Hare School is one of the oldest schools in
Kolkata, India
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerci ...
, teaching grades one to twelve under the
West Bengal Board of Secondary Education
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education is the West Bengal state government administered autonomous examining authority for the Standard 10 examination (or secondary school level examination) of West Bengal, India. It has come into force ...
and the
West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education
The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) came into existence in 1975. It is an autonomous examining authority, which is responsible for conducting examinations for standard XII for both government and private schools aff ...
. It is a state government-administered boys school and was established by the Scottish watch-maker,
David Hare. The establishment date is not agreed upon, but the official year of establishment is 1818. Thus the school is declared as the oldest western type school in Asia. The school is situated opposite the
Presidency University, and is also adjacent to the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...
and
Hindu School
Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia (then known as ''Hindu College''). The institution played a key role during Bengal R ...
.
The combined campuses of the Hare School and Presidency College is one of the largest in Kolkata.
History
David Hare established the school in 1818, opposite Hindu College, in the heart of
College Street after establishing the Calcutta School David Hare Book Society and the
Hindu College, Kolkata (now Presidency College) in 1817 and the Calcutta School Society in 1818. The school started with the name "Arpuli Pathshala" and later as Colootala Branch School, finally it was renamed Hare School in 1867.
Notable alumni
*
Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury, former general secretary of Congress Party
* Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, social reformer
*
Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Krishna Mohan Banerjee (24 May 1813 – 11 May 1885) was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was t ...
- educationist, linguist and Christian Missionary.
*
Rajnarayan Basu
Rajnarayan Basu ({1826–1899) was an Indian writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, in Kolkata, Bengal. A monotheist at heart, Rajnarayan Basu c ...
- writer, intellectual, and social reformer.
*
Girish Chandra Ghosh
Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
, playwright, theatre director and thespian
*
Jagdish Chandra Bose
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose
(;, ; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a biologist, physicist, botanist and an early writer of science fiction. He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio microwave optics, made significant contribution ...
- scientist. His work includes
crescograph
A crescograph is a device for measuring growth in plants. It was invented in the early 20th century by Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose.
The Bose crescograph uses a series of clockwork gears and a smoked glass plate to record the movement of the tip of ...
to prove life in trees, First proof of
radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz ( GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (s ...
.
*
Akshay Kumar Baral
Akshay Kumar Baral (1860–1919) ( bn, অক্ষয় কুমার বড়াল) was a Bengali poet and writer. He was born in Kolkata. The family originally hailed from Chandannagar, Hooghly District.
Early life
Baral was born in 18 ...
- poet.
*
Dibyendu Barua
Dibyendu Barua (born 27 October 1966) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Indian Chess Champion. He was the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, second Bengali after Niaz Murshed, and third South Asian after Niaz and Anand ...
- chess
grandmaster.
*
Pramathesh Barua
Pramathesh Chandra Barua (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam.
Early life
Barua was the son of the royal family of ...
- actor and director.
*
Brajendranath De
Brajendranath Dey (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) was an early Indian member of the Indian Civil Service.
Early life and education
De studied at Hare School, Calcutta, and then Canning Collegiate School and Canning College, Lucknow. ...
, I.C.S., - civilian and historian.
*
Guru Dutt, actor, director.
*
Romesh Chunder Dutt
Romesh Chunder Dutt ( bn, রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত; 13 August 1848 – 30 November 1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer and translator of ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata''. Dutt is considered a natio ...
- civil servant, economist, historian, poet, translator of Vedas.
*
Ramtanu Lahiri - researcher on Bengali language, member of the
Young Bengal group.
*
Dinabandhu Mitra - Bengali writer of British India, works include
Neel Darpan.
*
Prafulla Chandra Roy
Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, CIE, FNI, FRASB, FIAS, FCS (also spelled Prafulla Chandra Rây and Prafulla Chandra Roy; bn, প্রফুল্ল চন্দ্র রায় ''Praphulla Chandra Rāy''; 2 August 1861 – 16 June 1944 ...
- Scientist/chemist: worked on various mercury compounds & founder of
Bengal Chemical.
*
Nagendra Prasad Sarbadikari - father of Indian football.
*
Peary Charan Sarkar - social reformer and writer.
*
Radhanath Sikdar - mathematician, first person to calculate the height of
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
.
*
Meghnad Saha
Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spe ...
- inventor of the theory of
thermal ionization
Thermal ionization, also known as surface ionization or contact ionization, is a physical process whereby the atoms are desorbed from a hot surface, and in the process are ionized.
Thermal ionization is used to make simple ion sources, for mass ...
.
*
Ziaur Rahman
Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...
-
Bir Uttom
Bir Uttom ( bn, বীর উত্তম, lit=Great Valiant Hero) is the second highest award for individual gallantry in Bangladesh after the Bir Sreshtho and the highest gallantry award for a living individual.
Since the independence of Bang ...
, freedom fighter, and President of Bangladesh 1977–1981.
*
Digambar Mitra - First Bengali
Sheriff of Kolkata
The Sheriff of Kolkata is an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Kolkata (Calcutta). The Sheriff has an office and staff in Calcutta High Court but does not have executive powers. Mumbai (Bo ...
*
Mahendralal Sarkar
Mahendralal Sarkar CIE (other spellings: মহেন্দ্রলাল সরকার, Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Mahendralal Sircar, Mahendralal Sircir; 2 November 1833 – 23 February 1904) was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD grad ...
- Doctor, social reformer, founder of
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in basic sciences under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, situated at the heart of ...
*
Romesh Chandra Mitra
Sir Romesh Chandra Mitra or Romesh Chunder Mitter (1840–13 July 1899) was an Indian judge and the first Indian officiating Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Sir Romesh Mitra Girls school was founded in his honour in 1897. The school loc ...
- Judge,
Calcutta High Court
*
Protap Chunder Mozoomdar- leader of
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.
It was one of t ...
*
Kalikrishna Mitra
Kalikrishna Mitra (1822 – 2 August 1891) was a Bengali philanthropist, educator and writer. He established the first non-government girls’ school in India.
Early life
Mitra was born to Shibnarayan Mitra in Kolkata, British India. He passed f ...
- Social reformer and educator
*
Swami Saradananda - (Saratchandra Chakrabarty) Direct disciple of
Sri Ramakrishna - Author of Sri Ramkrishna Lilaprsanga
*
Swami Vijnanananda
Swami Vijnanananda (born Hariprasanna Chattopadhyaya; 30 October 1868 – 25 April 1938) was an Indian monk of Ramakrishna order, born in an upper-class family near Dakshineswar, and was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna. He was an engineer and ...
- (Hariprasanna Chattopadhyaya) Direct disciple of
Sri Ramakrishna
*
Mahendranath Gupta
Mahendranath Gupta ( bn, মহেন্দ্রনাথ গুপ্ত) (14 July 1854 – 4 June 1932), (also famously known as শ্রীম, Master Mahashay, and M.), was a disciple of Ramakrishna (a great 19th-century Hindu mystic) and ...
- (Author of
Sri Sri Ramkrishna Kathamrita)
References
Boys' schools in India
Schools in Colonial India
Primary schools in West Bengal
High schools and secondary schools in West Bengal
Schools in Kolkata
Educational institutions established in 1818
1818 establishments in India
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