Occasion was marked by release of a tercentenary celebration special cover by the postal department.
A view of St George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and Orphanage (Photo: DC)
Chennai: The noisy and meandering metro rail project, that is altering the cityscape, may threaten to structurally overshadow the imposing St George’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and Orphanage, that still boasts of red-brick structures.But despite the dust and din of the project, which has eaten into portions of the school’s sprawling 21 acre and also a big chunk of the Pachaiyappa’s College opposite, the school has, over the years, emerged as the city's major landmark in Shenoy Nagar and an important milestone in imparting education to Indians and Anglos.
This oldest school turned 300 on Thursday. And the grand occasion was marked by various events including the release of a tercentenary celebration special cover by the postal department.The school, which is Asia’s first, was started in a modest way in 1715 by Rev. W. Stevenson, the chaplain of Fort St George, for the orphaned children of British soldiers who had died in India.
Started as a charity school with 18 boys and 12 girls, the school relocated to North Black Town, subsequently shifting to Broadway, Egmore and then Chintadripet before relocating to its present location in Shenoy Nagar in 1904. Initially, it was called St Mary’s Charity School and was governed by the St Mary Vestry, part of St Mary’s Church in Fort St. George, now the oldest Anglican Church in the city.
One could find names like Clive, Warren Hastings and Wellesley in its minutes’ book and Lord Pentland, then Governor of Madras had even inaugurated the class rooms. The school was shifted to a rented building outside the fort in 1751, and 60 pagodas were paid as rent to Shawmier Sultan - then leader of Armenian traders in Madras. In 1780, the school shifted back to its old building till its amalgamation with the Male and Female Orphan Asylums in 1872.
When the schools – the Fort School and Children’s Orphan’s Asylum were merged, they were given a new name, Civil Orphan Asylums. They were then transferred to a building in Egmore which had been altered to suit their arrangements.The school, however, could not retain its swimming pool. Also the banyan tree near the correspondent’s archaic bungalow which had once attracted artists, has vanished. A building of red bricks and bars, known as ‘Central Hall’ used to be the central building of the school, and now hosts the primary section.
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