A blue plaque honouring a suffragette Indian princess was unveiled at her former London home on Friday.
Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of the last ruler of the Sikh empire, goddaughter to Queen Victoria and a campaigner for female enfranchisement, was commemorated by English Heritage at Faraday House, Hampton Court, in south-west London.
In the Women’s Social and Political Union, the women-only political movement and militant group led by Emmeline Pankhurst, she used her status and wealth as a member of the Punjabi royal family to support the cause for gender equality.
Film director Gurinder Chadha, actress Meera Syal, Prof Helen Pankhurst – the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst – Sikh historian and writer Peter Bance and Lord Singh of Wimbledon were among the guests who attended Friday's ceremony.
Anita Anand, author of Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, said Ms Singh was owed “a debt of gratitude”, because her courage eventually gave women the right to vote in Britain.
“She was one of those bloody-minded women who never do what they are supposed to do,” said Ms Anand.
“Women’s history falls through the cracks and women of colour plummet through them.”
Ms Singh lived in Faraday House, in a grace and favour apartment granted by Queen Victoria in 1896, with her sisters Bamba and Catherine.
Her early childhood in Suffolk, east England, had been turbulent, with her father, Maharaja Duleep Singh abandoning his young family to live in Paris, and her mother Bamba Muller suffering with alcoholism.
In their parents’ absence the sisters grew up in Folkestone and Brighton, on the south coast of England, with their guardian Arthur Craigie Oliphant and his family, before moving to Faraday House as adults.
Ms Singh would sell copies of The Suffragette newspaper at her pitch outside Hampton Court Palace, and threw a suffragette poster with the slogan “Give women the vote!” at prime minister Herbert Asquith’s car at the state opening of Parliament in 1911.
As a member of the Women’s Tax Reform League, a movement which refused to pay various taxes, insurances and licence fees under the motto “No Vote, No Tax”, Ms Singh was summoned to court several times and fined for abstaining from personal licences on jewellery, dogs and a carriage.
Ms Singh attended “Black Friday” on November 18, 1910, when more than 300 suffragettes marched from Caxton Hall, in Westminster, central London, to Parliament Square and demanded to see Mr Asquith, the prime minister.
The demonstration descended into violence when Mr Asquith refused to see the suffragettes, and police assaulted the women who refused to leave.
Ms Singh resisted the police during the fighting, even rescuing one woman from an officer.
Beyond her campaigning for women’s enfranchisement, she also supported the Indian Women’s Education Association in London.
She volunteered during both world wars, nursing Indian soldiers in the First World War and housing evacuees during the Second World War.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
Full list of Emmy 2020 nominations
LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
OUTSTANDING VARIETY/TALK SERIES
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria
OUTSTANDING REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do In The Shadows
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
MATCH INFO
Fulham 0
Aston Villa 3 (Grealish 4', Hourihane 15', Mings 48')
Man of the match: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
'Moonshot'
Director: Chris Winterbauer
Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse
Rating: 3/5
