Paine, Princes and Princesses

New displays in our upstairs room focus on the lives of the six Duleep Singh Princes and Princess who grew up at Elveden hall and the life of Thetford-born Thomas Paine, revolutionary writer.

Prince Frederick Victor Duleep Singh was born in 1868. He was the second son of Maharajah Duleep Singh, last Maharajah of Punjab, and Maharani Bamba. His childhood home was Elveden Hall near Thetford, where he grew up with his sisters, Princesses Bamba, Catherine and Sophia, and brothers, Princes Victor and Albert Edward.

Educated at Eton and Cambridge, Frederick studied history and served in the Suffolk and Norfolk Yeomanry during the First World War. He lived in Norfolk at Old Buckenham Hall, Breckles House, and Blo' Norton Hall and his homes overflowed with paintings, books, and antiquities. He bought and gave Ancient House Museum to the people of Thetford 100 years ago, along with his collection of East Anglian portraits.

Objects on display include carved wooden and gilded angels from Prince Frederick's home at Blo' Norton Hall alongside his Norfolk Yeomanry uniform. Princess Sophia Duleep Singh supported militant suffrage campaigns, once throwing herself in front of Prime Minister Asquith's car while displaying a placard reading "Give women the vote!"

On display in the gallery are an early 19th-century Indian jewelled ring from her family collection and a rare suffragette hunger-strike medal awarded to Caprina Fahey, who marched with Sophia during the violent 'Black Friday' demonstrations in 1910. Princess Catherine was an active member of the women's rights movement all her life. In 1912 she opened a 'forest of Christmas trees' in Nottingham in aid of the 'Constitutional Women's Suffrage Works.'

On display is a contemporary portrait of Princess Catherine by celebrated Sikh artist Inkquisitive. The displays draws new links between the activism of the Duleep Singh princesses and the writings of Thetford-born Thomas Paine (1737-1809), whose works Rights of Man and Common Sense argue for universal human rights. The Thomas Paine displays include a plaster mask of Thomas Paine that was made shortly after his death by his artist friend John Wesley Jarvis (1780 - 1839), a leather-bound French edition of a translation of Paine's Rights of Man from 1791, and a lock of Paine's hair.

The displays also tell the story of Prince Victor, Prince Albert Edward and Princess Bamba. These displays have been hugely supported by historian and collector Peter Bance, and the project team has also worked closely with Dr Priya Atwal, Community History Fellow at the University of Oxford.

Oliver Bone says, "We are delighted to bring the extraordinary stories of Prince Frederick and the Duleep Singh family to our visitors' attention. Their lives link with key moments in British and world history, from the campaigns for women's suffrage and the First World War to the partition of India, as well as with the rich heritage of Norfolk. Some of the items on display, including Princess Sophia's jewelled Indian ring, have never been exhibited before. We very much look forward to sharing these new displays with our visitors."