys to
Benares, and assured the" plaintiff that they would have
nothing to do with Leadbeater. In Spite of this, they were
again being allowed to associate with the said Leadbeater,
and it was about this time that he heard from other Theoso—
phist friends that one Luxman, a personal attendant, had
seen C. W. Leadbeater and ]. Krishnamurti in the defend-
ant’s room'engaged in committing an unnatural offence.
On a further remonstrance by the plaintiff, the defendant
promised to take the boys away to England, and accordingly
X 6 xxxiii
 THE EQUINOX
she left India for England about the end of March 1911 and
returned to India onlyin the beginning of October 191 I, during
which time, so far as the plaintiff was aware, the boys were kept
away from associating with the said Mr. Leadbeater.
6. In or about November 1911 the defendant told the
plaintiff that the boys were making rapid Spiritual progress
and were approaching initiation by the Masters (a set of
superhuman gurus living on the eastern slopes of the
Himalayas) believed in by the Theosophists. She therefore
propOsed to keep the boys With Mr. Leadbeater at ‘Ootaca-
mund preparatory to their initiation. On the plaintiff’s
objection the boys were not sent to Ootacamund. The
plaintiff met the defendant in Benares in December 1911
and insisted on an absolute separation of the boys from Mr.
Leadbeater. But for the first time, to the plaintiff’s great
surprise, the defendant refused to adOpt any such course, and
alleged that the bOys and Leadbeater had lived together 'for
several lives past, and that Leadbeater was an Arhat or
Saint, “who is on the "verge of divinity.” The plaintiff stated
that he could not accept any such position, and- that unless
the separation took place he would take action in the matter.
7. The plaintiff returned from Benares to Adyar, and there,
on or about January 19, 1912, the defendant, in presence of
certain members of the Theosophical Society, sent for the
plaintiff and asked him what he wanted to be done in respect
of the boys. The plaintiff only demanded that there should
be absolute separation from the said Leadbeater. She agreed
to this, and asked the plaintiff whether he had any objection
to the boys being taken to England. The plaintiff assented,
as the defendant had alleged that she. would be returning to
xxxrv
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
India in April or May. In spite of her undertaking to keep
the boys separated from Leadbeater, the plaintiff has reason to
believe that after reaching England she took the boys to
Leadbeater in Italy and stayed with him for some weeks, thus
breaking her promises. The plaintiff submits that, having
regard to the filthy and unnatural habits, character and ante-
cedents of the said Leadbeater, it is extremely undesirable
that the boys should be allowed to associate with him, or that
he should be allowed to have access to them.
8. The defendant started for England about February
1912, but before she started she endeavoured to obtain evidence
that Leadbeater was not guilty of the act complained of, and
had a statement from her attendant, Luxman, recorded to
that effect, and sent a copy of the same to the plaintiff. The
plaintiff, on perusing this, wrote two letters to the defendant
on the 7th and 15th February 1912, pointing out that even
according to' the statement aforesaid it was clear that Mr.
Leadbeater was seen half dressed in her room with Krishna—
murti. Before these letters reached the defendant she wrote
a letter to the plaintiff on February 7, 1912, from on board
steamer, in which for the first time she set up that plaintiff
has been ill-treating and starving his children._ The plaintiff
submits that this is an impudent and malicious lie trumped
up by the defendant in view to further legal proceedings, as
would be seen from the fact that the plaintiff was all along
one of the trusted members of the Theosophical Society and
the Assistant Correspondence Secretary of the Esoteric Section
thereof, and was paying for the mess of the boys wherever
they were until November 1911. The defendant in that
letter also threatened that she would keep the boys in
xxxv
 THE EQUINOX
England until they attained their majority. The defendant
also wanted the plaintiff to remove from Adyar, which he has
accordingly done. The defendant has now returned to India,
and has purposely refrained from bringing the boys with her
to India in order to hamper the plaintiff in his efforts to
recover the boys.
9. The plaintiff states that all along the defendant has
been aware of the practices of Leadbeater, and that after she
reached England she took the boys again to Mr. Leadbeater
in Italy. The plaintiff submits that the conduct of the defen-
dant as aforesaid renders her totally unfit to be in charge of
the boys. The plaintiff further submits that the defendant
has been stating that the first boy, who is named Alcyone, is,
or is going to be, the Lord Christ, and sometimes that he is
Lord Maitreya, and she has induced a number of persons to
believe in this theory, with the result that the boy is deified,
and that a number of respectable persons prostrate before
him and show other signs of worship. It is also given out
that the elder boy Wrote a book called Af the Fee! of the
Master, which the plaintiff has reasons to believe to be a
compilation made by Leadbeater. In any case, the boy who
is not able to write a decent English letter is absolutely
incapable of producing such a work. The plaintiff submits
that this course of conduct is calculated to warp the moral
nature of the boys and to make them moral degenerates.
The defendant, beyond putting forward divine claims on
behalf of the boys, has not been taking proper care of their
education. The first boy has not picked up the rudiments of
the English language in spite of three years of alleged
tuition by English tutors. The plaintiff submits that he,
"xxxvi
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
as the father of the boys, is entitled to act as their guardian
.

