Hillard, Katherine (1839(ca)-1915)

Title

Katherine Hillard

Full Name

Hillard, Katherine (1839(ca)-1915)

Lifespan

1839(ca)-1915

Place of origin

London

Country of origin

England, United Kingdom

Language

English

Italian

Occupation

Translator

Member of learned society

Founding members of The Brooklyn Woman's Club

Member of the Theosophical Society

Hymn and religious writer

Periodical contributor

The Path;
The Theosophical Forum;
The Theosophical Forum, New Series

Public Lecturer

Theosophist

Short biography

Katherine Hillard was a member of a prominent British Unitarian and Brooklyn family. Her cousin, Mr. Seth Low, was President of Colombia University (1890 1901) and served as Mayor of Brooklyn (1882-1885) and New York City (1901-1903).
She left England when she was seven years old (1846), spending many years in Italy and then moving to New York. She returned to London in 1884.

She was one of the three founding members of The Brooklyn Woman's Club was established on March 19, 1869. The founding members of the club, Anna C. Field, Celia Burleigh and Katherine Hillard, wrote a constitution and filed certificates of association and incorporation.

The Brooklyn Woman's Club, organized in 1869 and incorporated in 1871, was a non-sectarian, apolitical organization whose mission was to support the personal development of its members, thus improving society and humanity as a whole. As of 1903, the Club had eight standing committees that reflected the Club's focus on intellectual development: Literature, Music, Art, Science, Sociology, Home and Social Relations, Hospitality, and Education. The committees hosted lectures, programs, and events designed for the enlightenment or enjoyment of its members. Subjects ranged from "Factory Conditions as they Affect Women and Children" to "Russian Music and Musicians." Committees were subject to change throughout the Club's history.

The Brooklyn Woman's Club was located at 114 Pierrepont Street in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. It was a member The New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, The New York City Federation of Women's Club, The Civic Council of Brooklyn, and The Brooklyn Heights Association, among others. Further, it was affiliated with the American Women's Club, both in London and Paris.

The Brooklyn Woman's Club

The Brooklyn Woman's Club, organized in 1869 and incorporated in 1871, was a non-sectarian, apolitical organization whose mission was to support the personal development of its members, thus improving society and humanity as a whole. As of 1903, the Club had eight standing committees that reflected the Club's focus on intellectual development: Literature, Music, Art, Science, Sociology, Home and Social Relations, Hospitality, and Education. The committees hosted lectures, programs, and events designed for the enlightenment or enjoyment of its members. Subjects ranged from "Factory Conditions as they Affect Women and Children" to "Russian Music and Musicians." Committees were subject to change throughout the Club's history.

The Brooklyn Woman's Club was located at 114 Pierrepont Street in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. It was a member The New York State Federation of Women's Clubs, The New York City Federation of Women's Club, The Civic Council of Brooklyn, and The Brooklyn Heights Association, among others. Further, it was affiliated with the American Women's Club, both in London and Paris.

Guide to the Brooklyn Woman's Club collection ARC.158

Theosophy

She visited H.P. Blavatsky in London in May 1888 en route to New York. She spent two or three evenings with Mme. Blavatsky. “She advised me to settle neither in Rome nor London, but to return to New York. ‘You could not do better,’ she said in her emphatic way, ‘than to go back to New York, and study with W. Q. Judge. He is a good man.’ Never shall I forget the stress she laid upon those words, as if to answer the attacks she doubtless foresaw.” Later that spring she met Mr. Judge, who came to see her in Brooklyn.

She applied for fellowship in the Society and was admitted by the Aryan T.S. on December 18th, 1888. “As a successful writer, she had won a reputation for careful research, for sound judgment, for trustworthy craftsmanship.” She worked with Mr. Judge and read many valuable papers before the Aryan T.S. She contributed articles to The Path, The Theosophical Forum (original) and to The Theosophical Forum, New Series generally signing in full, sometimes with initials only.

Along with Julia Keightley, Katharine Hillard was an indispensable worker and strong supporter of Mr. Judge and Theosophy, at the cost of her reputation as a respected intellectual scholar.

Matthew Mulligan Goldstein, Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky, Victorian Web.

K. Hillard, Why I Became A Theosophist. The Theosophical Quarterly (New York) July, 1909, pp. 59-61

Dante studies

'Four winters spent in Italy, studying Dante and the mysticism of the middle ages helped me very much, as at the same time I was studying all the theosophical books that were then published."
'four winters spent in Italy, studying Dante and the mysticism of the middle ages helped me very much, as at the same time I was studying all the theosophical books that were then published."
Her translation of the Il Convito into English (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., London, 1889) is considered one of the best. Among other titles, she published An Abridgement of The Secret Doctrine (1907).

On 15 April 1891 she attended the Fifth convention of the American Section of the Theosophical Society where she read a paper on ""Dante's Beatrice from a Theosophical Point of View".

Selected List of Publications

(1889). The banquet (Il convito) of Dante Alighieri. London. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.

(1890) The Sevenfold Constitution of Man. The Path. June.

(1891). The First Object of the Theosophical Society. The Path, December.

(1897) "Theosophy and the Poets:Dante". Theosophy.

"Theosophy and the Poets: Dante"

(1896). Theosophy in the Apocrypha. Theosophy. November.

(1910) An abridgment by Katharine Hillard of the secret doctrine : a synthesis of science, religion
and philosophy ; by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. New York. [s.n.].

Relation

Anglophone women writers

Link to external sources

F. Campbell. (1980) Ancient Wisdom Revived: A History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley. U California P.

Alex Owen. (1990) The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England. U. of Pennsylvania Press.