William Emmette Coleman (June 19, 1843 – April 4, 1909), also known as W. E. Coleman, was an American
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...
,
Orientalist, spiritualist and writer.
Biography
Coleman was born in
Shadwell, Virginia
Shadwell is a census-designated place (CDP) in Albemarle County, Virginia. It is located by the Rivanna River near Charlottesville. The site today is marked by a Virginia Historical Marker to mark the birthplace of President Thomas Jefferson. It i ...
.
He was an assistant librarian of
Richmond Public Library (1854–1857). He became a
spiritualist at age sixteen. He married Wilmot Bouton in 1871; she died in 1882. In 1869 he became assistant chief clerk for
General Canby. He was made chief clerk in the
Quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...
office at the
Presidio of San Francisco in 1883.
Coleman is best remembered for his criticism of
Helena Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...
and the claims of
Theosophy
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...
. He argued in his writings that Blavatsky had plagiarized her ideas from other sources and had stolen quotations.
[Lavoie, Jeffrey D. (2012). ''The Theosophical Society: The History of a Spiritualist Movement''. BrownWalker Press. pp. 262-264. ] His article "The Sources of Madame Blavatsky's Writings" was published in an appendix to
Vsevolod Solovyov
Vsevolod Sergeyevich Solovyov (russian: Всеволод Серге́евич Соловьёв; – ) was a Russian historical novelist. His most famous work is ''Chronicle of Four Generations'' (five volumes, 1881–86), an account of the fi ...
's ''A Modern Priestess of Isis'' (1895). Coleman demonstrated that Blavatsky's ''
Isis Unveiled
''Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology'', published in 1877, is a book of esoteric philosophy and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's first major work and a key text in her Theosophical movement.
The ...
'' was largely plagiarized and included a list of the uncredited sources.
He also claimed he was working on a book that would expose Blavatsky's sources for her ''
Book of Dzyan'' but his notes were destroyed in the
1906 San Francisco earthquake and the book was never published.
Coleman has been described as a "radical non-Christian spiritualist". He opposed
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and supported the
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
. He was a member of the
American Oriental Society
The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basi ...
and the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...
.
He died in
Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...
on April 4, 1909.
Publications
Articles
''The Frauds of Madame Blavatsky''(1891)
(1892)
(1893)
(1895)
Booklets
*''The Bible God Disproved by Nature'' (Truthseeker Tracts, no. 55)
*''One Hundred and One Reasons Why I am not a Christian Spiritualist'' (Truthseeker Tracts no. 79)
See also
*
Fydell Edmund Garrett
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, William Emmette
1843 births
1909 deaths
People from Albemarle County, Virginia
Writers from Virginia
American orientalists
American spiritualists
Clerks
Critics of Theosophy
American parapsychologists