Arthur Lillie


Arthur Lillie, was a Buddhist, soldier in the British Indian Army, and a writer.

Biography

Lillie christened as George Arthur Howard, was the youngest son of Sir John Scott Lillie and his wife Louisa, born at North End, Fulham. He was an officer in the British Indian Army. While in India, he became a Buddhist. His books on religion were poorly received by scholars. Lillie appears to have written the original rule book for a Scottish croquet tournament, which, if so, continues to be his best-received work.
Arthur Lillie also took an enthusiastic interest in Gospel of the Hebrews. In Buddhism in Christendom Or Jesus the Essene he wrote
He was critical of the claims of Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. He believed that Blavatsky had faked the Mahatma letters and was a plagiarist.
Lillie became a landscape painter and joined the Suffolk painters. He remained a bachelor and, when in England, shared a household, first with his widowed aunt, Alicia Bunbury, and then with his unmarried sister, Louisa. He died in Kensington in 1911, aged 80.

Books