The claim that Leadbeater was a member of ³HPB¹s circle in Avenue Road² both
lacks any support from historical evidence, and is contrary to such evidence as
there is. It was a claim only made (of course) after HPB¹s death. What is meant
by ³a member of HPB¹s circle²? Clearly, it does not mean membership of the ES,
let alone of the IG of the ES; membership lists for both exist and Leadbeater
was not among those named. Why was he not a member of either of these two
groups?
No correspondence between HPB and Leadbeater exists to support any intimate
relationship, and no correspondence of HPB exists in which there is any
reference to Leadbeater implying any such relationship. Leadbeater is known to
have visited HPB twice between his return to England from India and her death.
Boris de Zirkhoff stated that there was no evidence in any of HPB¹s papers or
correspondence to suggest any close relationship between Leadbeater and HPB, and
Alice Leighton Cleather, a member of HPB¹s Inner Group, denied that HPB had ever
referred to Leadbeater as a pupil or associate, and said she had never seen him
at the London headquarters during HPB¹s life. Leadbeater¹s own accounts of his
life at that period make no reference to or claim of a special relationship with
HPB - until he revised his history well after HPB¹s death. Indeed, Leadbeater
was a member of the London Lodge, and a close associate of A.P. Sinnett, at a
time when there was tension, if not conflict, between Sinnett and the London
Lodge, and HPB and the Blavatsky Lodge. Leadbeater acted as a medium in
Sinnett¹s quest to make contact with the Masters, and was a member of what was,
in effect, Sinnett¹s ³Inner Group².
Jinarajadasa, who was living with Leadbeater at the time, made no claim for any
special relationship between HPB and Leadbeater in his accounts of the period.
See, for example, Jinarajadasa¹s ³K.H.Letters to C.W.Leadbeater², 1943:68-69.
Given the total absence of evidence to support the claim that Leadbeater was a
member of ³HPB¹s circle in Avenue Road², and the evidence against the claim,
anyone asserting Leadbeater¹s special relationship is obliged to present their
evidence.
The claim that HPB presented Leadbeater with the ³first copy² of ³The Voice of
the Silence² is similarly entirely unsupported by historical evidence. That she
presented him with a copy is certain; curiously enough, her inscription in that
copy does not correctly name Leadbeater. She inscribed it to ³W.C.Leadbeater².
This implies either that she did not even correctly recall his name, or that she
was making a peculiarly English joke at his expense. Neither explanation
suggests a close or personal relationship. As with all claims about Leadbeater,
those who make them should present evidence, not mere assertions in the absence
of evidence. Given that Leadbeater was obviously a pathological liar, nothing
can be taken on his word alone.

Dr Gregory Tillett