Duleep Singh
Encyclopedia
This article is about Maharaja Dalip Singh. For other uses, see Dalip Singh
Maharaja Dalip Singh, GCSI
(6 September 1838, Lahore
, Sikh Empire - 22 October 1893, Paris
, France
), commonly called Duleep Singh and later in life nicknamed the Black Prince of Perthshire
, was the last Maharaja
of the Sikh Empire. He was the youngest son of the legendary "Lion of the Punjab" Maharaja Ranjit Singh
and Maharani Jind Kaur, and came to power after a series of intrigues, in which several other claimants to the throne and to the Koh-i-Noor
diamond, killed each other. After his exile to Britain at age 13 following the British annexation of the Punjab, he was befriended by Queen Victoria. In June 1850, Lord Dalhousie presented the Kohinoor Diamond by Dalip Singh after it was confiscated by the British. From that date on, the diamond became part of the Crown Jewels
, set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth
and on display in the Jewel House in the Tower of London
.
Dalip Singh was much admired by Queen Victoria
, who is reported to have written of the Punjabi maharajah "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful". The Queen was godmother to several of his children.
Today Singh is considered as Britain
's first Sikh settler, having been exiled to its shores in 1854, after being dethroned and having his country annexed by the East India Company
in 1849.
,_entering_his_palace_in_lahore,_escorted_by_british_troops.jpg)
Dalip Singh was crowned to the throne of Punjab in 1843 succeeding his half-brother, Maharajah Sher Singh
.
After the close of the Second Anglo-Sikh War
and the subsequent annexation of the Punjab on 29 March 1849, he was deposed at the age of eleven by the East India Company
under Governor-General Hardinge
and was separated from his mother, who was imprisoned. He was put into the care of Dr John Login and sent from Lahore to Fatehgarh
on 21 December 1849.
The British took, in controversial circumstances, the Koh-i-Noor
diamond along with other items of Dalip Singh's family's considerable personal estate, country and religious property (most items were sold by public auction) to Queen Victoria as reportedly part of the terms of the conclusion of the war and the 250th anniversary of the East India Company on 3 July 1850. His health was reportedly poor, and he was mostly in quasi-exile in Fatehgarh
and Lucknow
after 1849, with tight restrictions on who he was allowed to meet. No Indians, except trusted servants, could meet him in private. As a matter of British policy, he was to be anglicised in every possible respect. While no specific information was released about his health, he was often sent to the hill station of Landour
near Mussoorie
in the Lower Himalaya for convalescence, at the time about 4 days' journey. He would remain for weeks at a time in Landour at a grand hilltop building called The Castle, which had been lavishly furnished to accommodate him.
at Fatehgarh with the approval of the Governor-General Lord Dalhousie
. His conversion remains controversial, having been effected in unclear circumstances before he turned 15. He was also heavily and continuously exposed to Christian texts under the tutelage of the devout John Login. His two closest childhood friends were both English, one being the child of Anglican missionaries.
In 1854, he was sent into exile in Britain.
took over a house in Wimbledon
and then eventually another house in Roehampton
which became his home for 3 years. He was also invited by the Queen to stay with the Royal Family at Osborne
, where she sketched him playing with her children and Prince Albert photographed him, while the court artist, Winterhalter, made his portrait, He eventually got bored with Roehampton and expressed a wish to go back to India but it was suggested by the East India Company Board he take a tour of the European continent which he did with Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login.
in Perthshire
, Scotland for him. He spent the rest of his teens there but at 19 he demanded to be in charge of his household. Eventually, he was given this and an increase in his annual pension. In 1858 the lease expired and Dalip Singh rented the house at Auchlyne
from the Earl of Breadalbane. He was remarkable in the area as the first Indian prince to visit Scotland, and soon had the nickname, the "Black Prince of Perthshire". He was known for a lavish lifestyle, shooting parties, and a love of dressing in highland costume. (At the same time, he was known to have gradually developed a sense of regret for his circumstances in exile, including some inner turmoil about his conversion to Christianity and his forced departure from the Punjab). His mother stayed in Perthshire with him for a short time, before he rented the Grantully Estate, near Aberfeldy. Following the deaths of his mother and John Login in 1863, he returned to England.
in 1858 and enjoyed the English countryside while there.
