A Molesey Suffragette
Since 2018 is the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote, it would be fitting to celebrate a local heroine. Molesey Matters reader Roshan Pedder wrote in and asked us to shed some light on a relatively little know resident.
Princess Sophia Jindan Alexdrowna Duleep Singh was the daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He had been deposed from his throne at the age of 11 and exiled to Britain two years later. He became a great favourite of the royal family and Princess Sophia was brought up among the British aristocracy. Queen Victoria was her godmother.
She could have had an easy life and could have spent her time enjoying luxury, including foreign travel. However, Sophia decided to become involved in the movement for Women’s Suffrage (being allowed to vote). She attended meetings and joined in demonstrations, including the famous Black Monday demonstration when the Suffragettes clashed with the police and many were injured. She joined the Women’s Tax Resistance League, this led her into court, twice, having the bailiffs visit her house and take her belongings.
She also went out on the streets, giving out leaflets, alongside her fellow suffragettes. Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was one of the important figures in the movement to secure the vote for women in Great Britain. Before 1918 no women were allowed to vote in elections and even afterwards only women who were aged over 30, were householders, were married to a householder or held a university degree were granted this right. In 1928 the British parliament finally passed the Representation of the People Act, which meant that women were granted the right to vote on the same terms as men.
Singh’s brothers included Frederick Duleep Singh; her two blood sisters were Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh, a suffragette, and Bamba Duleep Singh. She inherited substantial wealth from her father at his death in 1893, and in 1898 Queen Victoria, her godmother, granted her a grace and favour apartment in Faraday House, Hampton Court.
After the war she joined the Suffragette Fellowship led by Mrs Pankhurst. Sophia was a very active campaigner. After Mrs Pankhurst’s death in 1928, she was appointed President of the Committee. The Princess Sophia remained a member of the Suffragette Fellowship to the end of her life. Singh died in her sleep on 22 August 1948 in Coalhatch House, now known as Hilden Hall, a residence once owned by her sister Catherine, and was cremated on 26 August 1948 at Golders Green Crematorium. Before her death she had expressed the wish that she be cremated according to Sikh rites and her ashes spread in India