Celebrating Princess Catherine Duleep Singh

Ancient House, Museum of Thetford Life, Thetford IP24 1AD
27 October 2021 – 10 July 2022
Part of the Festival of East Anglia & Punjab

For museum opening times and admission prices visit museums.norfolk.gov.uk/ancient-house

The team at the Ancient House in Thetford has joined with Peter Bance, Sikh historian and collector, to launch a new exhibition marking the life of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh on the 150th anniversary of her birth. The display will be in the Hall of the Ancient House and will feature a new portrait of Princess Catherine by contemporary Sikh artist INKQUISITIVE commissioned by Peter Bance (detail featured above).

On display will be photographs, letters, Indian textiles and tiles which help tell the Princess’s story. Princess Catherine was a member of the royal family that had ruled the Sikh Empire of Punjab, Northern India before it became part of the British Empire in 1849.

The Ancient House Museum was founded by Princess Catherine’s brother, Prince Frederick Duleep Singh in 1924. Princess Catherine, Prince Frederick and their brothers and sisters grew up at their family home at Elveden Hall, near Thetford. Their father was Maharajah Duleep Singh, last Maharajah of Punjab.

Historian and Collector, Peter Bance said: “It gives me great pleasure to once again work with the Ancient House Museum on another exhibition, with the added bonus of celebrating the life of an extraordinary woman and courageous human being Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, who not only fought for women’s rights, but also the rights of people of other faiths in such perilous times so they could live in peace and harmony whilst putting her own life at great danger. It is indeed one of those hidden history stories which must be told and passed down to generations so we can learn, understand and respect one another, irrespective of our sex, colour, religion and beliefs.”

Oliver Bone, Curator at the Ancient House said: “I am pleased we have the opportunity to celebrate this remarkable woman, a member of a fascinating family that once ruled the Sikh Empire of Punjab in Northern India. Princess Catherine was a campaigner for women’s rights and assisted Jewish people escape from Nazi Germany.”

Contemporary artist, INKQUISTIVE, creator of the new Princess Catherine portrait said: “I’ve enjoyed working on this and learning so much more than I had originally known – life’s many blessings on working on wonderful souls.”

Cllr Robert Kybird, Chair of the Breckland Area Museums Committee said: “On behalf of the Breckland Area Museums Committee I very much welcome this exhibition commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh. We are particularly grateful to Peter Bance and the Anglo Punjab Heritage Foundation for their support in staging this exhibition. Princess Catherine spent her formative years at Elveden Hall and became a regular visitor to Norfolk, meeting with her brothers, Prince Frederick and Prince Victor. It is fitting that the Ancient House, a gift from Prince Freddie to the Town is the venue for this event. I look forward with anticipation to the unveiling of the commissioned portrait of Princess Catherine.”

This exhibition is part of the Festival of East Anglia & Punjab taking place in venues across Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk 1-10 July 2022. The Festival of East Anglia & Punjab explores the cultural links between the two regions through the story and legacy of Maharajah Duleep Singh and the last royal family of the Punjab, who lived in Norfolk. Read more about the Festival and find out about the full programme at https://essexcdp.com/event/feap/

About Princess Catherine

Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh was born on the 27 October 1871. She was the second daughter of Maharajah Duleep Singh, and Maharani Bamba. Her grandfather was Maharajah Ranjit Singh, Lion of Punjab. Catherine grew up at Elveden Hall, near Thetford with her sisters Bamba and Sophia, and her brothers Victor, Frederick and Albert Edward.

In 1886 her father left England in an attempt to regain his ancestral homeland. Then in 1887, following the death of her mother, Catherine and her siblings were cared for by Mr and Mrs Oliphant at Folkestone, Kent, who became the children’s foster parents. Arthur Oliphant’s father was James Oliphant, the Maharajah’s equerry (personal attendant) Catherine and her sisters Bamba and Sophia were educated at home. After their mother’s death, Fraulein ‘Lina’ Schafer, from Kassel, Germany was appointed as their governess to teach them. She was 12 years older than Catherine. The pair formed a strong attachment and travelled to Europe together.

Between 1890 and 1894 Catherine attended Somerville College, Oxford and studied French and German. She also received private instruction in violin, singing and swimming. Catherine studied for a degree but she was not given the qualification. Oxford University did not award degrees to women at this time.