purchased for him) a 17,000 acre (69 km²) country estate at Elveden
on the border between Norfolk
and Suffolk
, close to Thetford
, in 1863. He fell in love with Elveden and the surrounding area and restored the church, cottages, and school. He transformed the run-down estate into an efficient game preserve of approximately 17000 acres (68.8 km²) and it was here that he gained his reputation as the fourth best shot in England. The house was re-modelled into a quasi-oriental palace where he lived the life of a British aristocrat. Dalip Singh was accused of running up large expenses and the estate was sold after his death to pay his debts. Today, Elveden is owned by descendants of the Guinness
family of brewing fame; it remains an operating farm and private hunting estate.
and was eager to return to India. Though previous efforts were thwarted by his handlers, he reestablished contact with his cousin Sardar Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, who on 28 September 1884, left Amritsar
for England along with his sons Narinder Singh and Gurdit Singh and a Sikh granthi
(priest), Pratap Singh Giani
. He also brought a list of properties held by Dalip Singh in India, all this renewed his connection with Sikhism.
The British Government decided in 1886 against his return to India or his re-embracing Sikhism. Despite protests from the India Office
, he set sail for 'home' on 30 March 1886. However, he was intercepted and arrested in Aden
, where the writ of the Governor General of India began. He could not be stopped from an informal re-conversion ceremony in Aden, far less grand and symbolic than it would have been in India, done by emissaries sent by Sardar
Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, who was earlier planning the Pahaul ceremony at Bombay. Dalip was forced to return to Europe.
Dalip Singh's wish for his body to be returned to India was not honoured, in fear of unrest, given the symbolic value the funeral of the son of the Lion of the Punjab might have caused, given growing resentment of British rule. His body was brought back to be buried according to Christian rites, under the supervision of the India Office in Elveden Church beside the grave of his wife Maharani Bamba
, and his son Prince Edward Albert Duleep Singh. The graves are located on the west side of the Church.
A life-size bronze statue of the Maharajah showing him on a horse was unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales
in 1999 at Butten Island in Thetford
, a town which benefited from his and his sons' generosity.
In an auction at Bonhams
, London on 19 April 2007, the 74 cm high white marble portrait bust of Maharajah Duleep Singh by Victorian sculptor John Gibson
RA in Rome in 1859 fetched £1.7 million (£1.5 million plus premium and tax).
A film titled, Maharaja Duleep Singh: A Monument Of Injustice was made in 2007, directed by P.S. Narula.
, was in exile in Nepal
. In 1860 he was allowed to return to India and he decided to bring his mother back to England. She died in England in 1863.
Dalip Singh married twice, first to Bamba Müller
and then to Ada Douglas Wetherill. He had eight children in total, six from his first marriage to Bamba:
He also had two children from his second marriage to Ada Douglas Wetherill:
All the eight children died without legitimate issue, ending the direct line of the Sikh Royalty.
There is a memorial at Eton College
in England to Princes Victor and Frederick, Maharajah Duleep Singh's two sons who studied at Eton in the 1870s.
was an Arabic-speaking, part-Ethiopia
n, part-German
girl, whose father was a German banker and whose mother was an Abyssinian
Coptic Christian slave. She and Dalip met in Cairo
in 1863 on his return from scattering his mother's ashes in India; they were married in Alexandria
, Egypt
on 7 June 1864. The Maharani died in London on 18 September 1887.
, where he failed to persuade the Czar of the benefits of invading India through the north and reinstalling him as ruler.
Queen Victoria and Maharaja Dalip Singh reconciled their differences before he died. Out of loyalty to Maharani Bamba, the Queen refused to receive Ada, who she suspected had been involved with the Maharaja before Maharani Bamba's death in 1887.
debt collector for Halifax
. Genetic evidence suggests that Goddard has an unusual combination of minor blood groups that is rare among the white British
population but common among Asians
. The genealogical history of Goddard's family suggests his grandfather, Charlie Goddard, was born in 1888 as the illegitimate child of an English
maid serving at Breckles
Hall in Norfolk
. It was rumoured that the father may have been an Indian prince, believed to be Prince Frederick Duleep Singh
, who was a resident at Breckles Hall when Charlie was born.
Video links
Dalip Singh
Dalip Singh Rana , better known by his ring name The Great Khali , is a Rajput-Indian professional wrestler, actor, and powerlifter. He is best known for his time in WWE where he debuted alongside Daivari and had minor alliances with Ranjin Singh and Jinder Mahal...
