Thechhavigarg at 08:30, 7 May 2026

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{{short description|English suffragette (1871 - 1942)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Catherine Duleep Singh
| image = Portrait of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, by Lafayette Studio, 1897.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Portrait of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, by Lafayette Studio, 1897
| birth_name = Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh
| birth_date = {{birth-date|27 October 1871}}
| birth_place = Elveden Hall, [[Elveden, Suffolk]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1942|11|8|1871|10|27|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Penn, Buckinghamshire]]
| father = [[Duleep Singh]]
| mother = [[Bamba Müller]]
| religion =
}}
'''Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh''' (27 October 1871 – 8 November 1942) was the second daughter of [[Maharaja]] [[Duleep Singh|Sir Duleep Singh]] and his first wife [[Maharani]] [[Bamba Müller|Bamba (née Müller)]] and the granddaughter of Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]] of the [[Sikh Empire]]. She was educated in England and in 1894 she was presented at Court. She became a [[suffrage|suffragist]] with her sisters, but did not take part in [[Emmeline Pankhurst]]’s [[Suffragette]] movement though her sister Sophia did.<ref>{{cite news |title=Celebrating Princess Catherine Duleep Singh |url=https://essexcdp.com/event/princesscatherine/ |access-date=24 July 2024 |work=Essex Cultural Diversity Project}}</ref>

She was a lifelong companion of governess Lina Schäfer and from 1904 lived with her in Germany until the latter's death in 1937. She requested her burial at Lina's side in her will. Catherine and Lina were instrumental in aiding many Jewish families escape from Germany during the 1930s.<ref name="auto">Homegrown article - [https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-voices/meet-the-anti-fascist-lesbian-punjabi-princess-who-saved-countless-jewish-lives#:~:text=Catherine%20Duleep%20Singh%20was%20not,legacy%20of%20the%20eminent%20princess. <bdi>Meet The Anti-Fascist Lesbian Punjabi Princess Who Saved Countless Jewish Lives</bdi>]</ref>

In June 1997, her name was in the news upon the discovery of a dormant joint (with Schäfer) bank account in a Swiss bank. After several claimants had been rejected, the contents of the bank account were awarded by a Swiss tribunal to the family of a secretary of her elder sister [[Bamba Sutherland|Bamba]] in Pakistan.

== Biography ==
Singh was born on 27 October 1871 at [[Elveden Hall]], [[Suffolk]], in [[England]]. She was the second daughter of [[Maharaja Dalip Singh|Maharaja Duleep Singh]] and [[Bamba Müller]]. She had an elder sister [[Bamba Sutherland|Bamba Sofia Jindan]] (1869–1957), a younger sister [[Sophia Duleep Singh|Sophia Alexandra]] (1876–1948), three brothers{{snds}}[[Victor Duleep Singh|Victor Albert Jay]] (1866–1918), [[Frederick Duleep Singh|Frederick Victor]] (1868–1926), and Albert Edward Alexander (1879–1942), and two half-sisters{{snds}}[[Pauline Duleep Singh|Pauline Alexandra]] (1887–1941) and [[Irene Duleep Singh|Ada Irene Beryl]] (1889–1926) by Duleep Singh's second marriage, to Ada Douglas Wetherill. Sophia was the best known of the sisters as she was an active suffragette.
[[File:Photograph of three daughters (Sophia, Bamba, and Catherine) of Maharaja Duleep Singh and Bamba Müller in May 1895 (Peter Bance Collection) (cropped).jpg|thumb|250x250px|Catherine in centre with Bamba on the left and Sophia on the right]]
In 1886 her father attempted to move to India with his daughters but was prevented from entering India and forced to return from [[Aden]]. Catherine and her sisters then stayed at Folkestone, at 21{{nbsp}}Clifton Street. Initially, Queen Victoria had desired to put them under the care of Lady Login but on the advice of the [[India Office]] in London their care was entrusted to Arthur Oliphant and his wife; Oliphant's father had worked as an [[equerry]].<ref name="Net">{{Cite web|url=http://gw.geneanet.org/garric?lang=it&p=catherine+hilda&n=duleep+singh|title=Essai de Généalogie par Alain Garric: Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh|language=Italian|access-date=12 June 2016|publisher= Geneanet.org}}</ref> It was during this period that the princess was introduced to Fräulein Lina Schäfer, a German teacher and governess from [[Kassel]] who was twelve years her senior. The Princess then developed a deep and intimate bond with Schäfer that lasted until the latter's death.<ref name="Net" />
[[File:Photograph of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh with fellow students at Somerville Hall, Oxford University, 1893.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Princess Catherine Duleep Singh with fellow students at Somerville Hall, Oxford University, 1893]]

