Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838–1893)

Who was he? Maharaja Duleep Singh was the former sovereign of Punjab and later landowner and campaigner in exile. Farrer & Co’s involvement: Advising Duleep Singh on his English affairs over several decades, including estate acquisition, civil status and the preparation of a claim for restitution arising from his dispossession.

Background

Duleep Singh was the last Maharaja of the Punjab. As a child, he was deposed following the British annexation of the region in 1849 - one of the most significant acts of colonial appropriation in British India. As part of this dispossession, he also lost ownership of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was seized and later incorporated into the British Crown Jewels.

Duleep Singh was brought to England and installed as a model English gentleman. He converted to Christianity, married, and his sons were sent to Eton College. He was received by Queen Victoria, joined elite institutions such as the Carlton Club, and was eventually granted a stately home and a pension. For a time, his life appeared to be one of assimilation and privilege within Victorian aristocratic society.

However, in later life, Duleep Singh underwent a profound shift. He re-embraced his Sikh identity, began to challenge the circumstances of his exile, and sought redress for what he had lost. It was during this period that he turned to Farrer & Co for legal counsel - not only in managing his English affairs, but in preparing a claim against the Government of India for restitution of property and rights.

Our work

Establishing a Country Estate

Farrer & Co began advising Duleep Singh in the early 1860s, as arrangements were made to support his establishment as a landed gentleman in England. The British Government purchased the Hatherop estate in Gloucestershire for £185,000 and leased it to the Duleep Singh for five years — a term suggested by the firm. In January 1863, Farrer & Co submitted formal enquiries on behalf of Duleep Singh regarding modifications to the estate, including permission to construct a pheasantry.

Later that year, the firm acted in the acquisition of the Elveden estate in Suffolk, which would become Duleep Singh’s principal residence - and his final resting place following his death in 1893. These matters were closely supervised by the India Office, and frequently involved Lieutenant-Colonel James Oliphant, Duleep Singh’s appointed equerry.

Despite these developments, however, tensions remained between the Maharaja’s enforced social position in England and his lost sovereignty in India. In March 1863, the Maharaja’s exact status remained unclear in relation to the purchase of his country estates, and in the same month, questions were raised whether the Maharaja might ‘claim for compensation for losses in the Indian Mutiny’ of 1857-59.

Advising on a funeral dispute of national sensitivity

A particularly delicate matter arose in August 1863, following the death of Duleep Singh’s mother, Maharani Jind Kaur, who had only recently been reunited with her son after more than a decade in exile. Her wish for a traditional Sikh cremation was at odds with prevailing English burial laws, and her attendants formally objected to any Christian interment.

Farrer & Co reviewed the legal position and, in consultation with Colonel Oliphant, issued formal advice confirming that the Maharani’s attendants had no legal standing to object. After months of negotiation and correspondence - including meetings with the attendants themselves - a solution was agreed to enable the Maharani’s remains to be transported to India for cremation.

On 30 December 1863, Farrer & Co met with Duleep Singh to finalise the arrangements for his journey to Bombay, where the funeral was eventually conducted in accordance with Sikh custom. This episode had a lasting impact on him and is believed to have reawakened his religious and political convictions.

Preparing a restitution case

In the decades that followed, Duleep Singh embarked on a campaign to recover property and assets lost upon his deposition. Farrer & Co continued to act for him into the 1880s, providing legal and evidentiary support for a potential claim against the British Government and the Government of India.

To support the case, the firm dispatched Henry Talbot to India for six months to gather documentary evidence relating to Duleep Singh’s former possessions. Talbot compiled extensive witness statements, maps, and inventories, which were collated into formal evidence books.

Although the outcome of the claim remains unknown it is likely that financial pressures and political disillusionment brought the legal efforts to a close. In the final years of his life, Duleep Singh became deeply alienated from the British establishment, aligned himself with Russian interests, and died in poverty in Paris in 1893.

Why it matters

This matter reflects the firm’s early experience of providing advice combining private affairs, political power and imperial governance. Duleep Singh’s position as a former sovereign living in enforced exile raised questions of property, status and entitlement that were legally complex and politically sensitive.

The work required careful judgement over many years, covering estate management in England, clarification of civil status and the preparation of a restitution case that challenged the circumstances of his dispossession. It demanded consideration of cultural difference, government oversight and personal conviction, long before such issues were formally recognised in legal practice.

The surviving records remain among the most thought-provoking materials in the firm’s archives, and continue to inform how we understand the responsibilities that accompany complex, politically charged instructions.

Farrer & Co, 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LH, United Kingdom

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