La Martinière College, Lucknow

Claude Martin

Laat at La Martinière, Lucknow

La Martinière Boys' College was founded by an endowment from the wealthy eighteenth-century Frenchman, Major-General Claude Martin (1735–1800), who was an officer in the French and later the British East India Company. Constantia, the palatial building which now houses the Boys' College, was built in 1785 as Martin's country residence, but was not completed until 1802,[3] two years after Martin's death on 13 September 1800. Historians believe that the house takes its name from the school motto Labore et Constantia (Work and Constancy) which represents Martin's personal philosophy. There is a more romantic, though unproven, notion that the building was named after Constance, a young French girl who was supposedly Martin's first love.[4]

Martin never married and he had no heirs. In his will, dated 1 January 1800, he left the bulk of his estate to provide for the establishment of three schools to be named La Martinière in his memory. The schools were to be located in Lucknow, Calcutta and at Lyon, his birthplace in France. The residue of his estate after bequests had been made to be used for the maintenance of these schools. He directed that the school in Lucknow should be established at Constantia and that the house should be kept as a "school or College for teaching young men the English language and Christian religion if they found themselves inclined".[5] Martin instructed in his will that his 'body be salted, put in spirits or embalmed', and placed in a lead coffin in a vault beneath the house.[6]

It is popularly believed that Martin was motivated not just by vanity but by a desire to protect his property after his death and to prevent his friend, the nawab, from acquiring it. By having himself, a Christian, buried beneath Constantia, he knew that the building would be permanently desecrated in the Muslim nawab's eyes.[6] Chandan Mitra, in his book Constant Glory, thinks otherwise. He writes "Constantia's plans show that the basement mausoleum was part of the original scheme for the building and not included as an afterthought to guard against requisition."[7]

Martin was duly interred in a specially prepared vault in the basement of the house. Thus, Constantia became both a school and a mausoleum. It is the largest European funerary monument in India, and the historian William Dalrymple has described it as "The East India Company's answer to the Taj Mahal".[8]

After Martin's death there were protracted disputes in the Calcutta High Court and consequently his will was not proved until 1840. In the interim the Constantia building was used as a guest house for visiting Europeans. The school finally opened on 1 October 1845 with some seventy boys on roll. The first Principal was John Newmarch.[5]

Unlike the Calcutta La Martinière, the Lucknow school was technically established outside British territory so right from its inception its interaction with local society was frequent. There was also a native branch of the school in the Maqbara Umjid Ali Shah at Hazratgunj in the centre of Lucknow. There were plans to move the native school to a different location, although it is not known whether this actually took place.[7]

The first major challenge for the La Martinière School was the events of 1857 when it had to leave its premises and assisted in the defence of the Lucknow Residency.

La Martinière during the 1857 uprising

Main article: Indian Rebellion of 1857

Constantia before the Indian Rebellion of 1857

In the events of 1857, eight staff members, sixty seven boys and one ensign (old boy) participated.[7]

La Martinière in 1862 (Shepherd & Robertson)

La Martinière Lucknow, like its counterpart in Calcutta, expanded rapidly after the rebellion of 1857 There were 148 students on its rolls in 1859, but the number had increased to 277 by 1862. Boarders came from all over the province from districts like Pratapgarh, Mirzapur, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Kanpur and Etawah.

The records show that in 1865 over 120 boys qualified for admission to the higher department of the Civil Engineering College at Roorkee.

In the years following the mutiny, the city of Lucknow, now under the British Crown, was redesigned. La Martinière emerged as an outpost of the British Empire and it acquired the traditions of English public schools.

In 1869, the La Martinière Girls' School was founded and in 1871 it moved to its present location in the compound of Khurshid Manzil. Initially the Girls' School was under the management of the Boys' School. The La Martinière College Principal was in overall charge of both the Boys' and Girls' Schools, with the Girls' school headed by a Lady Superintendent.

The late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century saw the emergence of the school as an exclusive school preferred by the landed aristocracy of Awadh.

In 1945, the college celebrated its Centenary.

In wake of threat of invasion by the Japanese during the Second World War, the Calcutta Schools were re-located to Lucknow.

After Indian Independence, the curriculum was changed in 1947, with Urdu being dropped as a compulsory subject and replaced by Hindi. Many Anglo-Indians both students and Masters left for Britain and Australia. This trend was to continue till almost the mid-seventies.

In 1951, Mr. Meredith Doutre was appointed as the first Indian principal of the college. He was succeeded by Col HRH Daniels in the 1960s and then by Mr. DEW Shaw in the mid-1970s. The bulk of the students were drawn from the upper middle and middle classes.

In 1960, there was flooding of the grounds by the Gomti River resulting in the evacuation of staff and boys to higher ground. In 1962 and 1971 again major floods occurred which threatened the building. The Government constructed a protective bund in 1973–74 which separated the school lake from the main vista thus substantially reducing the earlier picturesque setting.

In 1976, the school was affiliated to the Indian Council for Secondary Education system of education. This entailed the exam for the Certificate of Secondary Education (class X) and the School Leaving Certificate (class XII).

