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From aristocrat to anarchist: How Princess Sophia Duleep Singh parted ways with her royal roots to fight for women's suffrage

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, the daughter of the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, picture outside Hampton Court Palace selling 'The Suffragette' newspaper in 1913 - MUSEUM OF LONDON
Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, the daughter of the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, picture outside Hampton Court Palace selling 'The Suffragette' newspaper in 1913 - MUSEUM OF LONDON

To celebrate 100 years since the first British women were given the right to vote, The Telegraph - alongside the Mayor of London's #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign - is running a weekly series. 

Called 'Hidden Credits', it will look back and celebrate individual women who have smashed glass ceilings, helped change society for the better, and given the UK's capital something to boast about.  

 

Week 3: Princess Sophia Duleep Singh

Born into a world of Royal privilege, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh could have had an easy life.

The daughter of Maharajah Duleep Singh - the last Indian prince in the Sikh Empire - she was one of very few who lived a life of aristocratic luxury at the turn of 20th century Britain.

Goddaughter to none other than Queen Victoria, Sophia swapped the world of fine dining, luxury travel and exclusive social circles for political activism. On 18 November 1910, otherwise known as 'Black Friday', she led 400 people in a Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) demonstration alongside Emmeline Pankhurst, where more than 150 women were physically assaulted. 

Suffragette outside the House of Parliament on Black Friday in 1910 - Credit: Heritage Images/Museum of London / Heritage Images
A suffragette struggling with a policeman on 'Black Friday' - a protest that turned very ugly in the fight for women's suffrage Credit: Heritage Images/Museum of London / Heritage Images

As Anita Anand recounted in 2015, 'the police pinned Sophia and Emmeline to a gate, forcing them to watch as fellow suffragettes were brutalised. Some were picked up and thrown back like rag dolls. Others had clothes ripped and were sexually taunted.'

Her activism didn't stop there. In 1911, the day of the King's Speech to Parliament, Sophia went incognito at another suffragette demonstration; dressed in expensive tailored clothes, she didn't look like your average protester. However police got the shock of their life when, assuming she was waiting to greet then-prime minister Herbert Henry Asquith on his way into parliament, she launched herself in front of his car and pulled out a 'Give Votes to Women' banner - from her couture fur muff.

Sophia was also an active fundraiser for the WSPU.

Taking residence in Royal residence opposite Hampton Court Palace (which was given to her personally by Queen Victoria), Sophia was often seen selling 'The Suffragette', the WSPU newspaper, outside palace grounds. 

A poster advertising The Suffragette newspaper - Credit: Heritage Images/Hulton Archive
A poster advertising 'The Suffragette' newspaper, which Princess Sophie was often seen selling outside Hampton Court Palace Credit: Heritage Images/Hulton Archive

It was this than garnered her the nickname "The Hampton Court Harridan". 

Sophia took her campaign for women's suffrage further by refusing to pay her taxes. 

She joined the Women's Tax Resistance League, which led her being sent to court twice and having bailiffs turn up at her house to impound some of her most valuable possessions. 

On her decision to withdraw her taxes, Sophia once said: "When the women of England are enfranchised I shall pay my taxes willingly. If I am not a fit person for the purposes of representation, why should I be a fit person for taxation?"