Lawrence Military Asylum

There were four Lawrence Military Asylums. These schools underwent several name changes, later being known variously as the Lawrence School, Lawrence Memorial School or Lawrence College.

The schools were founded by Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence to provide education for the orphans of British soldiers in India.

Lawrence School, Mount Abu

Also known as Abu Lawrence School it was located at Mount Abu, a hill station in Rajasthan. Established in 1856, it no longer exists.

External links:

• Indian Tales by Patrick O'Meara

Lawrence College, Ghora Gali

Near Murree.

External links:

• Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, official site
• Lawrence School, Ghora Gali, Wikipedia
• Indian Tales by Patrick O'Meara

Lawrence School, Lovedale

This school is in Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu. In 1925 the name was changed from the Lawrence Memorial School, Lovedale, Ootacamund to the Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School.⁴

History

For the situation in 1856, before establishment, see Allen’s Indian Mail (1856) p552 [Google Books]. The Asylum was opened in 1858, with control passing to the Government in 1860.¹ First however, the Government insisted that the religious principles adopted at the Lawrence Military Asylum, Sanawar, must be adopted at Lovedale.²

Amalgamation of the Madras Military Male Orphan Asylum with the Lawrence Asylum was considered from 1860. In April 1864 the land at Lovedale was selected for the combined institutions and new buildings were constructed. 220 boys from the MMMOA moved in September 1871.² The girls from the Madras Military Female Orphan School, about 100, were transferred to the Lawrence Asylum, Lovedale in October 1904 as the Government required their premises in Madras.³

Conditions in the early 1930's are described in The Way We Are: An Anglo-Indian Mosaic page 3, chapter "Never Give In" by Moira Breen (2008).

Records

The British Library has the following IOR entry: The Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, Lovedale, Nilgiris, 73rd Report, 1st April 1932-31st March 1933 [and 74th-77th, 79th-80th & 85th Reports, 1933/4-1936/7, 1938/9-1939/40 & 1944/5]. Bangalore: Board of Governors, 1933-45. 8 issues. IOR/L/MIL/17/5/2299 1933-1945

The British Library has the following two books in its catalogue:

• Never give in : a history of the one hundred and twentyfive years of The Lawrence School, Lovedale by Hugh and Colleen Gantzer c 1984
• Lovedale : the Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, South India : a Personal Account by Max Cocker. C 1988

A researcher was able to obtain 1889 admission records from the School which indicated both parents of the boy admitted, the mother being Indian.

External links:

• Lawrence School, Lovedale, official site
• Alumni Website
• Lawrence School, Lovedale, Wikipedia. Also refer Orphans.

Lawrence School, Sanawar

Near Simla, this school was the first of the four Lawrence schools, established in 1847.

Maureen Evers has written about the school in "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.

External links:

• Lawrence School, Sanawar, official site
• Wikipedia
• Photograph of the school in 1865 in the British Library's Online Gallery

References

1. Francis, W. Gazetteer of South India, Volume 2 p314 (1988). Probably a reprint of an earlier book, perhaps 1905.

2. Francis, W. The Nilgiris, Volume 1 of Madras district gazetteers p262 (1994) Probably a reprint of an earlier book, possibly 1908.

3. Francis, Nilgiris p263

4. British Library IOR/L/MIL/7/12528 1925