Singh and her older sister Bamba were educated at [[Somerville College, Oxford]].{{Sfn|Singh|Tatla|2006|p=45}}{{sfn|Visram|2002|p=103}}<ref name="Singh Oxford DNB">{{cite web|author=Bhupinder Singh Bance |title=Duleep Singh, Princess Catherine Hilda (1871–1942)
|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-105619 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |accessdate=21 April 2014 |date=October 2013}}</ref> During this period she received private instruction in violin and singing. She was also given swimming lessons.<ref name="Net" /> She was considered the prettiest among the three sisters; she and her sisters were [[debutante]]s at [[Buckingham Palace]] in 1895, dressed gracefully in fashionable white silk.<ref name="History">{{Cite web|url=http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/hero/timeline/3521|title=Princess Sophia Duleep Singh –Timeline|access-date=16 June 2016|publisher=History Heroes organization}}</ref> Like her sister Sophia, Catherine also became a [[suffragist]]. She was a member of the Fawcett Women's Suffrage Group and the [[National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies]] (NUWSS), also known as the Suffragists.<ref name="Lyell" />[[File:Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh.png|thumb|right|Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh (before 1940)]]In 1903, she toured India, went to her ancestral home in [[Lahore]] and other places such as [[Kashmir]], [[Dalhousie, India|Dalhousie]], [[Simla]], and [[Amritsar]]. She also visited the princely states of [[Kapurthala]], [[Nabha]], [[Jind]], and [[Patiala]] and interacted with both the royalty and the local people. After her return from India in March 1904 she lived in Europe with her former governess Lina Schäfer in the [[Black Forest]], in [[Kassel]] and in [[Dresden]] and also visited her family in Switzerland.<ref name="Net" />

Singh spent most of her adult life with Lina Schäfer.<ref name=Net/><ref name= Lyell/> During World War{{nbsp}}I she lived with Schäfer in Germany at the risk of being called a traitor. None of the family members seemed to have opposed this relationship, which Catherine is said to have appreciated.<ref name=Net/><ref name=Lyell>{{Cite web|last=Lyell|first=Carrie|url=http://www.divamag.co.uk/category/lifestyle/catherine-duleep-singh-sikh-suffragette.aspx|title=Remembering Catherine Duleep Singh As part of Black History Month, we remember a Sikh suffragette|date=21 October 2015|access-date=16 June 2016|publisher=DIVA magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807040634/http://www.divamag.co.uk/category/lifestyle/catherine-duleep-singh-sikh-suffragette.aspx|archive-date=2016-08-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> When the Nazis came to power, on the advice of Dr.{{nbsp}}Fritz Ratig, her neighbour and accountant, she left Germany in November 1937 after disposing of all her property and moved to England via Switzerland.<ref name=Net/> Schäfer died on 26{{nbsp}}August 1938 at the age of 79,<ref>[http://www.kassel-wilhelmshoehe.de/villen.html#07 Information about Lina Schäfer and her residence in Kassel (in German)] See text for house no. 15: "Sie starb am 26. August 1938 in ihrem Haus in der Schloßteichstraße 15 in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe im Alter von 79 Jahren."</ref>

===Death===
Catherine Singh died due to a [[heart attack]] on 8{{nbsp}}November 1942 at [[Penn, Buckinghamshire|Penn]]. On the evening of her death she and her sister Sophia had attended a drama in the village, dined in Colehatch House, and retired for the night. The next morning, when the maid attending Singh found her room locked, she informed Sophia who rushed and broke open the door and found her sister dead. The doctor declared her death as due to heart failure. Sophia was inconsolable at her sister's death. She was the only relative who attended the cremation of Singh due to [[World War II]]. In memory of her sister, Sophia renamed the Colehatch House "Hilden Hall", adding Catherine's middle name, and sealed the room where she had died.{{Sfn|Anand|2015|pp=367–68}} Her last surviving sister took her ashes to Germany so that they could be placed with Lina's remains.<ref name="auto"/>

