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{{Infobox person
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|04|22}}
| birth_place = [[Paramaribo]], [[Suriname|Dutch Guiana]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|11|02|1891|04|22}}
| spouse = Jung Bahadur Singh (1910 -)
| children = 7; [[Rajkumari Singh]]
}}

'''Alice Bhagwandai Singh''' (April 22, 1891 - November 2, 1970) was a Surinamese activist, feminist, and community organizer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ramharack |first=Baytoram |title=A Powerful Indian Voice Alice Bhagwandai Singh: Reflections on Her Work in Guyana |publisher=Xlibris US |isbn=9781669858751 |language=en}}</ref> She was the first Caribbean woman of Indian descent to write an autobiography about her family's immigration to the region.<ref name=":0" />

== Early life ==
Singh was born in Suriname (then Dutch Guiana), and raised in the capital, [[Paramaribo]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Naidu |first=Janet |title=Baytoram Ramharack’s “A Powerful Indian Voice: Alice Bhagwandai Singh, Reflections on Her Work in Guyana”. Xlibris, 2023. 491 pages |url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/04/30/sunday/baytoram-ramharacks-a-powerful-indian-voice-alice-bhagwandai-singh-reflections-on-her-work-in-guyana-xlibris-2023-491-pages/ |access-date=2023-09-08 |website=Stabroek News |language=en-us}}</ref> Her grandmother, Phularjee, was originally from [[Bengal]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Alison |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PLNwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Alice+Bhagwandai+Singh&source=bl&ots=XvuVQCc9Al&sig=ACfU3U2U_mePZvd-dU0LfTxoboWxf1heSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-lPWCnJyBAxV_jIkEHSWMCP44KBDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=Alice%20Bhagwandai%20Singh&f=false |title=Anglophone Literature of Caribbean Indenture: The Seductive Hierarchies of Empire |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-99055-2 |pages=35 |language=en}}</ref> Her father, Sital, who was a community leader and organizer, was a role model to her as she grew up.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Singh's mother grew up in [[Suriname|Dutch Guiana]] in a middle-class Christian Indian family, but defied her family's expectations to marry Singh's father.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Hosein |first=Gabrielle Jamela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCygDQAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA77&dq=%22Alice+Bhagwandai+Singh%22&hl=en |title=Indo-Caribbean Feminist Thought: Genealogies, Theories, Enactments |last2=Outar |first2=Lisa |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-55937-1 |pages=77 |language=en}}</ref> She had two brothers and a sister.<ref name=":2" /> Singh grew up speaking [[Hindi]] at home, and was educated at a nearby convent.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

While working as a typist at the Government Immigration Office, Singh met Jung Bahadur Singh.<ref name=":0" /> They married on February 23, 1910, in Paramaribo in both a civil, Christian, and Hindu ceremony, and subsequently moved to [[British Guiana]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== Organizing and career ==
In June 1927, Singh established the East Indian Ladies' Guild (EILG), which was a charitable organization.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bragard |first=Veronique |title=Gendered Voyages into Coolitude: the Shaping of the Indo- Caribbean Woman's Literary Consciousness |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2543&context=kunapipi |journal=Kunapipi |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=102}}</ref>

In 1934, her husband established the British Guiana Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a Hindu religious organization, which Singh helped to support; she also co-founded a women's branch of the organization, called Sanatan Dharma Maha Lakshmi Sabha.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

The British Guiana Democratic Society (BGDS) was inaugurated at her home on March 10, 1937.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Singh served as the society's first president and directed several of their plays.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Poynting |first=Jeremy |title=East Indian Women in the Caribbean: Experience, Image, and Voice |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40872844 |journal=Journal of South Asian Literature |volume=21 |pages=136 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> The society put on annual public performances, usually in May, which were often plays written by Indian playwrights and/or drawing on Indian history and mythology.<ref name=":0" />

Singh was also involved in the Commonwealth Heart and Chest Association, the [[Girl Guides]], the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross]], the [[St John Ambulance|St. John's Ambulance Brigade]], the Tuberculosis Society, the Women's League of Social Services (of which she was a founding member), and the [[YWCA]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> She also founded the Balak Sahaita Mandalee (BSM) in 1936, which served poor Indian women and their children.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

Singh also worked in government positions. She was appointed by the government to be a board member of the [[Poor Law Commission]], where she helped process applications and run interviews for welfare recipients.<ref name=":0" /> She was also appointed to the Prison Commissioners, where she helped ensure inmates were treated humanely.<ref name=":0" />

In 1950, she received the [[Order of the British Empire|Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]] in honor of her social organizing work.<ref name=":0" />

== Writing ==
In her later years, Singh was convinced by one of her sons, Hardutt, to write an autobiography.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

== Personal life ==
Singh had four daughters and three sons with her husband.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> One of her daughters, [[Rajkumari Singh]], was an activist and writer in her own right.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

== References ==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Alice Ghagwandai}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Guyanese people]]
[[Category:20th-century Guyanese women]]
[[Category:20th-century Guyanese women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Surinamese people]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Paramaribo]]
[[Category:20th-century Surinamese women]]
[[Category:Surinamese people of Indian descent]]

Alice Bhagwandai Singh - Revision history

>Onel5969: Shared a captivating piece.