Barbara Castle spent her formative years in Bradford before attending the University of Oxford where she read philosophy, politics and economics. In 1937, after working for her local Labour Party in Hyde and as a columnist for the left-wing paper Tribune, she became a Labour Party councillor for the borough of St Pancras, where she worked alongside Krishna Menon.

Castle was elected as Labour MP for Blackburn in the 1945 General Election, becoming the youngest woman in the Commons and holding her seat for the next thirty-five years. In the 1960s, she held several ministerial offices, including Minister of Overseas Development, Minister of Transport, Secretary of State, and Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity.

Sophia Duleep Singh was the fifth child of six children of the Maharaja Duleep Singh. Her father became the Maharaja of Punjab in 1843 when he was aged just five years old, but the Punjab was subsequently annexed in 1849. The Maharaja, of Sikh background, converted to Christianity and eventually settled in England, becoming a naturalized British citizen and receiving a British pension. Sophia's mother, Bamba Müller, came from German and Ethiopian ancestry. The family settled in Elveden Hall in Norfolk where Sophia was born in 1876. In 1896, Queen Victoria gave Sophia 'Faraday House' in Hampton Court as a 'grace and favour' home, and it is here that she lived for most of her adult life. Sophia was a keen cyclist and fond of her three dogs - she showed her pets at Ladies Kennel Association shows.

Sophia was highly involved in the patronage of Indians in Britain, such as in the establishment of the Lascars' Club in the East End of London. Her main focus of activity, however, was in the women's suffrage movement. She had joined the Women's Social and Political Union at the home of Una Dugdale and became an active campaigner at the Richmond, Surrey, branch of the WSPU. On 18 November 1910, she took part in the first deputation to the House of Commons, 'Black Friday', with Emmeline Pankhurst, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and others. Sophia joined the Tax Resistance League (WTRL). She refused to pay taxes on the principle that women should not have to pay taxes when they did not have the vote to determine the use of those taxes. This stance led to various fines where jewellery was impounded but then bought back in auction by members of the WTRL. These actions created a high profile stand for the women's movement.

Sophia was also involved in bringing attention to the contribution of Indian soldiers in the First World War. Sophia visited wounded Indian soldiers in Brighton. She organized Flag Days to raise money for wounded soldiers - the first of which was on 19 October 1916 at Haymarket - where British and Indian women sold Indian flags decorated with elephants, stars or other objects. Sophia also entertained Indian soldiers who were part of a peace contingent at her home in Hampton Court in September 1919. Sophia joined the Suffragette Fellowship after World War One and remained a fellow until her death. During the Second World War, Sophia evacuated London and her home in Hampton Court to live in the village of Penn in Buckinghamshire, in a bungalow named 'Rathenrae'.

Agatha Harrison was a welfare worker, pacifist and Quaker, and dedicated to the struggle for Indian independence. Her father was a Methodist minister, and her mother the daughter of a portrait painter. Born in Berkshire, the family moved to Jersey and then, on Agatha’s father’s death, to Bristol, where she attended Redland High School, helping out at the school in exchange for the waiving of her fees. From the age of 16, she taught and assisted at Kent College, Folkestone, where she received training for the Froebel teaching certificate by night. She then turned to welfare work at Boots Chemist in Nottingham, and at Dairycoates, a tin box factory in Hull, where her role was to protect the interests of the women who worked there, negotiating fair wages and better working conditions on their behalf. In 1917 she was appointed welfare tutor at the London School of Economics. Three years later she travelled to China to conduct welfare work in factories there and to undertake an industrial survey.

In 1928, Agatha Harrison began working with the Women’s International League, an organization whose concerns included the relationship between India and Britain and which, to that end, welcomed representative Indian women visiting London and sent British representatives to sessions of the All-India Women’s Conference. She also accompanied the Royal Commission on Labour, as Beryl Power’s assistant, on their international tour which included a visit to India to inspect their factories, workshops and villages. Back in the UK, she helped C. F. Andrews in his preparation for Gandhi’s visit to attend the Second Round Table Conference in 1931, eventually becoming Andrews’ assistant. Thus began an extensive correspondence and working relationship with Gandhi. She worked hard to spread his message in Britain and accompanied his party on visits to the poor in India. She also made various trips to India as part of the India Conciliation Group where she visited jails and attended meetings with prominent political figures.

Agatha Harrison attended numerous India League meetings, also speaking at some of them, and was kept under surveillance by the Indian Political Intelligence. In May 1946, her name was added to the ‘stop list’ of people who should not be permitted to enter India without prior consultation. She died of an unsuspected heart condition in May 1954. Speaking at a tribute to her in London, Krishna Menon said of Harrison: ‘she had no office or title, and no flags were lowered for her, but all over India people honour her name’ (Harrison, p. 131).

Mrs J. Handoo, wife of Dr H. K. Handoo, was an active member of the India League. Together with Asha Bhattacharya she ran education classes under the auspices of the India League's East End branch at the Shah Jolal Restaurant. She was a member of the India League's Central Committee and its women's committee. She was instrumental in fundraising for the India League, and organized a scheme of annual subscription from affluent Indians living in Britain.

A Parsee from a privileged background, Bhicoo Batlivala was the daughter of Sorabji Batlivala who owned a woollen mill in Bombay then became manager of Empress Mills in Nagpur. Through her paternal aunt, she was related to Navroji Saklatvala, Managing Director of Tatas. Her sister Siloo worked for Tatas, and her brother Homi is described as ‘the adopted son of the late Sir Navroji Saklatvala’ (L/PJ/12/631, p. 21). Batlivala moved to Britain as a child and was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College before entering higher education and being called to the Bar. After her education, she returned to India for some years where she worked in the judicial and educational departments in Baroda. It is said she left her post as Inspector of Schools in Baroda because of ‘a scandal involving her moral character’ (ibid.).