Maharaja Dalip Singh, GCSI
Order of the Star of India
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
(6 September 1838, Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Sikh Empire - 22 October 1893, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), commonly called Duleep Singh and later in life nicknamed the Black Prince of Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, was the last Maharaja
Maharaja
Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of the Sikh Empire. He was the youngest son of the legendary "Lion of the Punjab" Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
and Maharani Jind Kaur, and came to power after a series of intrigues, in which several other claimants to the throne and to the Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor
The Kōh-i Nūr which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur, is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kōh-i Nūr originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India along with its double, the Darya-ye Noor...
diamond, killed each other. After his exile to Britain at age 13 following the British annexation of the Punjab, he was befriended by Queen Victoria. In June 1850, Lord Dalhousie presented the Kohinoor Diamond by Dalip Singh after it was confiscated by the British. From that date on, the diamond became part of the Crown Jewels
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
The collective term Crown Jewels denotes the regalia and vestments worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony and at other state functions...
, set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth
Crown of Queen Elizabeth
The Crown of the Queen Mother is the platinum crown manufactured for, and worn by, Queen Elizabeth, the former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the queen consort of King George VI of the United Kingdom at their coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1937...
and on display in the Jewel House in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
.
Dalip Singh was much admired by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, who is reported to have written of the Punjabi maharajah "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful". The Queen was godmother to several of his children.
Today Singh is considered as Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's first Sikh settler, having been exiled to its shores in 1854, after being dethroned and having his country annexed by the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
in 1849.
Early years
Sher Singh
Maharaja Sher Singh was a Sikh ruler of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire. He was the son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Queen Rani Mehtab Kaur who was also the mother of Prince Tara Singh...
.
After the close of the Second Anglo-Sikh War
Second Anglo-Sikh War
The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849, between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province by the East India Company.-Background...
and the subsequent annexation of the Punjab on 29 March 1849, he was deposed at the age of eleven by the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
under Governor-General Hardinge
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, GCB, PC was a British field marshal and Governor-general of India.-Army career:...
and was separated from his mother, who was imprisoned. He was put into the care of Dr John Login and sent from Lahore to Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the right bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from an old fort. It is a small city with no significant...
on 21 December 1849.
The British took, in controversial circumstances, the Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor
The Kōh-i Nūr which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur, is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kōh-i Nūr originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India along with its double, the Darya-ye Noor...
diamond along with other items of Dalip Singh's family's considerable personal estate, country and religious property (most items were sold by public auction) to Queen Victoria as reportedly part of the terms of the conclusion of the war and the 250th anniversary of the East India Company on 3 July 1850. His health was reportedly poor, and he was mostly in quasi-exile in Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the right bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from an old fort. It is a small city with no significant...
and Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
after 1849, with tight restrictions on who he was allowed to meet. No Indians, except trusted servants, could meet him in private. As a matter of British policy, he was to be anglicised in every possible respect. While no specific information was released about his health, he was often sent to the hill station of Landour
Landour
Landour , a small cantonment town contiguous with Mussoorie, is about from the city of Dehradun in the northern state of Uttarakhand in India. The twin towns of Mussoorie and Landour, together, are a well-known British Raj-era hill station in northern India. Mussoorie-Landour was widely known as...
near Mussoorie
Mussoorie
Mussoorie is a city and a municipal board in the Dehradun District of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located about 35 km from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km north from the national capital of New Delhi...
in the Lower Himalaya for convalescence, at the time about 4 days' journey. He would remain for weeks at a time in Landour at a grand hilltop building called The Castle, which had been lavishly furnished to accommodate him.
Legality of the Koh-i-noor being acquired by the British
The Kohinoor diamond was then given by Duleep Singh as Maharaja Ranjit Singh's successor (who owned it) to Queen Victoria, Indian historians argue that Prince Dalip Singh was only a minor then, and could not have given the diamond away without coercion from his British advisors. Record also says that the confiscated diamond was presented to the Queen-mother by Lord Dalhousie in 1850 through the young exiled Prince.Conversion to Christianity
In 1853, under the tutelage of his long-time retainer Bhajan Lal (himself a Christian convert) he converted to ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
at Fatehgarh with the approval of the Governor-General Lord Dalhousie
James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie KT, PC was a Scottish statesman, and a colonial administrator in British India....
. His conversion remains controversial, having been effected in unclear circumstances before he turned 15. He was also heavily and continuously exposed to Christian texts under the tutelage of the devout John Login. His two closest childhood friends were both English, one being the child of Anglican missionaries.
In 1854, he was sent into exile in Britain.
