Bishop Cotton Boys' School

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Bishop Cottons Boys' School
Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum
Location
St. Mark's Road
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Coordinates 12°58′7.0″N 77°35′55.6″E / 12.96861°N 77.598778°E / 12.96861; 77.598778Coordinates: 12°58′7.0″N 77°35′55.6″E / 12.96861°N 77.598778°E / 12.96861; 77.598778
Information
Type Private School
Established 1865
Founder Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton
Principal Mr. John K. Zachariah
Enrollment approx. 5,400
Campus size 14 acres (57,000 m2)
Houses Pope, Pettigrew, Elphick, Pakenhalm Walsh, Thomas.
Color(s) Green and Gold         
Publication The Cottonian, The Cotton Mill
Affiliation Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) and The Indian School Certificate examination (ISC)
Information +91 80 2221 3835
Former pupils Old Cottonians
Website http://www.cottonboys.com/

Bishop Cotton Boys' School, also referred to as the Eton of the East is an all-boys school for boarders and day scholars in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

The school is named after Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton the son of an Army Captain, who died a tragic death in 1866. He was a scholar of Westminster School, and a graduate of Cambridge. In 1836 he was appointed Assistant Master at Rugby by Doctor Thomas Arnold, one of the founders of the British Public School System. It was the young Mr. Cotton who is spoken of as 'the model young master' in Thomas Hughes' famous book 'Tom Brown's School Days'.

The school is bordered by Residency Road, St.Mark's Road, Lavelle Road and Vittal Mallya Road, and is spread over 14 acres (57,000 m2) of land in the heart of Bangalore.

School heads in the early days included Rev. George Uglow Pope, Bishop Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, Rev. Pettigrew, Canon Elphick, Rev. Iowerth Lowell Thomas & Mr. A. T. Balraj. Notable alumni (Old Cottonians) include William Leefe Robinson, Colin Cowdrey, General K.S. Thimayya, Dr. Raja Ramanna, Brijesh Patel, Philip Wollen, Nandan Nilekani, Gopal Krishna Pillai, Union Home Secretary, Government of India.

The sister school Bishop Cotton Girls High School is located across the street on St. Mark's Road.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The School's past extends back to the British Raj and the Victorian era. The School had its beginnings in a house on High Grounds. It was started in the year 1865 by Rev. S. T. Pettigrew, the then Chaplain of St. Mark's Church who had a vision of starting a school for the education of children of European and Anglo-Indian families. In his own words, he wanted to "establish a day and boarding School for the Children of Christian residents in the station and its vicinity." The school was given the name Bishop Cotton School in honor of Bishop Cotton of Calcutta, under whose stewardship a scheme of education was organized for the Anglican Churches in India.

In the first five years of the School it had three principals. It was only with the arrival of Reverend G. U. Pope, a distinguished Tamil Scholar that the present site was acquired. The Boys' school and the Girl's School functioned in the same campus but under different heads. Under the stewardship of Rev. Pope, the school grew from strength to strength. A collegiate section was started and the School obtained recognition from the University of Madras. He gave the School its motto - 'Nev Dextrose Nev Sinistral'. But when Rev. Pope left India in the year 1892 to take up the post of Reader at Oxford University, the standard of the School began to decline. By the year 1906, closure of the school was contemplated.

It was Reverend Whitehead, Bishop of Madras, who as the Chairman of the Board of Governors, as a last resort to save the School from closure, invited the members of the Saint Peter's Brotherhood to prevent such an eventuality. Rev. Herbert Partaken-Walsh, of the Brotherhood of St. Peter, later to become Bishop, revived the school. The school still celebrates St. Peter's day amongst other traditions such as Guy Fawkes bonfires. In 1911, the Girls' School was moved across the road. Rev. Canon Delphic worked for a quarter of century for the growth of the school.

The last living member of the Brotherhood of St Peter in India, Father David, died a few years back of old age. He lived and worked in the school as the school chaplain.

[edit] The School Song

The Bishop Cotton school song was penned by Rev. Herbert Partaken-Walsh, of the Brotherhood of St. Peter, Warden of the school from 1907 to 1913, later to become Bishop. The words were set to music by N.M. Saunders, Esq.. With its refrain "On, Straight, On", it follows the spirit of the School Motto, "Nev Dextrose Nev Sinistral", Latin for "Neither to the Right Nor to the Left".

[edit] The Houses

The House system is a feature common to Public schools. The House systems have great advantages of breaking a large community into smaller, more personal units, and thereby building a sense of loyalty and competition.

The formation of Houses in Bishop Cottons may have occurred during 1910 since the Cottontail magazine of that year has reported "Pu chi teams! Pu chi marks!" . Pu chi means flies. There were 125 students in school then and six teams were formed. The Pu-chi teams were named - Jerrimangalams, Bloodsuckers, Scorpions, White Ants and Cobras. Each team was led by a captain, and boys were grouped as 'big', 'medium sized' and 'little'. The Pu chi teams were in place till 1933.

New houses were formed by combining -

  • The Scorpions and Cobras as Pettifogger House
  • The White Ants and Jerrimangalams as Pope House
  • The Bloodsuckers and Mosquito as Partaken-Walsh House

These names were assumed after the three pioneers of the school. Each team had a Head and a Captain of Games. In 1956, a fourth House was added which was named after Canon Elphick who was Warden from 1930 - 1955. Many boys volunteered to join the new House and all new admissions to the school automatically were added to this House. In 1996, a fifth House - Thomas House was formed.