In June 1938, Batlivala accompanied Nehru to Europe and then to London as his personal secretary, apparently breaking off her engagement to an Englishman to do so and causing considerable scandal in the process. Subsequently, Nehru was advised to avoid her company for fear that the association would bring his name into disrepute.

Eventually married to an Englishman, Guy Mansell, Batlivala was evidently a very active member of the India League and one of the most visible women in this organization; her attendance and participation is recorded at a number of meetings, both in London and in other cities, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and she played a leading role in campaigning for the release of Nehru from prison. Clearly a highly articulate and charismatic speaker, in one government surveillance report she is described as one of the few Indians beyond Krishna Menon who had any influence on the policy of the India League (L/PJ/12/453, p. 125). In 1939 and 1940, she gave lecture tours ‘of an anti-British nature’ in the US, making a considerable impact on her audiences, with one newspaper report declaring that ‘no other speaker who has appeared at the Washington Athletic Club has carried the enchantment, the fascination, the brilliance and stimulation that 28-year-old Bhicco Batlivala does’ (L/PJ/12/631, p. 21, p. 68).

Evidence suggests Batlivala was also a talented sportswoman, playing on the first woman’s polo team in England and excelling at hunting, flying, tennis, squash and golf (ibid., pp. 68–9).

Of an elite Parsee background, Avabai Wadia arrived in Britain aged 14, accompanied by her mother and to join her brother. She attended Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in London where she was the only South Asian pupil. She excelled at school and went on to train as a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn, becoming the first Ceylonese woman to pass the Bar exams. As a direct consequence of her success, the Law College in Colombo opened its doors to women. She was called to the Bar in 1934 and eventually found a chambers willing to take on a South Asian woman. Committed to women’s rights, Wadia was an active member of a number of women’s organizations in Britain. She was also involved with the Labour Party and the Indian nationalist movement in Britain. On her return to India, she pioneered the family planning movement.

Noor Inayat Khan was the daughter of the Sufi preacher Hazrat Inayat Khan and Ora Ray Baker, an American of British origin (her father was half-English and half-Irish, her mother Scottish).

In 1914, Noor and her family moved from Paris to London, where they would remain until 1920. The family moved back to France in 1920, setting up home in Suresnes. In 1932 she enrolled at the Sorbonne, University of Paris, for a degree in child psychology. After leaving university, she began writing children’s stories. She published Jataka Tales, an English translation of stories and fables on the Buddha in 1939, and also wrote for the children’s pages of the Sunday edition of the newspaper Le Figaro. After the outbreak of the Second World War she trained as a nurse with the Red Cross in France.

With the imminent Fall of France in the summer of 1940, she fled to England with her brother Vilayat and her mother and she decided to join the war effort. Having previously trained with the Red Cross in France, she briefly worked at the Fulmer Chase maternity home for Officers’ Wives near Slough, before joining the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) under the name ‘Nora Inayat Khan’ in November 1940. Together with 40 other women she was chosen to train in wireless operation.  She trained as a wireless telegraphist at RAF Balloon Command, Edinburgh in December 1940, before being posted with RAF Bomber Command at Abingdon in June 1941. She was called for an interview by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) on 19 November 1942. Her language skills in French and English and her outstanding aptitude as a radio operator were of particular interest to the SOE. Despite controversies about her suitability for the job, she was recruited by Selwyn Jepson, who was responsible for recruitment for the SOE French Section, after just one interview. Her motivation was a great sense of justice and freedom and wanting to contribute to the liberation of France. During her time in London, Noor also had become increasingly aware of the Indian independence movement. Her brother Vilayat Khan was of the opinion that if Noor had survived the war the next cause she would have committed herself to would probably have been Indian independence.

Noor Inayat Khan joined SOE, F section on 8 February 1943 and was seconded to FANY (Women’s Transport Service First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) as a cover story for family and friends. There she trained in the use of firearms. On 16/17 June, after 4 months of training, she was flown to France under the code name ‘Madeleine’ and her cover name Jeanne-Marie Renier, one of the first female wireless operators to be infiltrated into France. However the team she was attached headed by ‘Prosper’ had  been betrayed, and by 24 June, only a week after her arrival, mass arrests had already begun. Nevertheless, she joined the ‘Prosper’ team, narrowly escaping from the Gestapo on a number of occasions. Within ten days of her arrival, the network was in complete disarray and Noor was lying low, moving between a number of safe houses. She re-emerged when matters had calmed down to inform London of the destruction of the Prosper circuit. Despite the dangers, she stayed and was the SOE’s last wireless operator in Paris. She continued transmitting messages to London under considerable personal risk to her own safety for arms and arms drops to be collected. By that time the Gestapo were already on her trail. She was arrested on 13 October 1943, a day before she was due to return to England, after someone, probably the sister of her first contact in Paris, had tipped off the Gestapo for 100,000 Francs. Despite hours of torture, Noor Inayat Khan did not reveal any information. However, because she had meticulously filed all her messages between her and London in cipher and clear, having interpreted too literally an order from SOE headquarters, the Gestapo could take over her station, and her arrest remained undetected by SOE.

Being deemed a difficult and uncooperative prisoner and after two unsuccessful attemps to escape, she was transferred to the Gestapo prison in Pforzheim, Germany, where she spent a lot of time in solitary confinement and in chains. On 11 September 1944 she was transported to Dachau concentration camp where she was executed on 13 September 1944. She was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre with Gold Star by the French Republic and in 1949 the George Cross by the British Government.