London
Dalip Singh's arrival on the shores of England in 1853 threw him into the European court. Queen Victoria showered affection upon the turbaned Maharajah, as did the Prince Consort. Dalip Singh was initially lodged at Claridge's Hotel in London before the East India CompanyEast India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
took over a house in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
and then eventually another house in Roehampton
Roehampton
Roehampton is a district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north, Putney to the east and Wimbledon Common to the south. The Richmond Park golf courses are west of the neighbourhood, and just south of these is...
which became his home for 3 years. He was also invited by the Queen to stay with the Royal Family at Osborne
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
, where she sketched him playing with her children and Prince Albert photographed him, while the court artist, Winterhalter, made his portrait, He eventually got bored with Roehampton and expressed a wish to go back to India but it was suggested by the East India Company Board he take a tour of the European continent which he did with Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login.
Scotland
On his return from Europe in 1855 he was given an annual pension, and was officially under ward of Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login, who leased Castle MenziesCastle Menzies
Castle Menzies in Scotland is the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies. It is located a little to the west of the small village of Weem, near Aberfeldy in the Highlands of Perthshire, and was formerly known as Weem Castle.-History:...
in Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, Scotland for him. He spent the rest of his teens there but at 19 he demanded to be in charge of his household. Eventually, he was given this and an increase in his annual pension. In 1858 the lease expired and Dalip Singh rented the house at Auchlyne
Auchlyne
Auchlyne is a small hamlet in Stirling, Scotland. It is located approximately five miles west of Killin on Loch Tay, off the main A85 road that runs from Perth to Oban....
from the Earl of Breadalbane. He was remarkable in the area as the first Indian prince to visit Scotland, and soon had the nickname, the "Black Prince of Perthshire". He was known for a lavish lifestyle, shooting parties, and a love of dressing in highland costume. (At the same time, he was known to have gradually developed a sense of regret for his circumstances in exile, including some inner turmoil about his conversion to Christianity and his forced departure from the Punjab). His mother stayed in Perthshire with him for a short time, before he rented the Grantully Estate, near Aberfeldy. Following the deaths of his mother and John Login in 1863, he returned to England.
Mulgrave Castle
Dalip Singh took on a lease at Mulgrave Castle in YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in 1858 and enjoyed the English countryside while there.
Elveden Estate
Dalip Singh bought (or the India OfficeIndia Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
purchased for him) a 17,000 acre (69 km²) country estate at Elveden
Elveden Hall
Elveden Hall is a large privately owned house overlooking the large Elveden Estate in Elveden, Suffolk, England. It is located centrally to the village and is close to the A11 and the Parish Church....
on the border between Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, close to Thetford
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
, in 1863. He fell in love with Elveden and the surrounding area and restored the church, cottages, and school. He transformed the run-down estate into an efficient game preserve of approximately 17000 acres (68.8 km²) and it was here that he gained his reputation as the fourth best shot in England. The house was re-modelled into a quasi-oriental palace where he lived the life of a British aristocrat. Dalip Singh was accused of running up large expenses and the estate was sold after his death to pay his debts. Today, Elveden is owned by descendants of the Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
family of brewing fame; it remains an operating farm and private hunting estate.
Re-initiated into Sikhism
While in exile, he sought to learn more about SikhismSikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
and was eager to return to India. Though previous efforts were thwarted by his handlers, he reestablished contact with his cousin Sardar Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, who on 28 September 1884, left Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
for England along with his sons Narinder Singh and Gurdit Singh and a Sikh granthi
Granthi
Granthi is any person of either gender, who performs the reading of the Guru Granth Sahib at congregational occasions, however this task can be performed by any individual who is part of the congregation...
(priest), Pratap Singh Giani
Pratap Singh Giani
Pratap Singh Giani was a Sikh academician, scholar and calligraphist.He was born in 1855, the son of Bhai Bhag Singh Giani of Lahore. As a young boy, Partap Singh learnt Punjabi, Urdu and Sanskrit and studied Sikh scriptures...
. He also brought a list of properties held by Dalip Singh in India, all this renewed his connection with Sikhism.
The British Government decided in 1886 against his return to India or his re-embracing Sikhism. Despite protests from the India Office
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
, he set sail for 'home' on 30 March 1886. However, he was intercepted and arrested in Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, where the writ of the Governor General of India began. He could not be stopped from an informal re-conversion ceremony in Aden, far less grand and symbolic than it would have been in India, done by emissaries sent by Sardar
Sardar
Sardar is a title of Indo-Aryan origin that was originally used to denote feudal princes, noblemen, and other aristocrats. It was later applied to indicate a Head of State, a Commander-in-chief, and an Army military rank...
