Portal:Punjab/Selected biography/5

Princess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh (8 August 1876 – 22 August 1948) was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Duleep Singh, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh known as the Lion of the Punjab, who abdicated his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj due to political maneuvering by Governor-General Dalhousie in British India. He was exiled to England, where he converted to Christianity. Sophia's mother was Maharani Bamba Müller, and her godmother was Queen Victoria. A feminist, Singh lived in Hampton Court in an apartment in Faraday House given to her by Queen Victoria as a grace and favour. She had four sisters, including two stepsisters, and four brothers. Singh considered herself as an Edwardian lady with brown skin. In 1895, she and her sisters Princess Bamba and Princess Catherine were introduced as aristocratic debutantes at Buckingham Palace; all three were dressed in regal finery.

During the early twentieth century, Singh was one of the leading South Asian women who pioneered the cause of women's rights in Britain. Although she is best remembered for her leading role in the Women's Tax Resistance League, she also participated in other women's suffrage groups, including the Women's Social and Political Union.