lovedale

...currently in archive mode...

...An update for my readers. This blog has been a labor of love, capturing memories of boarding school for all Lawrencians to enjoy. Work has meant less time for regular updates and, for the moment, I am maintaining this as an archive only...for the reading pleasure of the many alumni who visit. Enjoy!

...ties that bind...

...I had a lovely email from alumnus Leslie Nicholass some time ago. Here's what he said:

Hi, I picked up on your site some time ago and put it into my favourites, I was a pupil in Lovedale in the 1940’s and I noticed a remark, on your site about Fibis which I joined last week and that when you were on the site some time ago now that they had featured your post and also a picture of the Post Office in Trimulgherry.  My father was in the 14^th/20^th Hussars who were stationed in Trimulgherry at the time I was in School in the Blue Mountains.  My fondest memories of India – I was there from 1934 until 1943 were of my time in the Nilgiris.

This is the post he was was referring to. I love it when my little hobby blog brings back memories for those who attended Lovedale.

Then I became curious. Where exactly is Trimulgherry? It's near Secunderabad, in Andhra Pradesh. Google Maps show a fair amount of greenery in the picture:

 

It looks like the area is part of a military cantonment, which would make sense given Leslie's note about the 14^th/20^th Hussars. The Post Office in the picture below was harder to pinpoint. I think it's a little to the North of the marker, but that's my best guess.

It reminds me just how many of Lovedale's alumni have parents with ties to the millitary - both Indian and British. My next post will focus on just that topic...

men under one roof...

...well, if this doesn't draw the women in...!

Peter sent this image over last night and my thanks to him for a Friday giggle. I wonder how I can get my hands on one of these bags?

It's from (quite obviously) Chellarams, the department store on the main drag in Ooty...just down the road from Charing Cross.

This bag suddenly reminded me of men we somewhat tactlessly called 'Roadside Romeos'. Do you remember them? Tight pants that fit ever so snugly...shirts tailored to nip in at the waist and left untucked...a James Dean haircut matched with a careless swagger...

And of course, there were the mandatory accessories: A wolf-whistle and The Comb. Small...plastic...either pink, or green...and tucked carefully into the back pocket of his pants. No self-respecting Romeo would be seen without his comb...stopping every now and then to flick his hair carefully back into place.

Perhaps they're in Aisle 'R' at Chellarams?

searching for roots...

This post abruptly changed tack in the last hour. I was writing about the Assembly Rooms at Ooty - and then...I stumbled across a fantastic website.

Many of you know that OL Kevin Phillips maintains an extensive database of alumni and that is a great place to start if you are looking to trace family roots at Lovedale.

The website I found isn't connected with Lovedale at all.
So what's it doing here?

I'm glad you asked!

It's the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) and contains information on 580,000 European and Anglo-Indians who lived or worked in India or South Asia between 1600 and 1947. I've received several requests over the years from families of alumni looking to trace their roots and if you know someone who is...point them to this database as well. Here's the link: http://www.fibis.org/

Their featured image this month accompanies my post and I hope they don't mind my swiping using it. It's a pre-1914 picture at the Post Offize (sic) in Trimulgherry.

I think I'm in love. I could spend hours on this site...

pocko annas...

I'm so intrigued by this story - sent in by OL Kevin Phillips. It was sparked by a comment he left on my post about 'pocko' or pocket money. The money seems to have been used as tokens and I'll let Kevin take it from here:

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When I joined School in 1948, 'School Cash' consisted of tin discs about 1.5cms in diameter with a value punched into them by the school cobbler, Hitler and his father 'Bugs'; who would used the same die as they would to punch our kit number on the tongue of our boots (yes, Army boots and puttees in my early days).

This was in pre-decimal days and the amounts were 2 /4 /10 to denote annas - never Rs1.  Tuck Shop was reasonably cheap. We sometimes bought delicious toffee from Goblin (an ancestor of Picchi, I think).  He accepted School Cash and somehow managed to exchange it for 'Hard Cash ' (lndian Currency) with an understanding Housemaster. 

Quite clearly the tin discs could be opened to abuse - although there is no evidence of Hitler/Bugs either being nobbled or producing discs for their own benefit - they were too honest!

In 1949, Dr GF Lakhani (Principal 1949-1950) introduced Chinese coins; similar to those in this post.  Some say he found a cache of these coins stashed away in Clock Tower by Chinese convicts from the Malay Straits who were employed to build the School.  However, it is quite likely that he got this considerable hoard from a collector, who did not appreciate their true worth. 