Thakar Singh Sandhawalia, who was earlier planning the Pahaul ceremony at Bombay. Dalip was forced to return to Europe.
Death
Dalip Singh died in Paris in 1893 at the age of 55, having seen India after the age of fifteen only during two brief, tightly-controlled visits in 1860 (to bring his mother to England) and in 1863 (to scatter his mother's ashes).Dalip Singh's wish for his body to be returned to India was not honoured, in fear of unrest, given the symbolic value the funeral of the son of the Lion of the Punjab might have caused, given growing resentment of British rule. His body was brought back to be buried according to Christian rites, under the supervision of the India Office in Elveden Church beside the grave of his wife Maharani Bamba
Bamba Müller
Maharani Bamba Duleep Singh born Bamba Müller was the wife of Maharaja Duleep Singh. Brought up by Christian missionaries, she married Duleep Singh and became Maharani Bamba, wife of the last Maharaja of Lahore...
, and his son Prince Edward Albert Duleep Singh. The graves are located on the west side of the Church.
A life-size bronze statue of the Maharajah showing him on a horse was unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
in 1999 at Butten Island in Thetford
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
, a town which benefited from his and his sons' generosity.
In an auction at Bonhams
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
, London on 19 April 2007, the 74 cm high white marble portrait bust of Maharajah Duleep Singh by Victorian sculptor John Gibson
John Gibson (sculptor)
John Gibson, was a Welsh sculptor.-Early life:He was born near Conwy, Wales, his father being a market gardener. To his mother, whom he described as ruling his father and all the family, he owed the energy and determination which carried him over every obstacle.When he was nine years old the...
RA in Rome in 1859 fetched £1.7 million (£1.5 million plus premium and tax).
A film titled, Maharaja Duleep Singh: A Monument Of Injustice was made in 2007, directed by P.S. Narula.
Family
Dalip's mother, Maharani Jind KaurJind Kaur
Maharani Jind Kaur, also popularly known as Rani Jindan. She was the youngest wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the mother of the last Sikh Emperor, Maharajah Duleep Singh. In 1845 she became Regent of Punjab for Duleep Singh. The Queen Mother of the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab...
, was in exile in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. In 1860 he was allowed to return to India and he decided to bring his mother back to England. She died in England in 1863.
Dalip Singh married twice, first to Bamba Müller
Bamba Müller
Maharani Bamba Duleep Singh born Bamba Müller was the wife of Maharaja Duleep Singh. Brought up by Christian missionaries, she married Duleep Singh and became Maharani Bamba, wife of the last Maharaja of Lahore...
and then to Ada Douglas Wetherill. He had eight children in total, six from his first marriage to Bamba:
- Prince Victor Duleep SinghVictor Duleep SinghPrince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh was the eldest son of Maharani Bamba Müller and Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of Lahore, and of the Sikh Empire, and the grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh .-Biography:...
- Prince Frederick Duleep SinghFrederick Duleep SinghPrince Frederick Victor Duleep Singh MVO, TD, FSA , also known as Prince Freddy, was a younger son of Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Life and education:...
- Prince Albert Edward Duleep Singh
- Princess Bamba Duleep SinghBamba SutherlandPrincess Bamba Sutherland was the last member of the family that ruled the Sikh Empire in the Punjab. She returned to Lahore from her childhood in England where she was said to have "lived likean alien in her father’s kingdom".-Life:...
- Princess Catherine Duleep Singh
- Princess Sophia Duleep SinghSophia Duleep SinghPrincess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom...
He also had two children from his second marriage to Ada Douglas Wetherill:
- Princess Pauline Alexandra Duleep Singh
- Princess Ada Irene Beryl Duleep Singh
All the eight children died without legitimate issue, ending the direct line of the Sikh Royalty.
There is a memorial at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
in England to Princes Victor and Frederick, Maharajah Duleep Singh's two sons who studied at Eton in the 1870s.
Maharani Bamba Müller
Maharani Bamba MüllerBamba Müller
Maharani Bamba Duleep Singh born Bamba Müller was the wife of Maharaja Duleep Singh. Brought up by Christian missionaries, she married Duleep Singh and became Maharani Bamba, wife of the last Maharaja of Lahore...
was an Arabic-speaking, part-Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n, part-German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
girl, whose father was a German banker and whose mother was an Abyssinian
People of Ethiopia
Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigreans make up more than three-fourths of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members....
