Sudhira Sundari Devi

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Sudhira Sundari Devi Narayan
Maharajkumari
Princess Sudhira of Cooch Behar, Bassano Ltd. (1910)
Born7 March, 1894
Calcutta, British India
Died7 January, 1968 (aged 73)
London, United Kingdom
SpouseAlan Mander (m.1914)
DynastyKoch
FatherNripendra Narayan
MotherSuniti Devi
Princess Sudhira of Cooch Behar (1910)

Sudhira Sundari Devi Narayan of Cooch Bihar, also known as Princess Mander, was an Indian princess of the princely state of Cooch Behar, British India.[1][2][3] She was born in Calcutta on 7 March 1894, the youngest daughter of H.H. Sri Sri Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch Behar, by his wife H.H. Maharani Sunity Devee Sahiba, sometime Regent of Cooch-Behar and President of the State Council.[4][5]

She married at Woodlands, Calcutta, on 25 February 1914 Alan Mander, brother of Lionel (who had married her sister Prativa Sundari Devi in 1912) and Geoffrey Mander of Wightwick Manor, by whom she had two sons and two daughters.

In London, Princess Sudhira became noted for her campaigns for better relations between England and India, agitating for Indian women's suffrage with her sister Prativa Sundari Devi, her aunt Mrinalini Sen[6] and Princess Sophia Duleep Singh,[7] working with the latter for the Red Cross as Voluntary Aid Detachment members and fundraising for Indian soldiers during the First World War.[8]

She died at 40 Hereford Rd, London, on 7 January 1968, when her will was proved in London on 15 February 1968 at £91.[9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Poddar, Abhishek; Gaskell, Nathaniel; Pramod Kumar, K. G; Museum of Art & Photography (Bangalore, India) (2015). "Cooch Bihar". Maharanis: women of royal India. Ahmedabad. pp. 100–103. ISBN 978-93-85360-06-0. OCLC 932267190.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ "Princess Sudhira of Cooch Behar - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  3. ^ "The London Gazette" (PDF). 1 August 1939. p. 5377.
  4. ^ Nicholas Mander. Varnished Leaves: a biography of the Mander family of Wolverhampton. Owlpen Press, 2004.
  5. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 2589, sub Mander baronetcy of the Mount [U.K.], cr. 1911.
  6. ^ See: Sumita Mukherjee, Indian Suffragettes: Female Identities and Transnational Networks, (Oxford, OUP 2018), p. 260.
  7. ^ Anita Anand, Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, 2015
  8. ^ https://museummaverickblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/exhibition-review-art-and-activism-at-wightwick-manor-wolverhampton/
  9. ^ Nicholas Mander. Borromean Rings: the Genealogy of the Mander Family, 2011; 2nd edition, revised and enlarged, 2023.