Thetford museum wins £200k grant to mark the legacy of last Maharajah

The 100th anniversary of a museum founded by the son of the last Sikh emperor of the Punjab is being marked with a grant worth almost £200,000.

Ancient House Museum in Thetford, Norfolk, has been awarded the money by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, the son of Maharajah Duleep Singh, gifted the museum to Thetford in 1924.

The money will be used to tell the family's story through its displays.

Maharajah Duleep Singh was the youngest son of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, who founded the Sikh empire in the Punjab in 1799.

After the deaths of his father and brother, Duleep Singh became ruler of the kingdom at the age of five, but was removed from the throne after Britain annexed the Punjab in 1849.

At the age of 15 he arrived in England, and later made his home at Elveden Hall, in Suffolk. His family remained living in the area for the next century.

Prince Frederick, Duleep Singh's second son, donated Thetford's Ancient House Museum to the people of the town. He was a part of the Suffolk and Norfolk yeomanry, and served in World War One.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded Ancient House Museum £198,059.

The museum is now starting a two-year project to showcase "the fascinating history of the Duleep Singh family", said Robyn Llewellyn, the director of England, Midlands and east for the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Listen: Thetford museum wins 200k grant

Norfolk County Council said the new displays would include "a sumptuous 'treasury' of Anglo-Punjab history, a model of Elveden Hall, a loan of a portrait of Duleep Singh and displays marking the family's contributions and activism to achieve universal suffrage".

The museum will also exhibit the family's personal items, such as Duleep Singh's walking stick, which was given to him by King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales.

Margaret Dewsbury, the Conservative cabinet member for communities at Norfolk County Council, said: "Through the foresighted generosity of Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, for the past 100 years Ancient House Museum has served the people of Thetford and beyond, preserving the history of the town and surrounding area."

The project has received further funding from the Thetford Town Council community grant, the Friends of Thetford Museum, Norfolk County Council and Arts Council England.

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