Mussoorie

Mussoorie
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	30.45°N 78.08°E
Altitude:	1,826 m (5,991 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Mussoorie
State/Province:	Uttarakhand
Country:	India
Transport links
Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway at Dehra Dun

Mussoorie is a hill station situated in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was developed by the British from 1825 as a summer retreat and remains a popular tourist destination. Several boarding schools catering for British families were established in and around Mussoorie and its satellite, Landour. There was a British cantonment at Landour.

Spelling variants

• Mussoorie, Mussooree, Masuri, Mussoori
• Landour, Landaur

FIBIS resources

• FIBIS database: Percy-Smith/Bullock papers: Mussoorie Stokes School Ledger 1866-1899

Schools

Caineville House School former Entrance

• Convent of Jesus & Mary established 1845. Girls' Catholic School.
• Fairlawn School was originally established as the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway School in August 1877 and later renamed the North Western Railway School. In 1894, the school closed and the pupils were transferred to Oak Grove School (see below).
• Oak Grove School was founded in 1888 by the East Indian Railway and took in the pupils from Fairlawn School when the latter closed in 1894. The school still enjoys a connection with Indian Railways.
• St George's College was founded in 1854 by the Capuchin Fathers and transferred to the Patrician Brothers in 1894.
• Woodstock School was founded in 1854 as the "Protestant Girls' School" in Cainville House, Mussoorie. History
• Wynberg-Allen School was founded in 1887 and transferred to its present location in 1894. History
• Caineville House School for Girls opened in 1865 and continued until c 1950. "The school is charmingly situated in its own extensive (over 60 acres) and beautifully wooded grounds". The site is now occupied by the ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police) Academy The school is mentioned on (pdf) pages 22 and 50 of The Guide to Mussoorie (refer below)
• Rev Robert North Maddock’s school "Grant Lodge", established 1849 pages 6-7 Eighteen years in the Khyber, 1879-1898 by Colonel Sir Robert Warburton KCIE CSI 1900 Archive.org. Later known as the Mussoorie School, it was purchased by the Diocesan Board of Education in 1867
• In the year 1905 the Philander Smith Institute of Mussoorie, founded (in 1884) by a Mrs. Smith, widow of Mr. Philander Smith of Illinois was moved to Naini Tal and “amalgamated” with the Oak Opening Boys’ High School and the result was the Philander Smith College.

For more information about schools, including additional schools, refer The Guide to Mussoorie in 'Historical books online' below.

Useful Sources

• Mussoorie Merchant: The Indian Letters of Mauger Fitzhugh Monk 1828 - 1849 published by Pagoda Tree Press. This set of previously unpublished letters home give a fascinating insight into the early days of life in Mussoorie.
• Mussoorie Medley: Tales of Yesteryear, published by Niyogi Books, 2010. Extensive, well-researched book by local historian and university lecturer Ganesh Saili. Outlines the British period in Mussoorie in depth, with many anecdotes and historical photographs. A review of the book, Hill, Vale & Many A Tale from Outlookindia.com
• Mussoorie and Landour: Days of Wine and Roses, published by Lustre Press Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. (Can be purchased through online booksellers such as Amazon.com, or you may be able to interloan it through your local library.) 1992. Fascinating account of the two hill stations, with historical photographs, by well-known author Ruskin Bond and lecturer/historian Ganesh Saili, both Mussoorie residents.
• Mussoorie and Dehra Dun are mentioned in this 1861 Google Books link. A general search of Google Books for 'Mussoorie' will also yield interesting snippets.

External links

• Mussoorie Wikipedia
• Landour Wikipedia
• "The Landour Community Centre Cookbooks: From the 1920s to the 1960s and the present" by Katharine (Kittu) Parker Riddle. An article dated 1 July 2003.
• This India List post dated June 2011 gives the contact address for the couple who maintain the Camel Back Rd Cemetery in Mussoorie.
  • Rootsweb India Message Board post about the condition of Camel Back Road Cemetery in October 2012.
• "Mussoorie blues" by Rakhshanda Jalil, July 15, 2012, thehindu.com. Includes mention of Eugenie Catherine West (d. 1895). She was the first superintendent of the Christian Training School and Orphanage that was to later transform into the Wynberg Homes and finally the Wynberg Allen School as it is now called.
• "Finding the real Mussoorie: Landour" by Jaskiran Chopra, 18 February 2012 The Pioneer
• "[Frederick] Young, forgotten founder of Mussoorie" by Jaskiran Chopra, 25 May 2012 The Pioneer Dehradun edition
• Hill Station's newspapers by Ganesh Saili. Article about Mussoorie’s newspapers and Guides. May-June 2010 allaboutnewspapers.com
• "City Of Grey Hair And Green Hedges": The Doon Valley Across The Years by Subhrojit Dutta November 30, 2007 The Telegraph, Calcutta
• Mussoorie Library: A testimony to colonial past still stands tall in town by Ajay Ramola March 16, 2011 The Tribune
• Postcard:St. Pauls Church Landour – Mussoori stamps-auction.com
• Postcard: Guard Room from Theatre Road, Landour stamps-auction.com

Historical books online

• A description of Masuri and Landaur, The Land of the Five Rivers and Sindh: Sketches Historical and Descriptive, page 260 by David Ross 1883 Archive.org
• Extracts from Guide to Mussourie, 1908 "Compiled from various sources for F Bodycot, Mafasilite Printing Works, Mussoorie". 54 page pdf. Original book 159 pages. Note this pdf may be slow to load (archive.org link)
  • Information about schools may be found on pages 47-52 of the pdf.
  • Notes on the Guide to Mussoorie by Philip McEldowney (archive.org link)

Restricted access. The complete version of this book appears to be available to those in North America on Google Books and Hathi Trust Digital Library websites

• "Map of Mussooree and Landaur", between pages 280 and 281, A Handbook for Travellers in India, Burma, and Ceylon published by John Murray, London Eighth Edition 1911 Archive.org.
• "Extract of a Report on the Medicinal Garden at Mussoorea, addressed to the Honorable Sir C. Metcalfe, Bart, in charge of the Honorable Company's Botanic Garden, Calcutta" by J. F. Royle, Esq. Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta Volume 4 1829, page 406
• "Topographical and Sanitary Report on Landour" by Ludovic C Stewart, Staff Surgeon Major, page 309 Army Medical Department: Report for the Year 1862 Google Books
• The Himalayan Gazetteer or the Himalayan Districts of the North Western Province of India by Edwin T Atkinson in 3 Volumes (6 Parts) originally published 1882, 1884, 1886 is available, in a reprint edition, to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Covers the regions of Kumaon and Garhwal. Volume 1, part 1 Contents computer page 12; Volume 1, part 2 Contents cp 12, Index cp 536; Volume 2, part 1 Contents cp18; Volume 2, part 2 Contents cp 16 Index cp 458, includes History of the British in the area; Volume 3, part 1 Contents cp 10 Place names A-J; Volume 3, part 2 Contents cp 8 Place names K-Z.
  • Mussooree appears in Volume 3, Part 2, computer page 236.