JUDGE, WILLIAM Q. William Q. Judge (1851–1896) was a cofounder of the Theosophical Society in 1875, along with Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907). The society was dedicated to promoting universal brotherhood and the study of the hidden laws of nature and ancient scriptures. Judge was a close associate of Blavatsky during the years when she wrote Isis Unveiled (1877) until her death in 1891. She referred to him in a letter as "My dearest Brother and Co-Founder of the Theosophical Society" (H. P. Blavatsky to the American Conventions, Second Annual Meeting, April, 1888, p. 31). Blavatsky signed a letter to him, "yours until death and after" (Lucifer, June 1891). (Judge revealed the content of some of Blavatsky's letters in articles published after her death in the journal Lucifer.)

After Blavatsky's death, Judge continued to be a clear and notable expositor of her writings and of Theosophical concepts...