When Catherine Singh died she left a will dated 1935 in which she stated "I, Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh desire to be cremated and the ashes buried at Elveden in Suffolk. I give my gold jewellery, my long pearl necklace and my wearing apparel to my sisters Princess Bamba Sofia Jindan Sutherland and Princess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh". In a [[codicil (will)|codicil]] she had also requested that a quarter of her ashes be "buried as near as possible to the coffin of my friend Fräulein Lina Schäfer at the Principal Cemetery at Kassel in Germany". However, there was no mention of a bank account and a vault in her name in a Swiss bank in [[Zurich]], which were revealed to the public many years later.<ref name=Dalip/>

==Legacy in Swiss bank==

In July 1997 a news item appeared which was related to a list of more than 5,000 dormant accounts in Swiss banks published by the [[Swiss Bankers Association]] at the insistence of [[Holocaust Survivors|Holocaust survivors]]. This list contained the name of the Princess with the address recorded as "Duleep Singh, Catherine (Princess), last heard of in 1942 living in Penn, Bucks", as one of the account holders. These accounts had not been operated since the end of the Second World War.{{Sfn|Singh|Tatla|2006|p=45}}<ref name=Dalip>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/maharaja-dalip-singh/|title=Maharaja Dalip Singh|access-date=16 June 2016|publisher= Victoria and Albert Museum}}</ref><ref name= Vinayak>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/heritage/story/20011217-descendants-of-lahore-based-muslim-family-surprise-inheritors-of-punjabi-princess-legacy-774834-2001-12-16|title=Claim to fame Descendants of a Lahore-based Muslim family are the surprise inheritors of a Punjabi princess' legacy|date=17 December 2001|access-date=16 June 2016|publisher=India Today}}</ref>

There were a large number of claimants to the joint account of the Princess with her governess Lina Schäfer, from the [[Government of India]] and relatives in Punjab and Pakistan. There were no recorded living direct descendants of the family as none of Duleep Singh's children had any offspring. A three-member Claims Resolution Tribunal was set up in [[Zurich]] to process the claims.

During the three years of hearings on the claims of various parties held by the tribunal, the Government of India's claim was considered untenable as the princess had not ruled over any princely state and her account in the bank was private. The tribunal also rejected all the claims from her relations in India and Europe.

The tribunal then identified the Supra family of Pakistan as potential beneficiaries. Catherine's 1935 will had named her sister Bamba as a beneficiary, and in 1942 Bamba, who was also childless, had bequeathed her fortune to her caretaker-cum-tutor Supra. The tribunal then gave its award in favour of Supra's "five living sons{{snds}}four in Pakistan and one in India{{snds}}and his deceased daughter's children would receive an equal share of the assets besides the interest on the amount". The assets totalled 137,323 Swiss Francs (Rs 39.8 lakh).<ref name="Vinayak" />

== Ancestry ==
{{ahnentafel|1. '''Princess Catherine Duleep Singh'''|2. [[Duleep Singh|High King Duleep Singh of Punjab]]|3. [[Bamba Müller]]|4. [[Ranjit Singh|High King Ranjit Singh of Punjab]]|5. [[Jind Kaur]]|6. Ludwig Müller|7. Sofiá|8. [[Maha Singh|Sardar Maha Singh]]|9. [[Raj Kaur]]|10. Manna Singh|collapsed=yes|align=center|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;|16=[[Charat Singh|Sardar Charat Singh]]|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;|32=[[Naudh Singh]]|64=[[Budha Singh]]}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last= Anand |first=Anita |title=Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5SlBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA368|year=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4088-3546-3}}
*{{cite book|last1= Singh |first1=Gurharpal |last2= Tatla |first2=Darsham Singh |title=Sikhs in Britain: The Making of a Community|url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsinbritainma0000sing|url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/sikhsinbritainma0000sing/page/45 45] |year=2006|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-84277-717-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Visram|first=Rozina |title=Asians In Britain: 400 Years of History|url=https://archive.org/details/asiansinbritain40068visr|url-access=registration|year= 2002|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-1378-8}}

== External links ==

* https://blog.hrp.org.uk/curators/hampton-court-princess-catherine-duleep-singh/
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Catherine Duleep}}
[[Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford]]
[[Category:1871 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:English socialites]]
[[Category:People from Elveden]]
[[Category:English suffragists]]
[[Category:Women of the Victorian era]]
[[Category:English people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:English people of German descent]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:English women civil rights activists]]

Catherine Duleep Singh - Revision history

Thechhavigarg at 08:30, 7 May 2026