The House Shields
  • Pettigrew House The house was named after the Rev. S. T. Pettigrew, Chaplain of St. Mark's Church and founder of the school. Pettigrew House was formed in 1933.
  • Pakenham-Walsh House The house was named after the Rt. Rev. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh in 1933. The Rev. Pakenham-Walsh left the wardenship of the School in 1913 and became the first Bishop of Assam in 1915.
  • Elphick House Elphick House was formed in 1956 and was named after Canon Elphick, Warden from 1930 - 1955. Canon Elphick came to the School from Oxford Brotherhood in Calcutta, India.
  • Pope House The house is named after Rev. George Uglow Pope, the first warden of the School, 1871 - 1882. He came to the School from The Nilgiris and is remembered beyond the bounds of the School as a great scholar in Tamil. Rev. Pope gave the School its motto, Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum.
  • Thomas House This house is the latest, formed by Dr. Abraham Ebenezer in 1996 - 1997 in the memory of the late Rev. Iowerth Lowell Thomas who was the Warden from 1956 to 1970.

[edit] Academics

Bishop Cotton Boys School Map View

The school, administered along the lines of Junior, Middle and Senior School, works through three school terms, each ending with examinations. Students of Class X appear for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) by the beginning of March. Students of Class XII take up the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISC). The ISC examination is an equivalent to the Pre- University examination conducted by the respective state boards of education. For further details, one can look up the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (the body that conducts the ICSE and ISC examinations) using their website, www.cisce.org.

Subjects taught at the ICSE level include English, An Indian or foreign language, History, Civics and Geography, Environmental Education, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and a choice between Commercial Applications, Computer Applications and Physical Education. At the ISC level, the school has two main streams, the science stream and the commerce stream. It is mandatory for both streams to take up English and Environmental Education.

For the science stream, the subjects offered are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and a choice between Electronics, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Biology. For the commerce stream, the subjects offered are Accountancy, Economics, Commerce and a choice between Business Studies, Mathematics and Biotechnology.

[edit] Interschool games

Organized games includes the inter-school games competitions.

  • Cottonian Shield Cricket tournament
  • Hockey - St Josephs High School
  • Football - Baldwin Boys' High School ( Baldwinian Shield )

[edit] Heads

Rev. S.T. Pettigrew, Rev. Reynold, Rev. Bamforth, Rev. Dubois, Rev. George Uglow Pope, Rev. Hildesley, Rev. Parker, Rev. Williams, Rev. Watling, Rev. Burton, Rev. Smith, Rev. Barry, Rev. Ainley, Rev. Miller, Rev. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, Rev. John Drury, Rev. Dawkin, Rev. Scipio, Rev. Hodges, Rev. Canon Elphick,Rev. I. L. Thomas, Dr. Francis Samuel, Mr. A. T. Balraj, Dr. Abraham Ebenezer, Col. John Ellis. Prof. John Zachariah took over as Principal on May 21, 2010.

[edit] Competitions

Annual Inter-house competitions include:

  • Swimming
  • Debate
  • Elocution
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Spelling bee
  • Exquizite (Quiz)

The school also hosts the following Inter-school competitions:

  • Cottonian Courtroom: A mock trial competition that simulates a legal trial, held for the first time at the high school level in India. The first edition of this competition was held in August 2008.
  • Exquizite (Quiz): A quiz competition held in August every year for schools all over India. For the past five years, this quiz has been hosted by quizmaster Giri "Pickbrain" Balasubramaniam.
  • Cottons' INXS (Music): The annual music competition in western rock and pop music.
  • Synchronize: An Information Technology Festival that comprises events and competitions such as a debate with IT professionals (in 2008, this debate had Mr. Pradeep Kar as the speaker), an IT quiz, a programming competition and a gaming competition. The inaugural edition was held in October, 2008 and had participation by over 300 students from 24 schools.
  • Resurgence: the Commerce Festival.

[edit] Old Cottonians'

There are Old Cottonians' all over the world with associations which are active in India, Australia and the UK. St. Peter's Day and Old Cottonians' Day are observed every year on the 29th and 30 June respectively where these old Cottonians visit their alma mater.

Some Notable Alumni are: [1]

[edit] The Armed Forces

[edit] Positions of Responsibility

[edit] Entrepreneurs

[edit] Other Notable Alumni

[edit] Artists

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Bishop Cotton Boys' School: Alumni". The General Thimayya Trust. http://www.genthimayya.org/Alumni.html. Retrieved 2010-03-04. 
  2. ^ "Kargil War Hero recounts tales of valour". The New Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kargil-war-hero-recounts-tales-of-valour/386375/. 
  3. ^ "India's Most Eminent Nuclear Physicist". http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/rramanna.htm. 
  4. ^ "The Hindu - Serving the community: Sudarshan Devanesen". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/03/31/stories/2002033100150700.htm. Retrieved 2012-02-22. 

[edit] Trivia

  • In Mehmood's movie Kunwaara Baap (single father) his son attends Bishop Cotton Boys School.

[edit] External links

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