In 1995, the school celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary. Former principals, old Martinians from all over the country and abroad, and delegations from Lyon and Calcutta, came to Lucknow for this once in a lifetime event. To commemorate the occasion, a history of the college "Bright Renown" was released, an exhibition on the history of the school was organized, and for several days the Constantia was lit up in the night. The President of India released a postage stamp to recognize the contribution of La Martiniere Lucknow.

In 1997 one of the teachers was murdered in the early hours of the morning on 7 March. Thirty-year-old Anglo-Indian Frederick Gomes, the college's assistant warden and physical training instructor, was murdered in his bungalow on the perimeter of the school grounds.[9] Two people were seen firing shots through a broken window at the back of the building, but the culprits were not identified and the murder remains unsolved. However, the murder created a sensation in India at the time, especially when it was found that the school's students had access to guns.[10] Newspaper columnist Saeed Naqvi, Ashank Mehrotra former pupils at the school commented: "The killing is a metaphor of our times. For such a level of violence to reach the sacred precincts of La Martinière is symbolic of the way that Lucknow, like so much of India, has completely ceased to be what it once was."[10]

Unlike the schools in Calcutta and Lyons there had been no provision to found a girls' school in Lucknow. However funds were found from a female education fund and a school was started at Moti Mahal. The Lucknow Girls' School, as it was then known, was run by Mrs. Saunders Abbott. Following a land grant from the government the school was moved to its present location at Khursheed Manzil in 1871 and incorporated and established as a branch of La Martinière College.[11]

The two La Martinière schools in Lucknow are one of the few educational institution in India, and possibly in the world, depicted on postage stamps.

On 1 October 1995, on the 150th anniversary of the school's opening, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, the then President of India, released a two-rupee postage stamp in the school's honour.[5][22]

In 2007 when the girls' school celebrated its 138th anniversary, it was given a similar honour and a first-day cover was issued by Department of Posts with a picture of Khursheed Manzil on it.[23]

Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India, is seen talking with the top students of La Martinière Lucknow.[24]

The academic curriculum includes Mathematics, both English Language and Literature, History and Civics, Geography, Principles of Accounts, Commercial Studies, Science, Art, Craft and Woodwork, Choral Singing, Hindi, Sanskrit and the French language (both up to Class VIII), Computer Studies and Physical Education (three times a week until Class 10).

Class 10 students are prepared for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and for the Indian School Certificate Examination when they are in Class 12.

The four streams at 10+2 stage are Humanities, Commerce, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences.

Brevet Major William Hodson's memorial and grave

The college has extensive facilities for sports. There are two sports fields, known as the Polo Ground and the Fairy Dale Ground. The polo ground, as its name suggests, was originally used for polo games. Today it plays host to football and athletics. It is also the venue for the physical training displays on Annual Sports Day. Cricket and hockey[25] are played at the Fairy Dale Ground. There is a large gym for gymnastics, a skating rink, an indoor shooting range, a Rugby field and an indoor swimming pool. The college also has a volleyball court, a basketball court, a swimming pool and lawn tennis courts. In all there are 10 Football fields, 8 Hockey fields, 2 Basketball courts, 2 Swimming Pools, A Paddock, 2 Cricket Arenas,

The college has four combative sports: Judo, Taekwondo, Muay Thai and Boxing. The school has stables for horse-riding, and an archery range.

The college has an Aviation Club where aviation sport is taught. The boys assemble aero model kits both control line and Remote Controlled. The Aeromodelling club is equipted with a simulator, a briefing room, test benches and a host of other equipment. The boys are prepared to appear for the Student Pilot Licence for Fixed Wing Aircraft. Power flying on Cessna 152B is scheduled to commence shortly.

The La Martinière coat of arms was designed by the founder Claude Martin.[26] The coat of arms and the motto Labore et Constantia are now shared by all the schools founded by Martin. The La Martinere College flag consists of the coat of arms on a blue and gold background. The flag is flown above the buildings, and used for formal events and celebrations, such as the annual Founder's Day.

• Chandan Mitra. Constant glory: La Martinière saga 1836–1986. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1987, 95pp. ISBN 0-19-562044-5.
• Edward H Hilton. The Martiniere boys in the Bailey Guard. Lucknow : American Methodist Mission Press, 1877, 18pp.
• Rules and Regulations of La Martiniere, founded in Calcutta under the will of Major General Claude Martin with an extract of the will of the testator, the decree of the supreme court with regard to the same and other documents. Published by order of the Governors. Calcutta: La Martiniere College, 1835, 103pp.
• Rosie Llewellyn-Jones. A very ingenious man: Claude Martin in early colonial India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993, 241pp. ISBN 0-19-565099-9.
• Bright Renown

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Vive La Martiniere

• La Martiniere Calcutta
• La Martiniere College
• La Martiniere Lyon
• Claude Martin
• Category:La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni
• Martin Purwa
• The will of Claude Martin
• Vive La Martiniere, the school song by Frederick James Rowe
• Claude Martin Wade, a Colonel named after Claude Martin
• Zamindar

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Martiniere Lucknow.

• Official website

26°50′22.42″N 80°57′47.59″E