4Jean Barbot Society in seventeenth-century West Africa 1682

TEACHER’S NOTES

What is this source?

This is a photograph within a newspaper cutting that comes from documents held in the records of Justices of Assizes (the assizes were periodic criminal courts held around England and Wales until 1972). The newspaper it comes from is The Suffragette, the official newspaper of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and first published in 1912. It included information about militant activities, as well as other information that might have appealed to its readership.

What can we infer from this source?

This cutting shows a photograph of a woman of Indian descent, well dressed in upper-class Victorian fashion. She is wearing a hat, her hair is neatly styled and her coat looks as if it is made from an expensive fabric. She is standing outside, possibly in some type of public garden or park, and it looks like she has positioned herself on a footpath where people might be passing. To the right in the photograph there is a large, moveable board that displays the words ‘Suffragette Revolution!’ (Perhaps the woman has brought this with her to display?). The woman is also wearing a large bag across her shoulders, which appears to be full of newspapers. She is holding one of these newspapers in her hand, so that the front page and title are visible to people walking past. It reads The Suffragette.

At the bottom of the photograph there is a caption, which suggests that this image has been clipped out of a bigger page in a newspaper. It says ‘Sophia Dhuleep Singh selling “The Suffragette”outside Hampton Court Palace where she has a suite of apartments’. The newspaper has used a different spelling for the family name, although Duleep was the preferred spelling.

Why does The National Archives have this source?

This image is held within an assizes file. These files relate to records of criminal courts that were held around England and Wales until 1972. This is possibly being used as evidence in a criminal case, perhaps as an example of material designed to ‘incite’ people to join the Women’s Social and Political Union. The very existence of this newspaper in a government file of this nature implies that it was not a publication that the government condoned and approved of.

What is the context of this source?

This photograph shows a princess named Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh. Her father was the Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who at ten years old had been deposed from the Punjab and exiled to England. Sophia joined the WSPU in 1909 and became a prominent suffragette and campaigner for women’s rights. Her position as the deposed Maharaja’s daughter, and as the goddaughter of Queen Victoria, meant that she could champion the cause of women’s suffrage in a way that attracted public interest.

Sophia participated in the Black Friday events of November 1910 and other suffragette activities. She also regularly sold copies of The Suffragette newspaper outside Hampton Court, where she lived in a ‘grace and favour’ apartment. Along with the fight for female suffrage, Sophia also campaigned for Indian independence and the care of Indian soldiers during the First World War.

LESSON IDEAS

ENQUIRY QUESTION

What does this document reveal about Princess Sophia Duleep Singh and her role in the Suffragette movement?

Getting started

Use this document to introduce students to Sophia Duleep Singh and her role in the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Display the source on the whiteboard or hand out a printout. Without giving any information yet, ask students to make observations about the photograph and draw inferences from these observations. Where do they think this source might have come from? What does it show? Who is Sophia Duleep Singh?

Accept the students’ answers before going on to explain that the woman in the photograph is Sophia Duleep Singh and she had an important role in the suffragette movement. At this point, use questioning to ensure the students have a solid understanding of the aims of the suffragette movement. You might need to provide some further information and context.

Exploring further

Take another look at the photograph with the students to see if they can use it to find out anything more about Sophia Duleep Singh.

Firstly, ask the students to describe Sophia Duleep Singh’s dress and stance in the photograph. What can this reveal about her status in society? Once the students have considered this independently, tell them that Sophia Duleep Singh was an Indian princess and explain more about her background and status, using the teacher’s notes. How might Sophia Duleep Singh’s status in society have benefited her campaigning?

Now look at the photograph again and discuss the following questions:

• Why do you think Sophia Duleep Singh chose to sell The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace in this way? • Do you think she knowingly posed for this photograph? Why/why not? • What other sources could we use to find out more about Sophia Duleep Singh, her role in the suffragette movement and also her support for other important causes?

Make it clear to the students that Sophia Duleep Singh campaigned for other causes in addition to women’s suffrage, including Indian independence and the care of Indian soldiers in the First World War.

Follow-up tasks

• Ask the students to imagine they are going to interview someone with expert knowledge of Sophia Duleep Singh for a podcast. What questions would they ask to find out more about Sophia Duleep Singh’s role in the suffragette movement and her support for other causes? Can they find out the answers to these questions for homework? • Introduce students to Anita Anand’s work, Sophia: Princess, Suffragette,

Revolutionary. • Discuss in pairs or as a class why you think Sophia Duleep Singh was such a prominent figure within the suffragette movement.