Tiruchi’s Bishop Heber School, founded by German-born missionary Christian Frederick Schwartz in 1762, is widely regarded as one of the oldest institutions to offer Tamil and English education in the State.
In its 101st year, the Devasikhamani Block situated in its Higher Secondary School campus in Teppakulam is then perhaps a spring chicken compared to some of the older buildings here.
But the three-storey structure of 18 classrooms, which was completed in 1914, stands out because of its clean lines and unusual fixtures. Its designer, Robert Fellowes Chisholm (1838-1915), was the late 19th century pioneer of Indo-Saracenic architecture, a style that blended the best of Mughal and Arab concepts of construction with local techniques.
Among the many notable Indo-Saracenic buildings designed by the British architect, are Presidency College, Madras (1865), the Nilgiri Library in Ooty (1869) and the Chepauk Palace complex (also in Madras), which was constructed by Chisholm in 1871.
The building was commissioned by then-school principal Reverend Allan Fredrick Gardiner, who worked here from 1909 to 1928.
The block commemorates S.K. Devasikhamani, the first Tamilian headmaster of the institution, who served here from 1908 to 1936, and who was also a well-known author and publisher.
Historic architecture
The arch-framed outer corridor cools and shades the high-ceilinged classrooms that also have iron wall-to-floor grilled windows geometrically aligned to allow the free movement of air.
“You will never feel the heat of the Tiruchi sun here,” says Y. Roosevelt, History teacher for senior classes and an author of several books on the school’s heritage.
Local stone slabs have been used to create the plinth of the building, including the flight of stairs from the ground to the first floor.
As the school bell rings, we make our way up to the upper floors using the two teakwood staircases that are holding up well despite at least 1,000 students and staff of Classes 8,9,11 and 12 using it every day.
“It is thought that the teak was imported from Burma,” says Mr. Roosevelt.
“We had an overall maintenance check done three years ago, and the staircases were certified safe for use by the engineer,” he adds.
At the corner of the third floor is perhaps the most unexpected fixture – a cast-iron spiral staircase that leads to the open rooftop terrace. It was shipped from England, says Mr. Roosevelt.
The iron beams used in the building are etched with the signage ‘Dorman Long Middlesborough England’, showing their provenance.
Many names, one goal
The school was built on land granted to the English East India Company by Mohamed Ali Wallajah, Nawab of Carnatic (1749-95). The Nawab had allowed Major Preston to build a church for British soldiers near the Rock Fort. Reverend Schwartz, who was working in Thanjavur and supported by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K) in South India, was invited by the Major to Tiruchi. The church building was used as a school as well.
The official website of the erstwhile Arcot royal family records the presence of Nawab Mohamed Ali at the 1762 inauguration ceremony of what was then known as ‘Dr. Schwartz’s School’, a two-wing institution for English and Tamil children. The institution also worked for the relief of children orphaned by explosions in the artillery warehouse of the Rock Fort.
As the years went by, the school moved out of the Rock Fort area, to Tennur in 1778.
Eventually, the English school was transferred between 1820-25 to the government chaplain, and is the parent of the present St. John’s Vestry Anglo-Indian School.
The institution was handed over to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G) in 1825. The Right Reverend Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta, visited Tiruchi in April 1826, and expressed a desire for more schools to be founded in the city. His sudden death and subsequent burial at St. John’s Church on April 3 led to a public outpouring of grief. A new school was founded in Tennur in 1850 during the time of C.S. Kohlhoff and Heyne. It was shifted to the current Fort area campus in 1863-64 at the request of Indian families in Srirangam and was now known as the Bishop Heber High School. All the preceding schools in Puthur, Woraiyur, Tennur and Shenkulam became its branch campuses.
In 1882, the now-expanded Bishop Heber Memorial School that had been raised to a First Grade College (and called ‘S.P.G College’) went on to become the first-ever higher educational institute in Tiruchi. It was re-christened Bishop Heber College in 1926. The college was closed down in 1934 and merged with the Madras Christian College in Tambaram. On September 27, 1947 the institution began functioning under the Church of South India’s Tiruchi-Thanjavur diocese. Subsequently, many prominent personalities of the day came together to successfully shift back Bishop Heber College to Puthur, Tiruchi in 1968.
Bishop Heber High School became a Higher Secondary School in 1978-79.
“There are many names that our school has been known by down the ages,” says Mr. Roosevelt. “Schwartz’s School, ‘Vellakaran Palli’ (White man’s school), Principal’s School, Thomas Adamson School, S.P.G. School, Heber Memorial School … but its guiding principle remained the same – to educate needy students in the vicinity.”
Much has changed in the passage of years, not the least, the topography of the city itself. “In the early days, our students had to enter through the Main Guard Gate across the moat that surrounded the Rock Fort,” says Mr. Roosevelt. “Now the moat has been covered up, and the gates are gone.”
In the swirling mist of history, the Desikhamani Building stands, a quiet witness awaiting its next generation of learners.
