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Women in Great Britain did not earn the right to vote on an equal footing with men until the
Representation of the People Act of 1928. It was the culmination of a decades-long
movement that often included violence against the women fighting for the right to have a
voice in government. There are many heroines of this movement who risked imprisonment,
impoverishment, torture, and even sexual abuse fighting for their cause. The cause drew women
from across the social strata, even high nobility, like the Duchess of Bedford. But there was one
suffragette who really stood out because of her position. Princess Sofia Alexandra Duleep Singh,
was the daughter of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, and the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. And
the unique role that she played fighting for the rights of women in Great Britain and abroad, is
inextricably intertwined with her unique heritage, hers is a history that deserves to be remembered.
The great Mughal Empire fell into decline after the death of the Emperor Aurangzeb in
1707. As the Empire slowly lost control over its far-flung Dominion, several Confederacy's arose in
the Northwest region known as the Punjab. Most of these small dominions were ruled by Sikhs,
whose religion combines its spiritual purpose and goals with political and military duties,
and thus produces great warriors. In 1801, a leader named Ranjit Singh united these groups,
and created the Sikh Empire. The new Maharaja then drove the Afghans completely out of the Punjab,
creating an empire that at its height, ruled over more than three and a half
million people. For his victories he became known as, The Lion of the Punjab.
But Ranjit Singh failed to create a lasting structure for government, and the Empire fell
into decline after his death in 1839. Over the course of the next four years, four rulers of
the Empire were assassinated in various ways, and the title of Maharajah went to Duleep Singh,
Ranjit Singh's youngest son, at just the age of five. With his mother Maharani Jind Kaur,
his Regent. But the chaotic situation was seen as an opportunity by the British East India Company;
the company fought two wars with the Sikh Empire, one in 1845, and another in 1848.
While the Sikh army fought bravely, and inflicted heavy casualties in both wars,
the British were able to take advantage of disorganization within the empire. At just the
age of ten, the young Maharaja was deposed, and Punjab was annexed to British India,
the last major part of India to fall to the company. Thereafter, troops recruited among
the Sikhs gained a reputation as some of the fiercest in the British Empire.
Duleep Singh was put into the care of a British agent, essentially kidnapped,
and isolated from Indian influence, including from his mother who was held captive by the British.
He converted to Christianity, and in 1854 at the age of 15, was taken to England where he was fetid
for his handsomeness and manners. As a deposed Indian Prince he became part of British society,
and the favorite of Queen Victoria. He enjoyed a social lifestyle, and his penchant for dressing
in Scottish attire earned him the nickname, the Black Prince of Perthshire. But it all came at
a steep price, not only had he lost his kingdom, but his upkeep was dependent upon the East India
Company who strictly controlled his movement, for fear that he could become a threat to British rule
in India. Eventually he was again allowed to see his mother, and he brought her to England
in 1860. She died in 1863 and while returning her ashes to India, he met the daughter of a
German banker in Cairo, they married and had 10 children, six of whom survived to adulthood.
Duleep Singh's children were all favoured by the Queen, but his youngest daughter,
Princess Sofia Alexandra Duleep Singh born in 1876, was the Queen's favorite, and Queen
Victoria herself was the princess's godmother. Princess Sofia became a socialite, known for
wearing Parisian dresses and breeding champion dogs, but she changed with time. That might have
been in part because of her father, over time his relationship with Queen Victoria soured as
he came to resent his treatment by the British. He spent his later years trying to hatch various
plots to regain his throne, although he did reconcile with Victoria before his death in 1895.
In 1907 the princess visited India where she became aware of both her heritage,
and the realities of poverty under British rule. She was overwhelmed by the esteem that the people
still held for her famous grandfather. She met Indian freedom fighters and she sympathized with
them. By the time she returned home in 1909, the young debutante had become...a radical.
There had been annotations for the right of women to vote in England since at least the 1830s,
and the movement had metastasized in the later half of the 19th century. By 1909,
when Princess Sophia returned to England, the movement had taken a turn. In 1903,
a new group had formed the Women's Social and Political Union under its leader,
Emmeline Pankhurst. The group felt that progress was moving too slowly,
and moved to a more aggressive stance, their motto was, “Deeds, not words”. But the Prime Minister,
H.H. Asquith, although a liberal who managed many liberal reforms, was adamantly opposed to
votes for women. The movement became increasingly militant about accosting him on the subject. It
was in that charged climate that Princess Sofia, carried both her national and international fame,
and the determination of the granddaughter of the Lion of the Punjab, to the cause.
She funded organisations famously, sold the newspaper of the suffragettes in front of
the home provided to her by the Queen, and in 1911, threw herself in front of Asquith’s car,
holding a sign that said, “Give women the vote!”
She was among the leaders who marched on Parliament in November of 1910,
an event where the police response was so brutal that it became known as,
Black Friday. The approximately three hundred women marching were assaulted,
with many sexual assaults. Two women died. Sofia reportedly stepped in to protect a
woman being beaten by a police officer, who upon recognizing the famous princess, fled.
One of her causes was tax resistance. This form of militancy refused to pay taxes under
the argument that, denied the vote, they had no control over how the tax revenues
were spent. Princess Sofia was arrested for failure to pay the license fees,
for the keeping of her dogs and carriage. In court she argued, “If I am not a fit person
for the purpose of representation, why am I a fit person for the purpose of taxation”.
With the coming of the Great War in 1914, the movement became more quiet,
and militancy decreased. But from the horror of war came a new understanding of equality.
The Representation of the People Act of 1918, removed all property restrictions,
giving all males in the United Kingdom over the age of 21, the right to vote. The act also,
for the first time, gave women over the age of 30, the right to vote. In a period when all
the nation had pulled together during one of the darkest times in history, it no longer made sense
that so many were denied participation in the electoral process. Even Asquith had come around.
Princess Sophia Duleep Singh is actually not one of the better known names amongst the women's
suffrage movement in Great Britain. That might be because she was naturally shy, and didn't like
to be a leader, or it might be that she was never thrown in jail. The women who were thrown in jail,
who often went on hunger strikes, were much better known. At least one biographer argues,
“That the princess was doing everything she could to try to get thrown in jail,
but her position just made that too embarrassing for the government to let it happen”. But it
is unquestionable that her commitment, and her fame, were important to the movement. In 1928,
she became president of the Committee of the Suffragette Fellowship, after Emmeline
Pankhurst passed away. And she was president of that committee when, finally in 1928, Parliament
gave women in Great Britain the right to vote on an equal footing with men. Women's suffrage was
not her only cause. During the First World War she advocated on behalf of Indian sailors and troops,
and served with the Red Cross as a nurse. Wounded Indian troops coming back from the
front were said to be amazed, to be treated by the granddaughter of the Lion of the Punjab.
In 1924 she and her sister visited India one more time, and their fame helped to
drive the women's suffrage movement in India. Princess Sofia never married,
and she passed away peacefully in 1948. She asked that her body be cremated as is
Sikh tradition, and removed to the Punjab, her grandfather's kingdom.
She was a heroine in every sense of the word. She risked her name, her livelihood,
her freedom, for a cause in which she believed. Princess Sofia Alexandra Duleep Singh could have
lived a life of wealth and luxury, but that just wasn't her. After all she was
a Sikh. A princess. The daughter of the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, the goddaughter
of the Queen of the British Empire, and the granddaughter of the Lion of the Punjab.
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