This blog is about my experiences of life in Lawrence School, Lovedale, one of India’s most prestigious schools. I will demonstrate that the ‘prestige’ was entirely undeserved. I will demonstrate that in reality the school was never founded for Indians. Indeed, the opposite is true; only Christians with both parents being Europeans were accepted. It was founded as an ASYLUM, taking in orphans of East India Company and British Army soldiers, who having become orphans had nowhere to go other than as camp followers clinging on to the regiments their fathers were last attached to. Had these orphans been in England, they would have been put into workhouses and in this respect, please see my Page titled Victorian Workhouses V Lawrence Asylums. Those who left the asylum and its subsequent manifestation of a Military School went on to serve the British Empire as colonialists who oppressed Indians. Right up to Independence, the school was churning out such colonialists!
I will demonstrate that in the post-Independence years, the School was nothing more than a Railway Colony which, in the days of the Raj was where Anglo-Indians were kept to stop miscegenation between the British and Indians. For decades after Independence, the rich History, culture and largely (but not exclusively) Hindu way of life that should have prevailed was ignored and instead a rubbishy Railway Colony culture was imposed on little Tamilian, little Punjabi, little Bengali and various other little Indian boys. Thus, only ‘country fellows’ learnt Indian music and played in the Indian Orchestra while the ‘sophisticated’ boys learnt Western music and played in the Band or Western Orchestra. Thus, only ‘country fellows’ liked the music of Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and T.M. Sounderajan while the ‘sophisticated’ boys liked Elvis and the Beatles! Interpreting this at a personal level, as a 6 year old, I was taught, yes TAUGHT, to sing ‘My Bonney Lies Over The Ocean’ and ‘Lipstick On Your Collar’. The words would bewilder any 6 year old let alone a Hindu Gujarati Indian 6 year old! I will demonstrate that the remnants of Railway Colonies and their descendants STILL sing these songs!
A rubbishy ‘Christmas’, complete with ‘Santa’ arriving in a bullock-cart was the highlight of Prep School year while Diwali was a mere holiday. Other festivals such as Pongal, Onam and Eid were completely ignored! By far the happiest day of the four years I spent in Prep School was the last day of each year; what was called ‘endings’!
The Railway Colonies were set up only a few decades before Independence . The first Railway began on 16 April 1853 and initially, only Pure Europeans were employed in that industry. Gradually, Anglo-Indians were employed at the very basic level as train drivers and telegraphists. It was only during World War 1 when Pure Europeans were called to fight in Europe that personnel were needed and Anglo-Indians (but not Indians) were employed in a big way on the lower rungs of the service and thus the Railway Colonies thrived. A ‘community’ just a few decades old could not have developed a refined culture but whatever it did develop was imposed on hapless Indians such as myself!
Here is a quote that sums up what was being produced at Lawrence School, Lovedale:
‘We instil in them a pronounced distaste for the native life so that they will be humiliated when reminded of their origin. When they graduate from our institutions, the children have lost everything native except their blood’. Bishop Vital Grandin 1875. Although this quote was in relation to Canadian aboriginals, the desired results were there for everybody to see in Lawrence School, Lovedale!
Here is another quote that further sums up what was being produced at Lawrence School, Lovedale.
‘When the slave will whip himself after the master has long gone, the work of colonialism is complete’. Radha Bharadwaj @radhabharadwaj.
Below is a quote from Charles Trevelyan; it is symbolic of exactly what was being attempted on me from my first day at Lawrence School until the last day:
Quote of Charles Trevelyan in 1838
Educated in the same way, interested in the same objects, engaged in the same pursuits with ourselves, they become more English than Hindu… The young men brought up in our seminaries, turn with contempt from the barbarous despotisms under which their ancestors groaned… Instead of regarding us with dislike, they court our society, … the summit of their ambition is, to resemble us.