Queen Victoria had been interested in the Duleep Singh family since Catherine’s father first came to England in 1854. The British had taken over his Punjab kingdom to make it part of the British Empire. In 1894 Catherine and Bamba were at Buckingham Palace with their sister Sophia at their presentation as debutantes. These occasions, known as ‘coming out’, were when aristocratic young women entered fashionable society. Catherine was photographed with her sisters Sophia and Bamba dressed in white silk with long white gloves. Victoria wanted to help the princesses after the death of their parents. She allowed them accommodation at Hampton Court.

Catherine was an active member of the Women’s Rights movement all her life. Catherine became a Suffragist. Suffragists campaigned for votes for women as well as working conditions, housing, health and other issues. Catherine was a member of the Fawcett Women’s Suffrage Group and the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. The Suffragist colours Green, White and Red stood for Give Women Rights. Catherine’s sister Sophia was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union who took direct, militant action for the cause. These women became known as Suffragettes.

Catherine used her royal status to raise funds for the Suffragists. In November 1912 she opened a ‘Forest of Christmas trees’ in Nottingham in aid of the ‘East Midland Federation of the National Women’s Suffrage Societies’. The Nottingham Journal reported “The bazaar was a novelty … The room had been transformed into a forest of Christmas trees, from the branches of which innumerable coloured electric lights gleamed.”

Catherine said at the opening: “At this critical stage of our cause, no effort and no sacrifice can be too great. We want all your help, [if we] are going to win our cause during this present session.”

In 1928 all British women over the age of 21 were granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

In 1908 Catherine and her romantic partner Lina Schafer moved to Germany and set up house together. Lina said “we are like two little mice living in a little house.” The couple enjoyed taking long walks. Catherine liked gardening and Lina liked to cook. Catherine wrote: “I am having a very good time of it and enjoying myself thoroughly.” Catherine’s sister Sophia described their relationship as “intimate”. Catherine and Lina lived together in Germany throughout the First World War. Catherine was concerned about her brother, Frederick who was training horses at the front. In letters to her sister, Sophia, she referred to him by drawing a star.

Life changed for Lina and Catherine in the 1930s with the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. The couple’s neighbour said “the local Nazis disapproved of the old Indian lady”. Despite the risk of staying, Catherine remained in Germany until Lina’s death on 26 August 1938 aged 79. Catherine sold everything and returned to England in November of that year. Before Catherine left Germany she helped several Jewish families escape from the Nazi Holocaust. In 1938 Catherine’s friend Dr Hornstein was arrested and interned at Oranienburg concentration camp near Berlin. Catherine acted as the Hornstein family’s guarantor and helped secure his release. Hornstein had been arrested after ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass), when Nazis attacked Jewish homes, schools and businesses as part of a ruthless, violent state-sanctioned pogrom. Catherine also helped violinist Alexander Polnarioff and the Meyerstein family escape from the threat of death in a German concentration camp. The families came to stay with Catherine at her home near her sister Sophia at Coalhatch House, Penn, Buckinghamshire

Catherine visited India in 1903 and 1904. Her tour included visits to Lahore, Kashmir, Dalhousie, Simla and the Sikh Holy City of Amritsar in Punjab. Catherine recalled meeting old men who had served under her grandfather, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, over 60 years earlier. She enjoyed the festivities at Amritsar. She wrote: “The Diwali Festival was yesterday, there were illuminations at the Golden Temple.” Catherine was knowledgeable about her Indian heritage. She visited her father’s salt mines, taken by the British in the 1840s. Maharajah Duleep Singh argued that these mines were his personal property and his demand for proper compensation was refused. Catherine’s older sister Bamba settled in Lahore. Bamba died there in 1957. She was the last member of the royal family that had once ruled Punjab.

Catherine died on the 8 November 1942, aged 71 of heart failure. Catherine gave jewellery and clothing to her sisters in her will. She asked for her ashes to be divided between Elveden churchyard, and a casket “to be buried as near as possible to the coffin of my friend Fraulein Lina Schafer at the Principal Cemetery at Kassel in Germany.” Bamba took a portion of Catherine’s ashes to Kassel in 1949. In 1997, fifty-five years after Catherine’s death, a list of Swiss bank accounts, unused since the Second World War, was published. This included Duleep Singh, Catherine (Princess). Catherine had no direct descendants. A tribunal decided that her estate should go to the family of Supra, who worked for her sister Bamba. The assets totalled about £100,000.

Catherine Duleep Singh’s legacy today includes her example for young LGBT+ people of South Asian heritage, her actions in support of women’s rights and how she lives on in the memories of the descendants of the people she saved from Nazi Germany.