# Pauline Duleep Singh
**Pauline Duleep Singh** (Princess Pauline Alexandrina Duleep Singh; 26 December 1887 – 10 April 1941) was a daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh Maharaja of the Punjab, and his second wife, the Englishwoman Ada Wetherill. Born in Moscow while her father was plotting a rebellion against British rule, she lived a private life in England and France, and the place and cause of her death remained unknown to historians until 2014.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) • [2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 December 1887, Moscow, Russia, to Maharaja Duleep Singh and Ada Wetherill, out of wedlock[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) |
| Baptism | Into the Christian faith during a family holiday in Algiers, winter 1892[3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) |
| Marriage | 1914, to J.S.A. Torry, 2nd Lieutenant, 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade; he died of wounds at the Battle of Loos on 19 September 1915[3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) |
| Death | 10 April 1941, Pau, France, of tuberculosis[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) • [4](https://blog.entitree.com/family-tree-of-duleep-singh/) |
| Siblings | One full sister, Princess Ada Irene Helen Beryl Duleep Singh (1889–1926); five half-siblings by Duleep Singh's first wife, Bamba Müller[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) • [5](https://victorianweb.org/victorian/gender/reviews/anand.html) |
| Historical recovery | Her fate was uncovered in 2014 through genealogical research by the British historian Peter Bance (Peter Bhupinder Singh Bance)[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) |
## Family background
Pauline's father, Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838–1893), was deposed by the [East India Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/east-india-company) after the annexation of Punjab in 1849, taken to England in 1854, and settled at Elveden Hall in Suffolk.[6](https://essexcdp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DuleepSInghTrail.pdf) By his first wife, Bamba Müller, he had children who were received at court and of whom two, including the suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, had [Queen Victoria](https://www.edgepedia.org/queen-victoria) as godmother.[5](https://victorianweb.org/victorian/gender/reviews/anand.html) • [7](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-punjabi-princess-fought-for-womens-suffrage-and-sheltered-refugees-during-world-war-ii-a-goddaughter-of-queen-victoria-she-rejected-british-imperialism-180988491/) Pauline and her younger sister Irene, born to Ada Wetherill, did not receive the same recognition from Victoria.[7](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-punjabi-princess-fought-for-womens-suffrage-and-sheltered-refugees-during-world-war-ii-a-goddaughter-of-queen-victoria-she-rejected-british-imperialism-180988491/)
**Birth in Moscow.** Pauline was born on 26 December 1887 in a boarding house in Moscow, where her father was staying while he plotted with Russian agents for the liberation of Punjab and the [Indian subcontinent](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-subcontinent) from British occupation.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) • [2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) Her birth preceded her parents' marriage: [Duleep Singh](https://www.edgepedia.org/duleep-singh) married Ada Wetherill in 1889, and a second daughter, Ada Irene Helen Beryl, was born that year.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) • [3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) In the winter of 1892 the Maharaja and Maharani Ada took a holiday to Algiers with Prince Victor and Prince Frederick, during which Pauline and Irene were baptized into the Christian faith.[3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/)
**Separation from her parents.** In 1890 Ada left Duleep Singh, taking Irene and Pauline with her.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) When the couple later reconciled and returned to England, the two girls were left in the care of their nanny in Paris.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) This upbringing apart from the Elveden household marked Pauline's life in contrast with her half-siblings, who had been raised on the Suffolk estate and welcomed at Windsor.[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered)
## Marriage and later life
In 1914 Pauline married John Shirley Archibald Torry, a 2nd [Lieutenant](https://www.edgepedia.org/lieutenant) of the 12th Battalion Rifle Brigade. He died of wounds received at the Battle of the Loos on 19 September 1915, within about a year of the marriage.[3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) She had befriended her half-sister Princess Sophia and often visited the family in Norfolk; her stays at Old Buckenham Hall were recorded in the house's visitor book.[3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) After the suicide of her sister Irene at Monaco in 1926, the relationship between Pauline and her half-siblings became strained.[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) In the late 1930s she moved to Paris.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/)
## Death and rediscovery
Pauline contracted tuberculosis around the outbreak of the Second World War and died alone in 1941 at a sanatorium.[1](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/) Her death went unrecorded in published accounts of the family for decades; even Princess Bamba, interviewed in Lahore in the 1950s by the historian Ganda Singh, did not know what had become of her half-sister.[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) In October 2014 a distant relative of Lieutenant Torry, researching his own family tree, contacted the British-born Sikh historian Peter Bance with an unconfirmed place of death, and Bance established that she had died of tuberculosis in 1941 in war-torn France.[2](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered) • [3](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/) Genealogical compilations give the date as 10 April 1941 and the place as Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques of France.[4](https://blog.entitree.com/family-tree-of-duleep-singh/)
## References
1. [Duleep Singh, Historic Royal Palaces (Tower of London history and stories)](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/duleep-singh/)
2. [The Fate of Princess Pauline Duleep Singh Finally Uncovered, sikhchic.com (2014)](https://www.sikhchic.com/history/the_fate_of_princess_pauline_duleep_singh_finally_uncovered)
3. [Princess Pauline & Princess Irene Duleep Singh, duleepsingh.com](https://duleepsingh.com/princess-pauline-princess-irene/)
4. [Family tree of Duleep Singh, Entitree blog](https://blog.entitree.com/family-tree-of-duleep-singh/)
5. [A Review of Anita Anand's "Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary", Victorian Web](https://victorianweb.org/victorian/gender/reviews/anand.html)
6. [The Maharajah's Family, Duleep Singh Family East of England Trail, Essex Cultural Diversity Project](https://essexcdp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DuleepSInghTrail.pdf)
7. [Who Was Princess Sophia Duleep Singh?, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-punjabi-princess-fought-for-womens-suffrage-and-sheltered-refugees-during-world-war-ii-a-goddaughter-of-queen-victoria-she-rejected-british-imperialism-180988491/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Historical methods and broad narratives › Modern and contemporary history by region › Colonialism and genocide*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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