The coins were of different diameter - but all carried the same value - 2 annas, regardless of size. As I said before; housemasters distributed these coins as Pocko and would provide us with 'Hard Cash' for our excursions to Ooty.  I would would love to know what happened to these coins - they would be worth quite a fortune as can be evidenced on a Google search.

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Pretty ingenious system, actually. Whether or not the convicts stashed the cash, it made for an interesting visual.

Did you notice the cobbler was called Hitler? It was a classic double-take when I read that, but I realized that this was (still is?) a common trend in Southern India. I think we might even have had a Stalin on campus at some point in time. Here's an article on the subject from the Times of India.

Images courtesy Kevin.

...founders 2010

It's Founder's Week!

For the third year in a row, I am going to try 'almost live-blog' the event with the help of OL Peter Gantzer who is on site. As always, it will depend a bit on connectivity so bear with us, but I hope to have pictures up as soon as I get them. Here's the 2010 program: (all times IST)

Wednesday, 5th May, 2010
10.00 AM Inauguration of Celebrations & Exhibitions
1.00 PM - 2.00 PM - Head Master's Lunch for Parents
5.45 PM - 7.15 PM - School Play - Large Hall
7.30 PM - 8.30 PM - PT Display - Top Flats

Thursday, 6th May, 2010
10.00 AM - 12.30 PM - Exhibitions
11.30 AM - 1.00 PM - Past vs Present Matches
11.30 AM - 1.00 PM - Equestrian Display - Kailash Flat
1.00 PM - 2.00 PM - Head Master's Lunch for OLs - Echoing Greens
6.30 PM - 7.45 PM - Variety Entertainment - Large Hall

Friday, 7th May, 2010
08.30 AM - 09.30 AM - Parade - Top Flats
09.45 AM - 10.15 AM - Tea - Gym Lawns
10.15 AM - 11.15 AM - Prize Distribution and Address by the Chief Guest - Large Hall
5.00 PM -  6.15 PM - Beating Retreat - Top Flats

Some of my (vaguely) Founders-related tales:

• Trying really hard to get something in for the School Exhibitions
• Come again? You're learning to play what instrument, exactly? Part 1 and Part 2
• Flowers in May
• Hackle Raiser, Brasso and Blanco
  

ms. whimsy - on request...

Remember Ms. Whimsy? I wrote about her a long time ago; if you missed it the first time- here's an excerpt, and a link to the full post.

"And she danced...and she danced...and she danced..." cried Ms. Whimsy twirling around the classroom, her sari billowing out behind her while sets of alarmed eyes tried to figure out where to focus their collective gaze. The movement of her arms? Her sari? Her slowly unbuttoning blouse? Down at the ground? Her dance over, Ms. W. returned to her seat with a heaving bosom and a twinkle in her eye, before leaning over to clip her toenails. More...

a soft whiteness...

They were mercifully never pea-soupers.

Fog around the Nilgiris had an almost dry, crisp, clean feel to it. A soft whiteness that stilled the air, and occasionally, our voices. I loved this picture taken by Alumnus Sita Bali. It's an image takes me right back to the Blue Hills - very much like Rohan Shetty's photo did.

Inhale....

 

cooking for one...

Do Re Mi! Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do!

The scales echoed around the Green Room...voices warming up for what did not neccesarily come naturally.

All together now, said Ms. Requiem, and raised her baton. Male and female voices obediently followed her direction:

Boys: O Vreneli, my pretty one, pray tell me where's your home?
Girls: My home it is in Switzerland, 'tis made of wood and stone; My home it is in Switzerland, 'tis made of wood and stone
Boys: Yo Ho Ho
Girls: Tra La La La
Boys: Yo Ho Ho
Girls: Tra La La La
Together: Yo Ho Ho............Tra La La La

The song continued for a few more verses, but I...I had eyes for just one singer. The handsome prince who swept me off my bespectacled feet when I was in the 6th grade. We were practicing as a group for an inter-school singing competition. A group? Were there others around me? Did we win? Place? I doubt he knew I was even in the choir, but I wafted along on a musical cloud.

But this is less about my woefully unrequited crush and more about Ms. Requiem. She was one of several single female teachers who lived in one-bedroom and studio-like apartments around Girls School. She lived right next to our dorm and often, from the aroma, seemed to be cooking meat stews.

Ms. R. was older when she first came to Lovedale, possibly in her late fifties - pleasantly plump with a head of snow-white hair. She was a kind teacher who invariably wore a red sweater over a lace-collared flowered dress and sensible lace-up shoes.  When I think of her today, I wonder why I never took a moment to find out more of her life story. Yes, I do. I was always busy with Something Monumentally Irrelevant Yet Far More Important. I'd love to know what happened to her.

