Bishop Cotton Boys' School is an all-boys school for boarders and day scholars in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, India, founded in the memory of Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta. The school is bordered by Residency Road, St Mark's Road, Lavelle Road and Vittal Mallya Road, and is spread over of land in the heart of Bangalore. School heads in the early days included

George Uglow Pope George Uglow Pope (24 April 1820 – 11 February 1908), or G. U. Pope, was an Anglican Christian missionary and Tamil scholar who spent 40 years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations included t ...

, Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, S. T. Pettigrew, William Elphick, Iowerth Lowell Thomas and A. T. Balraj. The sister school Bishop Cotton Girls' School is located on the opposite side of St. Mark's Road.

Origins

The school's past extends back to the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

and the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

with its beginnings in a house on High Grounds over which now stands the great ITC Windsor Hotel. It was started in 1865 by Rev. S T Pettigrew, the then Chaplain of St. Mark's Cathedral who had a vision of starting a school for the education of children of European and

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

families. In his own words, he wanted to "establish a day and boarding School for the Children of

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

residents in the station and its vicinity." The school was named in honour of George Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta, under whose stewardship a scheme of education was organized for the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Churches in India. After India gained independence from the British in 1947, the school began to be, and is still governed by the Church of South India. In the first five years of the school it had three principals. It was only with the arrival of

, a distinguished Tamil scholar (who translated the famed

Tirukkuṛaḷ The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

into English) that the present site was acquired For Rs 47,500. The boys' school and the girls' school functioned on the same

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

but under different heads. Under the stewardship of Pope, the school grew from strength to strength. A collegiate section was started and the school obtained recognition from the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. He gave the School its

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

– 'Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum', meaning 'Neither to the right nor to the Left'. When Pope left India in 1892 to take up the post of Reader at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, the standard of the school began to decline. By 1906, closure of the school was contemplated. Henry Whitehead, Bishop of Madras, the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the board of governors, as a last resort, invited the members of the Brotherhood of

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

to save the school from closure. Herbert Pakenham-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. William Elphick 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 of old age. He lived and worked in the school as the school chaplain. Scouting was officially founded in British India in 1909, first starting at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore by Capt T.H Baker and Major Pakenham Walsh.

General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust

The General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust pays tribute to the School, in memory of General K. S. Thimayya, Cottonian (1918 to 1922). The Trust organises the annual Thimayya Memorial Lecture, and awards the Thimayya Medal to Cottonians who have demonstrated exemplary public service. The Trust also operates a Benevolent Fund that supports former staff members of the School, monetarily.

Notable alumni

Science

* Nasir Ahmed, Indian-American electrical engineer, invented the

discrete cosine transform A discrete cosine transform (DCT) expresses a finite sequence of data points in terms of a sum of cosine functions oscillating at different frequency, frequencies. The DCT, first proposed by Nasir Ahmed (engineer), Nasir Ahmed in 1972, is a widely ...

B. Jayant Baliga Bantval Jayant Baliga (born in Chennai) is an Indian electrical engineer best known for his work in power semiconductor devices, and particularly the invention of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). In 1993, Baliga was elected as a ...

, Electrical Engineer * Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan, AM FRS, Australian bioengineer and neuroscientist * Varghese Mathai, Australian mathematician * Ananth Dodabalapur, Indian-American engineer * Angus Finlay Hutton, British naturalist * Raja Ramanna, Padma Vibhushan, scientist and former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission * Kalidas Shetty, food scientist

Military

* Lieutenant General A C Iyappa, first Indian Signal officer in chief * Lieutenant General Jameel Mahmood, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command (1992-93) * Major General Sultan Mahmood * Col. Lalit Rai, VrC, Kargil War hero * William Leefe Robinson, British fighter pilot, Victoria Cross awardee * Admiral Vijay Singh Shekhawat, former Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy * General Sir Frank Simpson, former Chief of Army Staff, Great Britain * General K. S. Thimayya, former Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army * Air Marshall Malcolm Wollen, former chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics limited *

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

Krishna Swaminathan, VSM

Positions of responsibility

* Norman Majoribanks, former governor of Madras * Gopal Krishna Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, Government of India * Dinesh Gundu Rao, Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the Government of Karnataka * Akbar Mirza Khaleeli, Indian ambassador to Iran from 1980 to 1984 and Italy from 1986 to 1990 * A.R. Khaleel, former vice-president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and president of the Karnataka State Football Association * Shahu II of Kolhapur, Member of Parliament from Kolhapur constituency and scion of the Kolhapur royal family * C. V. Ranganathan, Indian diplomat and statesman * Srinivasa IV Rao Sahib, Ruler of the Jagir of Arni (1931 – 1948) * Revathi Thirunal Balagopal Varma, titular Elayaraja of Travancore

Medicine

* Ajit Varki, Indian American physician-scientist * Sudi Devanesen, Canadian family medicine physician and educator

Entrepreneurs

* Nandan Nilekani, Padma Bhushan, co-founder of Infosys and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) * Philip Wollen, Australian philanthropist, environmentalist and animal rights activist; former vice-president of Citibank * Rohan Murty, Indian technical officer, junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the founder of the Murty Classical Library of India * Bharat Goenka, Padma Shri, co-founder and managing director of Tally Solutions * Kunal Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Unravel Data * Varun Agarwal, founder of Alma Mater * Sam Balsara, founder, chairman and managing director of Madison World and Madison Communications * Phaneesh Murthy, former CEO of IGATE

Arts

* Lucky Ali, Bollywood singer * Biddu Appaiah, British-indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer * Prabhu, Indian actor, businessman and film producer * Ricky Kej, Indian composer, music producer * Feroz Khan, actor * Brodha V, Hip hop artist * Ashvin Mathew, stage actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter * Ramkumar Ganesan, Indian film producer, actor * Stuart Wolfe, British actor, sculptor

Sports

Brijesh Patel Brijesh Patel (born 24 November 1952) is a former Indian cricketer who played for the Indian national cricket team as a right-handed batsman from 1974 until 1979. After retirement, he served as the Indian Premier League chairman between 2019 ...

, cricketer * Colin Cowdrey, English cricketer * Mayank Agarwal, cricketer * Eugeneson Lyngdoh, footballer * David Mathias, cricketer who represents the Bahrain national cricket team * Amit Verma, cricketer * Nihar Ameen, swimmer * Ravikumar Samarth, cricketer who plays for the Karnataka cricket team

Other notable alumni

* Kenneth Anderson, Indian writer and hunter * Tarun Khanna, American academic, author, and an economic strategist * Makarand Paranjape, former director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla * Timeri N. Murari, Indian novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter *Rt Rev David Chellappa, Anglican bishop

References

External links

{{Authority control Church of South India schools Boys' schools in India * Bangalore Civil and Military Station Boarding schools in Karnataka Christian schools in Karnataka High schools and secondary schools in Karnataka Private schools in Bengaluru Educational institutions established in 1865 1865 establishments in India