William Quan Judge

Who was William Quan Judge?

William Quan Judge was a mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States. He became a naturalized citizen of the USA at age 21 and passed the New York state bar exam, specializing in commercial law.

A vigorous, imaginative and idealistic young man, he was among the seventeen people who first put the Theosophical Society together. Like H.P. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, he stayed in the organization when others left. When Olcott and Blavatsky left the United States for India, Judge stayed behind to manage the Society's work, all the while working as a lawyer.

When H.P.B. and Col. Olcott left America, they left Theosophy in North America in the hands of William Q. Judge. While Judge kept in close contact with both H.P.B. and Olcott through correspondence, there was little if any organized activity for the next several years. His difficulties over this period of time are illustrated by a biographical passage written by Mrs. Archibald Keightley: “It was a time when Madame Blavatsky – she who was then the one great exponent, had left the field…the interest excited by her…striking mission had died down. The T.S. was henceforth to subsist on its philosophical basis…From his twenty - third year until his death, best efforts and all the fiery energies of his undaunted soul were given to this work.”