Here is Trevelyan seated 2nd from left with Viceroy John Lawrence seated 4th from either side, brother of Henry Lawrence
Much of the writing in this blog relates to a character called Mac. Mac’s real name was Wilfred Joseph McMahon. He was accorded God like treatment but, as will be obvious, he was an utter fraud! I can only thank the Lord that what little time I spent with my parents both before I joined and during the time I was at Lawrence School Lovedale instilled in me a strong urge to view my Gujarati Lohana Hindu Vegetarian INDIAN upbringing with deep respect and thus today I can say with pride that I did not fall for the bogus sophistication of the Railway Colony émigré W.J. McMahon. Six decades after I last saw him, and nearly 4 decades after his demise, I resent the manner in which he ruined the lives of many young pupils, I included, by abrogating his responsibilities as a Housemaster and leaving his wards at the mercy of his chosen thugs while he was off gambling at Lawley Institute, Ooty. I still resent the fact that my father like many others actually paid a fortune in fees and other expenses for what was meant to be an elite Indian School for an elite Indian education only to have Railway Colony émigré W.J. McMahon set that asunder and ruin what would have been a brilliant life and career!
Please see my Page Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – From Rugby to Ruin
The founder, Sir Henry Lawrence has been given an aura of being a great, benevolent soldier/statesman who we must honour as he founded such a magnificent institute. I will demonstrate that the aura is entirely bogus as in reality, Sir Henry was an employee of a disreputable joint stock company, East India Company, whose raison d’etre was to make profits for its shareholders whether by persuasion, coercion, deceit, torture, jailing, confiscation or any other means. I will demonstrate that Sir Henry was open about using armed forces to enforce tax collection from the very poorest Indians.
I will demonstrate that in military matters, Sir Henry was among the most incompetent ‘soldiers’ to have taken up arms for our colonial oppressors. His rank was that accorded to an East India Company employee; he was never a King’s Commissioned Officer. Even here, he was a Brigadier General, contrary to popular belief that he was a Major General. From his East India Company rank as a Colonel, his rank of Brigadier General was granted at his own request and not by way of merit evidenced in any military endeavour. The ranking lasted fewer than 2 months. He was entirely responsible for the catastrophic defeat suffered by the troops that he led into a military expedition on a horse-drawn buggy! Hundreds of men were killed in the course of that expedition for which blame can be attributed only to Lawrence!
The Brigadier General rank even within East India Company was never ever recognised in UK as evidenced in the following extract from a document granting a baronetcy to Henry Lawrence’s son Alexander where Henry Lawrence is described at his highest as Colonel in the service of the East India Company, Lieutenant Colonel in the Regiment of Bengal Artillery. This document, further details of which are set out in my Page ‘Farce of the Coat of Arms and Crest, is dated 15 July 1858, more than a year after the death of Henry Lawrence.
Reality is that Lawrence, as a Revenue Surveyor for the East India Company, was prepared to use the army in order to collect taxes from our ancestors, the oppressed Indians. He should be viewed as a war criminal for the manner is which he treated captured Indian soldiers. Here is an extract from my Page Lawrence’s Military Incompetence:
Extract from Letter dated May 27 1857 to Lord Canning:
‘We got sixty prisoners in all, and I am now trying them and others by three drum-head courts-martial. Yesterday evening we had several large gatherings in the city, and towards evening, they opened fire on the police and on a post of irregulars. The former behaved admirably, and thrashed them well, killed several and took six prisoners………………… This evening we hung two men – one a Seepoy who murdered poor Lieutenant Grant, son of the Madras Commander-in-Chief, and a spy. To-morrow I shall get the proceedings of other courts, and will probably hang twenty or thirty.
Note the casual way in which Lawrence was going to hang twenty or thirty! Astonishing! These were not enemies of us Indians; they were OUR kith and kin!
