She became a Fabian, a trade-union organizer (including the match girls’ strike of 1888), and a propagandist for birth control. She became a leading exponent of the religious movement of theosophy, and founded the Hindu University in India, helping to form, in 1916, the All India Home Rule League. She was President of the Indian National Congress 1918–19, one of only three Britons to have held this office.