I went into her room a few times on errands. It was tiny - with access to an external staircase. A bed to the left of the door, a small dining table, an attached bath and a stove with the inevitable pot of stew. There may even have been a small upright piano crammed into the room. And then there was the raw meat for her pet dogs. Something puzzles me: where were those dogs? How come we never heard them?

Was this another curious incident of the dog in the night-time? 

The picture of the piano from Prep School is from Farokh Chothia's album of Lovedale pictures.

henry who?

UPDATE: MARCH 15, 2010

I've given this post its own category and will use it to fill in more details of Sir Henry Lawrence and Lovedale's history as I come across them. 

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This post is not quite about Lovedale…and yet, it is.

How well do you know Henry?

I'll be the first to admit it - my initial impression of Henry Lawrence was that he was a  bit of a bloodsucker.

And if you were an eight-year old that first Halloween at school, scared by your seniors into believing he was waiting to give you a blood-bath in the cubicles as part of your initiation into Lovedale, you'd quake in your clodhoppers too. Let’s face it, his picture, however inadvertently, certainly looked menacing enough.

I was intrigued by a recent avalanche of emails about him and the Lawrence Baronets of Lucknow and I had to think back to what I knew, and what we really learned about the Founder of our school.  Which would be…Zip.

Wikipedia is not much of a help either: Henry Montgomery Lawrence's life seems to be constrained neatly within four paragraphs. Amazon has a couple of books, one of which is The Life of Sir Henry Lawrence, Volume II. Volume I seems to have vanished into the ether. 

Briefly, Lawrence was born in 1806 - in Matara, Ceylon, and grew to become an able soldier and  administrator - one who in later years, was often unpopular with his superiors for insisting they pay more attention to the welfare of the Indian population. (Ed note: Way to go, Henry! Irreverent aside: did anyone ever call him...Monty?) 

His father, Alexander Lawrence, fought in the Mysore Wars of the 18th century - first against Hyder Ali and later, his son, Tipu Sultan. Two interesting factoids about these Wars: In the siege of Seringapatam, a Col. Wellesley was badly injured and Alexander Lawrence carried him on his shoulders to safety. Wellesley would go on to fight later in the Battle of Waterloo; as the Duke of Wellington. The second factoid is for students of American history. Congreve rockets developed during the Mysore Wars would go on to be used in the War of 1812 at Fort McHenry; this is the battle that inspired The Star Spangled Banner. The part about 'the rockets' red glare...' referred to these rockets.

Henry Lawrence's service took him to Calcutta (where he met Henry Havelock who, coincidentally, also died at the Residency in Lucknow in 1857),  Chittagong, Gorakhpur, Ferozepore, Peshawar, Lahore (where he served as Resident and Agent to the Governor-General for the North West Frontier) and finally Awadh, and its capital, Lucknow, in 1856.

There is an interesting anecdote from his time at Lahore: Sir Henry was tasked with accepting the famed Koh-I-Noor diamond as it made its way from India to London. The process was not without its hiccups...when the time came to hand over the diamond to those taking it overseas, it was nowhere to be found. His bearer, when asked, responded: "You mean that bit of glass in a matchbox? I found with your tunic and nearly sent it to the Dhobi (launderer)!"

Saved by a careful attendant, the diamond was duly delivered to London by a party that included Sir Henry's brother, John Lawrence, and handed to Queen Victoria by the young Prince Dalip Singh. Remember that bit of trivia the next time you visit the Crown Jewels in London, my fellow travelers. The diamond, apparently, was very nearly - dust. 

Henry Lawrence died of his injuries from an 8-inch shell at The Residency in Lucknow – one of the first to die during its siege. I’ve seen it and it is a sprawling complex with hauntingly beautiful ruins...you cannot stand in front of the pock-marked buildings and fail to think of those dark days of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.



For a bit of background information on the mutiny, here's a previous post of mine. And a military take on the siege.

His is a simple tombstone: Here Lies Henry Lawrence, who tried to do his duty.

I remember seeing it as a young Lawrencian and wondering at the impact we leave on others once we die. That I was nine and philosophical beyond my years is another matter.

His legacy lives on through four schools founded in his honor, three of which remain today: Lawrence School, Lovedale; Lawrence School, Sanawar; and Lawrence School Ghora Gali.

Created after the Sepoy Mutiny, the Lawrence Baronets of Lucknow continue through today with the 7th Baronet: Sir Henry Peter Lawrence.

I have to thank a few OL's for the information in this post. It is woven from a combination of Wikipedia information, Google Earth maps and photos, and a recent email exchange between these OL's and Roger Foord Evans. I invite them to correct my inaccuracies, if any. Kevin Phillips, Nick Horsburgh and Noel Phillips.