Paeans have been written about Lawrence School Lovedale. From reading such paeans, an ordinary member of the public would conclude that the institution has always been wonderful, that it had a glorious history and everybody who had gone through it has come out educated. The revered Headmaster from 1950 to 1971, K. I. Thomas defined education during one assembly as the development of character; mental, physical and moral. The ‘mental’ part of character-building was a farce; the academic results were no better than the average high school in any city in India. I will demonstrate that bodily threats hanging over heads of many an otherwise gifted student compromised any potential mental excellence. Physical education was poor with malnourished children fed on a diet largely consisting of rice based meals rendering pupils incapable of competing against ordinary North Indians, forget Europeans or Africans. Dunderheads like a character called Sarangapani played a major role in physical education. Sarangapani’s only qualification was that he had been in the army and was therefore meant to be physically fit himself. In reality, he was podgy, smoked, and apart from getting boys to perform simple P.T. exercises and simple gymnastics, he had no skills whatsoever. As far as moral education was concerned, this was as far from reality as it was possible to be. Dreadful bullies thrived, while at the same time ‘seepoys’ who were totally loyal to a non-existent British Empire were produced on an industrial scale. Such seepoys have always sought validation from the West while at the same time deriding their own kind.
A bogus reputation, particularly in the immediate post-independence years gave parents the totally misleading impression that all was well in the institution, that the teachers and staff were the best money could buy, there were systems in place to ensure the safety and comfort of children within a controlled environment.
Reality was totally different. Many students were in the institution not out of choice but through coercion, for how could a 6 to 16 year old convince his parents that all was not well, that many of the teachers and staff were at best sub-standard and at worst criminals, self-serving scroungers and thoroughly disreputable lowlife that should not have been allowed near the institution let alone employed in it.
There were, of course exceptions. Some of the teachers were dedicated, had the interests of children at heart and took immense satisfaction in dedicating their lives to their chosen profession.
From the beginning to the present day, hours upon hours were and are spent preparing for a parade honouring the founder, Sir Henry Lawrence who should have been regarded, from an Indian perspective, as a disreputable colonial administrator. He should be condemned rather than honoured. Anything that Sir Henry did was in the interests of his employers, the East India Company rather than native Indians who he specified should be excluded from his institutions.
Objectives V Reality
The objective of such a school was to produce, over a period of 11 years, from age 6 to 16, from Class 1 to 11, educated gentlemen who would become worthy members of society serving in the fields of administration, military, medicine, education, commerce and the professions such as law, architecture, engineering etc.
The proposed method was to use the institution abandoned by the departing British and run it along British lines.
Reality was that running of the institution along British lines was illusory! The British had gone for ever! None of the staff running the institution had any experience running an authentic British institution, none of the parents had a clear idea of what this would involve and so the method used institution was guesswork! Reality was that Indians entered as Indians and came out as pseudo Britishers. Neither British nor Indians but constantly seeking validation from British masters who had long departed! Symbolically, dark-skinned Indians such as myself emerged wearing an imaginary pith-helmet a symbol of the British oppressing Indians, out to rule an imaginary subjugated people by right. Brown sahibs emerged to take the place of the British. Such a bogus churn out was and is a complete waste of time and money, serves no purpose at all, never has, and in the modern world, with instant access to information and instant communication, there isn’t a city, town or even large village in India that does not have schools to match or better the academic results produced by such a pseudo British institution. As for the non-academic benefits of such an institution, there are none and there never have been!
As mentioned, months are spent preparing for the annual ‘parade’ and ‘Beating the Retreat’. 12 to 16 years olds playing toy soldiers complete with toy guns and that too, toy guns that were out of date in the 1800s, complete with 4 guards, each with a guard commander, with the first guard even having bayonets, was a complete farce and remains so! Why, there was even a colour guard, complete with Ensign and a couple of Colour Sergeants! I have noticed that now, even boy lancers on horseback are used to escort the Chief Guest!
