Mother Bamba died when Sophia was 10
Bamba Müller died in 1887 after contracting typhoid from Sophia; the morning Sophia's fever broke, she found her mother dead on the floor beside her bed.
Snapshot · Empire: World History
369. The First British Indians: The Suffragette Princess (Ep 1)
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Jun 17, 2026
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Bamba's Death and the Typhoid that Shaped a Life
At 19:58 · chapter starts 19:45
Bamba Müller, publicly humiliated by press coverage of her 'traitor' husband and abandoned in England, takes to drink as her only solace. Sophia catches typhoid, and Bamba — described as pulling herself out of the bottle long enough to be distraught — nurses her on her knees. The typhoid passes from Sophia to her mother. The morning Sophia's fever breaks, the first thing she sees is her mother dead on the floor beside her bed. Anand describes the image with devastating clarity: 'She sort of never forgave herself for that.' Six years later, the beloved little brother Eddie — whom Sophia had effectively raised as a mother after Bamba's death — wins a place at Eton only to develop pneumonia and die, with Sophia and her sisters at his bedside as he slips in and out of consciousness calling for his parents. The graves at Elveden churchyard still receive pilgrim flowers and candles.
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