To all Non-Anglo Indian Old Lawrencians who went through the institution post 1947, this directory will be very interesting indeed. It will demonstrate that the Nilgiri Hills was a gated community run by the White settler community for the White settler community. Apart from a few trades-people all the names are those of White people, the businesses such as hotels and other commercial residences are those of White people and in particular, there are dozens of ‘Tea Estates’ owned by White people. There were, of course, many Anglo-Indian residents holding subordinate positions (e.g, the Enos and Dudley families) but hardly any Indians. At the time this directory was produced, the Principal of Lawrence School was the legendary Padfield. Not only was he the School’s Principal but was also a Cleric able to perform Protestant religious ceremonies for Births, Marriages and Burials throughout the Nilgiris. He neither needed to nor did he have any contact with Indians. This backs up my assertion that Padfield was a simple Colonial servant catering for the British as well as his own needs and had nothing to do with Indians.
At least two School Governors, H.R. Dunk and R.H. Rolfe were part of this gated community.
As my Post on Jeremy Paxman’s T.V. Series ‘Empire says: ‘As soon as they discovered Ooty they began to turn it into a version of Surrey, as a defence against India!’
See also my Page School Reports sent to British Army and within that ‘The Settler Community’.
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK and you can see the directory page by page!