Lawrence School, Lovedale

The Lawrence School, Lovedale
Location
Lovedale , Tamil Nadu , 643003 India
Coordinates	11.379191°N 76.699258°E / 11.379191; 76.699258
Information
Former names	Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School (LMRMS)
School type	Coeducational Public School
Motto	Never Give In
Established	6 September 1858
Founder	Sir Henry
School board	CBSE
Chairman	Sanjay Kumar, IAS
Headmaster	Dhavala Venkata Someswara Rao
Number of pupils	700
Language	English
Affiliation	Round Square
Alumni name	Old Lawrencians
Website	https://www.thelawrenceschool.org

The Lawrence School, Lovedale, is a fee-charging co-educational public boarding school located at Lovedale, a hill station on the Nilgiri Mountains in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.[1]

History

Main article: Lawrence Military Asylums

Formerly known as Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, the namesake of its founder, Brigadier-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence KCB),[2] who had mooted the idea of establishing a chain of British Raj military-style boarding schools at the hill stations of India to educate the children of the deceased and serving members of the British Indian Army.[3] Although Lawrence was killed at The Residency, Lucknow, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, his dream materialized and four such schools, known then as the Lawrence Military Asylums, were established: at Sanawar in 1847 and Mount Abu in 1856, both during his lifetime, and later at Lovedale in 1858 and at Ghora Gali in 1860.

The Lawrence Asylum, Ootakamund, Madras Presidency, in 1873

Campus

The Lawrence School, Lovedale has its campus on 700 acres leased from the Ministry of Defence[4] in Lovedale, which is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from Ootacamund. Located at a height of 7,200 feet above mean sea level, it is slightly lower than the Dodabetta peak (altitude: 8650 feet), which is the highest peak of the Nilgiri mountain range.

Main Building, The Lawrence School, Lovedale

Many notable personalities, including Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Presidents Zail Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and others such as Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu,[5] have visited this campus to grace the school's Founder's Day and other special occasions.[6][7]

Several movies, TV shows, and commercial advertisements have been filmed in the school campus. Some of the popular ones include:

• The Archies (film)
• Adhura
• School of Lies
• Karwaan
• Raaz (2002 film)

Architecture

On 31 May 1988, a commemorative postage stamp was issued by India Post to mark 130 years of the school's existence with an image displaying the towering campanile section of Italian Gothic styled architecture of the main building, which houses the Senior School and administrative offices.[8][9]

Postage featuring the Senior School main building.

Students

The student body is from all over India and overseas, and is led by prefects headed by a head girl and head boy.[10] The school also has a 40 percent reservation of seats and a 20 percent fee subsidy for children of Indian Defence personnel.

Activities

The school is notable for requiring for all its students to learn horseback riding.[11][12]

Notable alumni

• Akshaye Khanna, a film actor.

• Amish Tripathi, a novelist, banker and diplomat.
• Anand Mahindra, a businessperson, and chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group.[13]
• Vice Admiral (India) Anil Chopra PVSM AVSM, a naval officer and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.[14]
• Anjolie Ela Menon, a painter and Padma Shri awardee.
• Arun M. Kumar, a venture capitalist, and former Chairman & CEO of KPMG India.
• Aryama Sundaram, a lawyer, judge and former Supreme Court Justice of India and Singapore.
• Arundhati Roy, a writer and social activist.[15]
• C Vijayakumar, a business executive, and President & CEO of HCL Technologies.
• Lieutenant General (India) Dhiraj Seth AVSM, an army officer and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Command (India).
• Fahadh Faasil, film actor and producer.
• Gul Panag, a politician, actor, model and 1999 Femina Miss India Universe.
• K. V. L. Narayan Rao, a media executive and former CEO of NDTV.
• Kanika Tekriwal, an entreprenuer and airline executive.
• M. M. Murugappan, a businessperson, and former Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Group.
• Major Mohommed Ali Shah, an army officer and film actor.
• Nalini Ambady, a social psychologist.[16]
• Nikhil Dey, a social activist.
• Nomita Chandy, a social worker and Padma Shri awardee.[17]
• Nosthush Kenjige, a sportsperson and member of the United States national cricket team.
• Nungshi Malik, a mountaineer and Nari Shakti Puraskar awardee.
• Palanivel Thiagarajan, a banker, politician and member of the Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers.
• Paul Sabapathy CVO CBE, an accountant, business manager and former Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands.
• Rear Admiral (India) Philipose George Pynumootil AVSM NM, naval officer and former Flag Officer Naval Aviation.[18]
• Pratap Pothen, a film actor and producer.
• Ram Charan, a film actor, producer and entrepreneur in Telugu cinema.
• Rear Admiral (India) K. Raja Menon, a naval officer, military author and former Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (India).[19][20]
• Sashi Reddi, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
• Sanaya Irani, a film actor.
• Tashi Malik, a mountaineer and Nari Shakti Puraskar awardee.
• Thiru Vikram, an inventor, engineer, entrepreneur and CEO of Buffalo Automation.[10]
• Vijay Menon, an actor, editor, director and dubbing artist in Malayalam cinema.

References

1. Ramadas, Rati (5 May 2008). "Lawrence School Lovedale celebrates 150 years". NDTV. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
2. "Brigadier-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence KCB, 1856 (c) | Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
3. "The Magic Mountains". publishing.cdlib.org. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
4. "Army lays claim to land held by Lawrence". www.sunday-guardian.com. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
5. Staff Reporter (16 May 2022). "Vice-President expected to commence the Nilgiris visit on Tuesday". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
6. Ravichandran, B (23 May 2017). "Ooty Lawrence school rolls out red carpet to President". Deccan Chronicle.
7. ravichandran, b (30 July 2015). "Kalam had fascination for birds, say greens". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
8. "A commemorative postage stamp on the 130th anniversary of the Lawrence School". iStampGallery. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
9. "The Lawrence School, Lovedale - Schools". Lawrence School. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
10. "Country needs honest people: AVM Rai". The Hindu. 5 April 2012. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
11. Correspondent, D. C. (25 May 2019). "Ooty: Students’ equestrian skills stun onlookers". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 23 August 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
12. Correspondent, D. C. (26 May 2018). "Galloping Joy: Lawrence school students enthrall spectators". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 23 August 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
13. "Kabaddi deserves a league of its own: Anand Mahindra". The Economic Times. 10 April 2014.
14. News Network, NetIndian (29 October 2011). "Vice Admiral Anil Chopra appointed as FOC-in-C, Eastern Naval Command". NetIndian. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
15. Siddhartha Deb, "Arundhati Roy, the Not-So-Reluctant Renegade Archived 21 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine", The New York Times, 5 March 2014. |access-date=9 April 2023
16. Warnick, J.E.; Landis, D. (2015). Neuroscience in Intercultural Contexts. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer New York. ISBN 978-1-4939-2260-4. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
17. Narayanan, Chitra (16 April 2011). "Bonding for a lifetime". The Hindu Businessline. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
18. "Rear Admiral Philipose George Pynumootil, NM Assumes Charge as Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA)". www.indiannavy.nic.in. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
19. "Soldier2ndLife". soldier2ndlife.com. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
20. "K Raja Menon". National Maritime Foundation. Retrieved 20 April 2021.

External links

• Official website