A Belgravia-born Princess and god-daughter to Queen Victoria, Sophia Duleep Singh may seem like an unlikely character to feature on a radical tea towel. But despite her cosy upbringing, Sophia Duleep Singh became a leading Suffragette activist, joining the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1909. She was a key fundraiser for the movement, and was on the frontline of the infamous Black Friday police riot at Westminster in 1910. On a number of occasions throughout her life, Sophia was brought to trial for refusing to pay taxes without suffrage – leading a frustrated King George V to exclaim “Have we no hold on her?!”
But Singh’s activism went way beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. After the 1918 Representation of the People Act, she continued to fight for women’s suffrage around the world, particularly in India.
Inspired by WSPU Suffragette posters, this tea towel shows Singh selling copies of the Suffragette newspaper – something she used to do regularly outside her home in Hampton Court.