Coptic Christian slave. She and Dalip met in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in 1863 on his return from scattering his mother's ashes in India; they were married in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
on 7 June 1864. The Maharani died in London on 18 September 1887.
Ada Douglas Wetherill
Some sources describe Ada Douglas Wetherill as a French princess. In fact, she was neither French nor a princess. This is very likely a fiction created to give her some legitimacy later in life. Wetherill had been Dalip's mistress before he decided to return to India with his family, and upon being stopped in Aden by the British authorities he abandoned his family and moved to Paris, where she joined him. She stayed with him through his years in Paris and also travelled with him to St Petersburg, RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where he failed to persuade the Czar of the benefits of invading India through the north and reinstalling him as ruler.
Queen Victoria and Maharaja Dalip Singh reconciled their differences before he died. Out of loyalty to Maharani Bamba, the Queen refused to receive Ada, who she suspected had been involved with the Maharaja before Maharani Bamba's death in 1887.
Possible descendant
It has been claimed that Dalip Singh may be the great-great-grandfather of Bob Goddard, a BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
debt collector for Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
. Genetic evidence suggests that Goddard has an unusual combination of minor blood groups that is rare among the white British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
population but common among Asians
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
. The genealogical history of Goddard's family suggests his grandfather, Charlie Goddard, was born in 1888 as the illegitimate child of an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
maid serving at Breckles
Breckles
The church of Breckles St Margaret is an Anglican church near Stow Bedon, Norfolk, England. It is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. The church is an active parish church in the Diocese of Norwich. It has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.-External...
Hall in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. It was rumoured that the father may have been an Indian prince, believed to be Prince Frederick Duleep Singh
Frederick Duleep Singh
Prince Frederick Victor Duleep Singh MVO, TD, FSA , also known as Prince Freddy, was a younger son of Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Life and education:...
, who was a resident at Breckles Hall when Charlie was born.
Further reading
- Sir John Login And Duleep Singh, by Lady Lena Login. W. H. Allen & Co., London. 1890.
- Maharaja Duleep Singh Correspondence, by Dhuleep Singh, Ganda Singh. Published by Punjabi University, 1977.
- Sikh Portraits by European Artists,, by Aijazuddin, F.S. Sotheby Parke Bernet, London and Oxford U. Press, Karachi and New Delhi, 1979.
- The Duleep Singh's: The Photograph Album of Queen Victoria's Maharajah, by Pete Peter (Bhupinder Singh Bance). Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-3488-3
- The Maharaja's Box: An Imperial Story of Conspiracy, Love and a Guru's Prophecy, by Campbell, Christy. Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-653078-8 The Maharaja's Box
- Queen Victoria's Maharajah, Duleep Singh, 1838-93, by Michael Alexander and Sushila Anand. 1980. ISBN 1842122320, ISBN 9781842122327
- Duleep Singh: The Maharaja of Punjab and the Raj, by Rishi Ranjan Chakrabarty. Published by D.S. Samara, 1988. ISBN 0951495704.
- Maharaja Duleep Singh: The Last Sovereign Ruler of the Punjab, by Prithipal Singh Kapur. Published by Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, Dharam Parchar Committee, 1995.
- Maharaja Duleep Singh, Fighter for Freedom, by Baldev Singh Baddan. Published by National Book Shop, 1998. ISBN 817116210X.
- Maharaja Daleep Singh, by Balihar Singh Randhawa. Sikh Literary & Cultural Stall, 1998. ISBN 1900860015.
- The Maharajah Duleep Singh and the Government: A Narrative, by Surjit Singh Jeet. Published by Guru Nanak Dev University, 1999.
- The Annexation of the Punjaub, and the Maharajah Duleep Singh, by Evans Bell, Thomas Evans Bell. Adamant Media Corporation, 2001. ISBN 0543924327.
- Maharaja Dalip Singh Cheated Out, by Avtar Singh Gill. Jaswant Printers. 2007
- The Exile, by Navtej Sarna. Penguin, 2008. ISBN 9780670082087.
External links
- Duleep Singh Website
- RoyalArk on Punjab's dynasty, includes extensive bios
- Genealogy of Lahore (Princely State) Queensland University
- Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail
- Maharajah Duleep Singh, Biography and Images NorfolkNorfolkNorfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
Museum and Archeology Service
Video links