A related farce is the Swearing-in ceremony for the Head Boy, and Prefects. In my time, the Large Hall was duly darkened for this purpose with only an overhead flood light confined to a central area where the oath was administered by the Headmaster. A sombre atmosphere was created. Utter nonsense of course as none of the boys taking the oath ever followed the content. They just continued with their thuggery, only, the appointment to prefect-ship gave them carte blanch to do as they pleased! It would have been more accurate to swear to continue the tradition of inflicting torture on vulnerable youngsters!
British institutions were for the benefit of the British, not Indians!
An analysis indicated that the whole concept was wrong. When the British departed, they left behind several boarding schools that were for their benefit, not for the benefit of Indians! Just because boarding schools in Britain produced future leaders, there was no reason to believe that such institutions would do the same in India. Britain had an Empire and needed administrators to be Governors, District Collectors, Judges, Magistrates, Armed Forces Officers, Emissaries and others to run the Empire. A number of such Imperial Servants were produced by the British boarding schools and those servants when posted abroad had no choice but to dispatch their offspring to boarding schools back home. The British also needed to build institutions in India that produced cheaper versions of the home institutions so that lower rungs of the administration could be run by locally produced administrators. There was one incontrovertible and unimpeachable rule to be followed: unquestioning loyalty to Britain, its Monarch, its institutions, its way of life and an acceptance of Britain’s superiority in race and supremacy in power.
India didn’t have an Empire and didn’t need to produce such ‘Imperial Servants’ and thus, there was no need for the institutions left by the British for the British, to continue to exist. They should have been done away with way back in 1947. However, Indians couldn’t get it into their heads that they were independent and continued to behave as if they still had to get validation from Britain. Thus the top Indian Boarding Schools churned out ‘servants’ despite the fact that the Empire for which they thought they were servants had ceased to exist! Further, a boarding school in India being run along British lines with no British involvement (they had left!), was bound to be run on guesswork! The guesswork continues to be rubbish.
What such institutions produced regarded fellow Indians who hadn’t been through the same type of school as scum and behaved as such. Such characters would behave with abject obeisance towards anyone in power. Thus, Mani Shankar Aiyar a product of Doon School couldn’t grovel enough to Rajiv Gandhi (himself a product of Doon). Pullock Chatterji, also of Doon grovelled to Sonia Gandhi, an illiterate Italian of peasant stock! The women produced by such institutions were not a lot different. Thus Renuka Chowdhury and Ambika Soni, both of Welham School also grovelled to Sonia Gandhi with Renuka in floods of tears when Sonia’s ‘inner mind’ told her not to accept the PM’s job!
As far as Lawrence School Lovedale was concerned, there was a pretence, which continues to this day, that it was a Military establishment for children, producing potential Armed Forces Officers. Reality is that very few join the Armed Forces, no more than from any average school. All the military drills practiced and all the uniforms worn are rubbish! In my time, 5 and 6 year old boys had to wear uniforms that included Battle Jackets! Such Battle Jackets had to be worn right up to graduation. There was another hideous uniform, called Sunday Kit which was a ‘pretend’ British Army Officer’s uniform, a continuation of what the British wore. for the ‘parades, shoes had to be polished such that one could see a reflection of one’s face on them, using the ‘rings’ method, brass buttons on Sunday Kits had to be polished using Brasso , ‘shin guards’ and belts had to be made pure white using ‘Blanko’.
The irony here is that very few of the boys would even qualify to enter the armed forces. The very poor nutrition in the food served for more than a decade ensured that boys remained diminutive in size and far too weak in body.
There are re-unions galore but it would be a total myth to suggest that these are the result of being in this institution together. Fact is, most people who leave the institution never ever visit again! Other ordinary Indian institutions, say the local high school have equally if not better attended reunions!
There is no reason for the institution to exist in its present format where bullying, intimidation, theft and poor teaching standards are accepted as part and parcel of the ordeal one must go through just to be regarded as having had an elite education! There is nothing elite about it!
I have carried out research using several books to source information including inter alia
I have also carried out research at the magnificent British Library in London, the National Army Museum in the UK and the College of Arms
National Army Museum Below
College of Arms below
