Bhagwati Bhola Nauth (born c. 1882) was an Indian social reformer, activist and

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

Life

Nauth was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, British India, around 1882. She married Major Bhola Nauth, a doctor who worked in the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

, and they had two sons. She lived in England from 1908. Nauth was the honorary secretary of the Indian Women’s Educational Fund was also a member of the Eastern League''.'' On 17 June 1911, the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

(WSPU) organised a Women's Coronation Procession, using the coronation of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

to demand the vote for white women. Jane Cobden and Lolita Roy gathered an Indian contingent in advance of the procession, forming 'part of the 'Imperial contingent'. Nauth was among the group of Indian women who marched. The women were invited to attend to appear "exotic" and to demonstrate "the strength of support for women's suffrage throughout the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

." Their "beautiful dresses" ( saris) drew admiring glances from the public. Nauth has been identified as one of the women marching with an appliquéd banner in a photograph from the procession. Nauth was later involved in petitioning the British government for the enfranchisement of Indian women. Her date of death is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nauth, Bhagwati Bhola 1880s births Year of birth uncertain Date of death unknown Activists from Lahore People from British India 20th-century Indian women Indian suffragists Women's Social and Political Union