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, C ...

and Hindu School. 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. David Hare Statue by Edward Hodges Baily - 1845 CE - Hare School Playground - 87 College Street - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2256

David Hare Statue by Edward Hodges Baily - 1845 CE - Hare School Playground - 87 College Street - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2256

Notable alumni

Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury ( bn, আশরাফউদ্দীন আহমদ চৌধুরী; 1894 – 25 March 1976) was a Bengali politician who had served as general secretary of the Congress Party's Bengal branch, member of the East ...

, 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 contributions ...

- 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 Smoked glass is glass held in the smoke ...

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 (short ...

. * Akshay Kumar Baral - poet. * Dibyendu Barua- 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 Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of Indian ...

, 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 nation ...

- civil servant, economist, historian, poet, translator of Vedas. *

Ramtanu Lahiri Ramtanu Lahiri (1813–1898) was a Young Bengal leader, a teacher and a social reformer. Peary Chand Mitra wrote about him, "There are few persons in whom the milk of kindness flows so abundantly. He was never wanting in appreciation of what w ...

- researcher on Bengali language, member of the Young Bengal group. *

Dinabandhu Mitra Dinabandhu Mitra (1830 – 1 November 1873) was a Bengali writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play '' Nil Darpan'' (1860). Early life Mitra was born at Chowberia village in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachan ...

- Bengali writer of British India, works include Neel Darpan. * Prafulla Chandra Roy - Scientist/chemist: worked on various mercury compounds & founder of Bengal Chemical. * Nagendra Prasad Sarbadikari - father of Indian football. *

Peary Charan Sarkar Peary Charan Sircar (also spelled Pyari Churn Sircar or Pyari Charan Sircar in contemporary documents; 1823–1875), was an educationist and textbook writer in nineteenth century Bengal. His series of Reading Books introduced a whole generation o ...

- social reformer and writer. *

Radhanath Sikdar Radhanath Sikdar (Bengali: রাধানাথ শিকদার; 5 October 1813 – 17 May 1870) was an Indian mathematician who is best known for calculating the height of Mount Everest. He was the first person to calculate the height of M ...

- mathematician, first person to calculate the height of Mount Everest. *

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 s ...

- 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 s ...

. *

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 ...

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 *

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- Judge,

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...

* 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 - Social reformer and educator * Swami Saradananda - (Saratchandra Chakrabarty) Direct disciple of

Sri Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...

- Author of Sri Ramkrishna Lilaprsanga * Swami Vijnanananda - (Hariprasanna Chattopadhyaya) Direct disciple of

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 {{WestBengal-school-stub