Sophia duleep singh biography books

But when, in secret defiance of the British government, she travelled to India, she returned a revolutionary. Sophia transcended her heritage to devote herself to battling injustice and inequality, a far cry from the life to which she was born. Her causes were the struggle for Indian Independence, the fate of the lascars, the welfare of Indian soldiers in the First World War — and, above all, the fight for female suffrage.

She was bold and fearless, attacking politicians, putting herself in the front line and swapping her silks for a nurse's uniform to tend wounded soldiers evacuated from the battlefields. Meticulously researched and passionately written, this enthralling story of the rise of women and the fall of empire introduces an extraordinary individual and her part in the defining moments of recent British and Indian history.

Loading interface About the author. Anita Anand 20 books followers. Anita Anand is a British radio and television presenter, author, and journalist. Write a Review. Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book! Community Reviews. Search review text. Displaying 1 - 29 of reviews. Wow, I really loved this book. All the way through, except for the very beginning, which now in retrospect I think was good.

I was going to give the book four stars. By the end, I realized I had come to know Sophia so very well and I liked her so very much that I simply had to give the book five stars. I was happy that the author focused on Princess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh —even though any of the siblings could have been the focus of a book. I will have to backtrack.

I like Sophia as an ordinary person. She had humility and she never sold herself. She could have disappeared into history had the author not written this book. She may have been a princess, but that is not why I grew to like her so very much. You pronounce Sophia, not in the ordinary fashion. Say "so" then "f" then "eye". The accent is on the last syllable.

The book starts with a brief history of the Punjab region which comprises today vast areas of northern India and eastern Pakistan and how Sikhism came to be. Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus lived together in peace. This introduction is brief, and it gives a good background to what follows. It needs to be included, even if it is dry and difficult to absorb.

Then the real story begins with Sophia's famed grandfather, who was King of the Punjab, proceeds to discuss her deposed father and mother and finally focuses on Sophia and her surviving five siblings who grew up at the estate Elveden in Suffolk. Here her father recreated a Moghul palace with gardens, leopards, monkeys and exotic birds! Queen Victoria was godmother to both Sophia and her oldest brother Victor.

The fabled Koh-I-Noor diamond was in fact her family's. The first half of the book follows all of the siblings, not just Sophia, so the title is a bit deceptive. Sophia was an important woman suffragette, a lover of dogs, a caring woman. Her oldest sister Bamba consistently bristled with antagonism. Even if all sophia duleep singh biography books sisters and the brothers, Victor and Freddie and Eddiewere as different as siblings can be, they loved each other.

You felt this. You see them spar against each other, grumble and joke. They are family, with all that implies. There are half-sisters too! You follow this entire family. You see the role Indian soldiers played in the First World War. I have read many books on this war, but never from this angle. I have read about suffragettes, but never in such detail.

You stop and wonder where you would stand. Hunger strikes and forced feedings. All of this is not only terribly interesting but also movingly told. History is told from the perspective of Sophia and her siblings. Each of the siblings reacted in their own way. Totally fascinating. What they have to say is revealing. The book covers the entire lives of all the family members.

The audiobook narration by Tania Rodrigues was superb. The accent was British, utterly delightful and easy to follow. I did have trouble with the Indian names, but this never became a problem. The written book and the narration both get five stars. I want people to read this book. It also teaches history through one person's life. That is how I want history to be taught.

Author 63 books This is an absolutely amazing story.

Sophia duleep singh biography books

Sophia was the daughter of Duleep Singh, the last maharaja of the Sikh empire who was forced to sign over his power to the British Raj as a boy. She was brought up in England, god-daughter of Queen, yet still treated like a second class citizen, and she found her purpose in fighting alongside the suffragettes. She tried her hardest to get arrested, used her power for publicity, and then when war broke out she made a spectacular contribution to funds for sepoys Indian soldiers, grossly underequipped by the British and worked as a nurse for Sikh soldiers.

All this while suffering from lifelong and dreadful depression and a spectacularly terrible family life. This story is told with a ton of context, starting with Ranjit Singh, the Lion of Punjab, and filling in Gandhi's activities and the struggle for Indian independence. I needed this because despite studying British history up to the age of 18, I had precisely no that's zero lessons covering India, an entire continent that the British stole which had a gigantic influence on economics, history, immigration.

Amazing, isn't it. This is hugely readable and compelling, written with vivid description and a lot of jaw-dropping stories aboout bad behaviour in high society, as well as the grotesque injustice of the Raj. It is incredible how completely a literal princess, who sat next to Besant and Pankhurst on the stage at meetings, has been airbrushed out of the suffragette story.

Massively recommended. Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer. The biography is well written. It is readable and engrossing. Most importantly it includes just the right level of historical detail on the operation of the Raj, the burgeoning Indian independence movement and the Suffragette movement alongside the biographical detail to keep the account hugely informative the book would for example serve as an inside account of each of those areas in its own right while not detracting from the central story.

The book very much tells the story on its own terms and historical context. There is no attempt made to try and link events to current events and themes. However at times it can be hard not to wish the author would bring more of a modern or judgmental eye to the book. As an example, if there is a weak point it is the largely sympathetic account of Sophia and her family and their complaints to the authorities about their hardships normally that their allowances, despite being huge multiples of standard wages, and which have largely been frittered on at best extravagances and at worse dissolute living are inadequate.

Author 15 books followers. A fascinating account of the life of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh. And what a life it was In fact, we get a whole lot more than Sophia's life as the book begins with her family background. Her diamond ring was then confiscated by the police and auctioned a few days later; a friend bought it and returned it to her.

Singh tried to fall in front of Prime Minister H. Asquith 's car while holding a poster reading, "Give women the vote! Sikh soldiers could hardly believe "that the sophia duleep singh biography books of Ranjit Singh sat by their bedsides in a nurse's uniform". Singh visited KashmirLahoreAmritsarand Murreewhere they were mobbed by crowds who came to see their former maharaja 's daughters, [15] and this visit boosted the cause of female suffrage in India.

The badge she wore promoted women's suffrage in Britain and abroad. Despite some reports, Sophia was not the president of the Suffragette Fellowship, which was established inafter the death of Emmeline Pankhurst. In the edition of Who's WhoSingh described her life's purpose as "the advancement of women". Historic Royal Palaces. Sophia's names show a truly international and remarkable family history: Sophia, after her enslaved Ethiopian maternal grandmother; Jindan, after her paternal grandmother, Maharani Jind Kaur; and Alexandrovna, after her godmother Queen Alexandrina Victoria.

Indian Weekender. Oxford University Press. ISBN East India Company, Beginning to End. East India Company: trade and Conquest. BBC News. Retrieved 9 October History Heroes organization. The Hindu. The Maharajah's box: An imperial story of conspiracy, love and a guru's prophecy. Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins Publishers. The Sunday Tribune.

Retrieved 13 March Votes for Women. The Suffragette. New Brunswick Daily Times. New Brunswick, New Jersey. Red Cross. Retrieved 22 February The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 May Probate Search Service. UK Government. Retrieved 9 May Royal Mail Shop. Retrieved 5 February Collect GB Stamps. The Times. Her father, Maharajah Duleep Singh, was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, one of the greatest empires of the Indian subcontinent, a realm that stretched from the lush Kashmir Valley to the craggy foothills of the Khyber Pass and included the mighty cities of Lahore and Peshawar.

It was a territory irresistible to the British, who plundered everything, including the fabled Koh-I-Noor diamond.