and is entitled to their custody, and further submits that the

letter referred to in paragraph 4 cannot have the effect of de-
priving him of the same; even assuming that it could, under
the circumstances above detailed the defendant has proved
herself totally unfit to be in charge of the boys, and the
boys ought to be removed from her charge. When the said
letter was given, the plaintiff believed the defendant to be
superhuman and was completely under her influence and
control, and he took her to be his preceptress who should be
obeyed implicitly and make any sacrifice demanded, and the
contract, if any, made under such circumstances, is voidable
on the ground of undue influence. In any case, if the defen-
dant is unfit to be entrusted with the guardianship of the
minors, the plaintiff’s natural right as the guardian will again
arise, inasmuch as the letter, if valid in law, was only a sur—
render of the rights in favour 0f the defendant alone, The
plaintiff’s delay in taking action against the defendant has
been due only to the faith which until recently he shared
with many other persons that the defendant was semi—divine,
and that the plaintiff was exceptionally fortunate in getting
the defendant to take charge of the boys. The plaintiff was
also led to believe that the boy Krishnamurti was also
possessed of divine attributes, and the, plaintiff had to change
his belief only on discovery of the circumstances connected
with Leadbeater’s connection with the boys and on the con-
fession of the boy himself that the book A! the Feel of f/ze
Master was not written by Krishnamurti, and on the dis-
covery of the preSent imperfect state of their education.
These circumstances came to light only during the latter part
xxxvn
 [THE EQUINOX
of .1912, and it"was only on receipt of the letter dated
February 7, 1912, that the plaintiff realized fully howmalicious
and mendacious the defendant was and how totally unfit she
was to be the guardian of the boys.
10. The plaintiff submits that as the guardian of the boys
he is entitled to their custody, and even otherwise, in the
interest of the boys and their moral welfare, the defendant
ought to be compelled‘to give them up to the plaintiff or to
such other person as the Court may think fit. The plaintiff
sent a notice on the 11th July demanding that the boys
should be brought back to India and replaced under the
guardianship and custody of the plaintiff. The plaintiff
submits that he had no authority and could not have dele-
gated-his parental rights to the defendant. Even assuming,
however, that he could do so he was at liberty to revoke it at
any time, especially with a view to promote the moral welfare
of the boys, and that after the receipt of the said letter the
defendant had no authority to keep the boys with herself. In
answer to the plaintiff's notice the defendant merely acknow-
ledged its" receipt and did nothing more, and the plaintiff
believes that she has left the b0ys in England.
11. The cause of the action arose partly at Adyar in the
years 1910, 1911 and 1912, when the plaintiff discovered
the various matters referred to above in relation to the bring—
ing up of the boys, and lastly on or about July 11, 1912,
when the plaintiff sent a registered. notice demanding delivery
of the minors.
12. The value of the relief for the purposes of jurisdiction
is Rs. 3000.
13. The plaintiff prays for judgment:
xxxviii
 IN MEMORIAM—JOHN YARKER
(a) Declaring that the plaintiff is entitled to the guardian-
ship and custody of his minor boys, ]. Krishnamurti and
]. N ityananda.
(ὁ) Declaring, if necessary, that the defendant is not entitled
᾽

to, or in any case fit to be in charge and guardianship of, the

said boys.
(6) Directing the defendant to hand over the boys to the
plaintiff or to such other person as this honourable Court may
seem meet.
(d) For costs of the suit and for such further or other
relief as to this honourable Court may seem meet.
I, Narayaniah, the plaintiff above named, do hereby declare
that all the facts stated above, except portions of paragraph
7 and 9, are true to my knowledge, and the above said
portions are based on information and belief.
(Signed) ]. NARAYANIAH.
October 24, 1912.
᾽

On this judgment was given in favour of the plaintiff.

xxxix
 SCANS FROM ALEISTER CROWLEY’S

THE EQUINOX
More at https://keepsilence.org/the-equinox

This work made possible by donations from:

Ordo Templi Orientis
AMeTh Lodge
London UK
Mark Dalton
Horizon Lodge Dean Ellis .

Seattle WA Kjetil Fjell

Nicholaus Gentry Lilith Vala Xara
Michael Effertz Abigail I. Habdas
Stewart Lundy Tony lIannotti
VWAO Jay Lee
TAO131 Robin Bohumil
Connor Smith Enatheleme & Egeira
Scott Kenney Giovanni lIannotti, Ph.D.
John MacDonald Collegium ad Lux et Nox
Lutz Lemke Arcanum Coronam
Fr. I.V.I.V.I. Igor Bagmanov
Keith Cantt Amber Baker
Alan Willms crescente mutatio.
Mark Todd
If you would like to contribute please visit:
https://keepsilence.org/the-equinox/donate.html