Katherine Tingley

Katherine Augusta Westcott Tingley (July 6, 1847 – July 11, 1929) was a social worker and prominent theosophist. She led the American Section of the Theosophical Society after W. Q. Judge. She founded and led the Theosophical community Lomaland in Point Loma, San Diego.

Early life Tingley was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on July 6, 1847, the daughter of James P. and Susan Westcott, of early colonial ancestry.

Career Tingley was employed as a social worker in New York City when she met William Quan Judge. She joined the Theosophical Society on October 13, 1894.

In 1895, disputes between Judge and Annie Besant led to a split, with Judge taking most of the American section with him. After converting Tingley to Theosophy, Judge appointed her as the Outer Head of the Theosophical Society.

In 1901, the Los Angeles Times printed a story entitled Outrages at Point Loma; Exposed by an ‘Escape’ from Tingley. Startling Tales told in this City. Women and Children Starved and Treated Like Convicts. Thrilling Rescue. It made various claims against Tingley, and she immediately filed a lawsuit against the paper for libel. She won the following year, resulting in other papers being much more reluctant to attack her publicly.

In 1913 she founded the Parliament of Peace and Universal Brotherhood and in 1919 the Theosophical University at Point Loma. She established several theosophical branch centers in America and in Europe, and also a summer school for children at Visingsö, Sweden. She was the editor of the Theosophical Path. Many theosophical magazines were published under her direction in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. She was the author of "Theosophy and Some of the Vital Problems of the Day," "Marriage and the Home," "Theosophy, the Path of the Mystic."

In 1909, Tingley purchased a tract of land which included the San Juan Heights battlefield, the location of the charge made by American troops including Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. It is considered a historic site in Cuba pertaining to the Spanish-American War. On that same site, she designed a memorial archway at the entrance to the property to honor those who had died.

Personal life In 1888 she married Philo B. Tingley, inventor, and lived at Point Loma, California.

Legacy After her death, her successors transferred the society to Covina, California and then to Pasadena, where it currently exists.

Literature Sievers, Martin: Purpurkvinnan. Historien om Katherine Tingley och teosoferna på Visingsö, 2013. (in Swedish)

Hall, Jill G.: On A Sundown Sea, 2025. (historical novel based on Katherine Tingley)