Calcutta Boys' School
The origins of CBS are closely linked with the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in India. On January 9, 1873, the Reverend William Taylor founded the work of the Thoburn Methodist Episcopal Church in Calcutta (Kolkata).
He was succeeded by the Reverend James Mills Thoburn. The latter's ardent preaching soon rendered the Entally Baptist Chapel unable to cope with the ever-increasing number of converts.
In February 1874, a new Chapel was dedicated and opened at 145 Dharamtolla Street. This Chapel was built at a cost of 16,000 rupees largely due to the generosity of one George Bowen of Bombay who donated 10,000 rupees. Soon even this chapel proved unable to accommodate the growing congregration, until a new and larger church was constructed on Dharamtolla Street, where it still stands today.
The New Thoburn Church was dedicated on December 31, 1875. In 1888 Rev. James Thoburn was elected Missionary Bishop of South India - the first ever Missionary Bishop in India.
It was Bishop Thoburn who founded the Calcutta Boys' School. First located at Mott Lane, and then later housed in a room on Corporation Street,the school struggled for survival without a building of its own. It acquired a permanent residence in 1893 thanks, in large measure, to the generosity of a man who could be regarded as the chief patron of the school: Sir Robert Laidlaw.
The Girls School was erected in 1886, during the principalship of Miss Hendrick. The motto of the school is "Dei Mundus Deo" (Latin for "The world of God for God").
The main objective was to impart quality education.Initially the school was known mostly for extra curricular activities,however studies picked up after Mr Clifford Hicks joined in.
Mr. Hicks was the son in law of Mr. Fritchley. When he took over the reigns as principal, he introduced the motto "Two yards outside the school gates the jungle begins". An educationist, later nominated a Member of the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Hicks believed that the guardians of the students were required to be interviewed more rigorously than the students themselves, and during his tenure, this principle was adhered to strictly.
He took the school to new heights of academic fame, and the school became one of the top educational institutions in the city. During Clifford Hicks' time as principal the newest of the three buildings that currently house the school was built. Named the "New Building," the construction was made possible by donations collected by the students of the school.
A word should be said about Mr. Morgan who was an American and served for a short period in the period between Mr. Hicks and Mr. Martin. A very interesting principal who was from Montana and never grasped what made Calcutta teens in the upper classes tick in the mid to late 1970s!
The school reached new heights under Alfred Martin. It was during Mr. Martin's tenure that the school changed over from Senior Cambridge to the ICSE and ISC system affiliated to the Indian Council of Secondary Education. Throughout the 1980s, students ranked prominently in the ICSE and ISC rankings. Significant emphasis was also laid on extra-curricular activities. It was a period of exceptional stability.
Unlike the Hicks era, Mr. Martin encouraged students to participate in such co-curricular activities as were consistent with studies, like Debating and Quizzing. The school developed a healthy debating society and a peerless quiz club, which during the 1980s swept most of the inter-school meets. The school also did well in the British Council One Act Play competitions during the late 1970s and the early 1980s, under the able tutelage of Mr. Guy Dantes, a teacher of English.
Teachers like Mr. Kodaikanal, Mr. E. Warrier (since deceased), Mr. Lawrence W. Hartnett (now the principal of a major school in Dubai after serving as principal of Assembly of God Church School) raised the standard of English teaching in the city and set a benchmark that has been difficult to achieve ever since. During the tenure of Mr. Girish Roy, whiffs of unpleasant altercations between the school teachers, the Managing Committee and the Principal came to fore. Though popular with the students, Mr. Girish Roy's alleged personal life was objectionable to many and after an unprecedented amount of litigation, both civil and criminal and several changes of guards including "care-taker administration" by the Staff Representatives, a degree of stability came with Mr. Gilbert Samuel.
Mr Gilbert Samuel, principal in 1997, expanded the curriculum of the school to include co-curricular activities, allowing the students of CBS to regularly secure first and second positions at various international Olympiads, including a second place finish at the 2003 Biology Olympiad and the International Infomatics Olympiad in 2004. In 2005 CBS won the under 16 national cricket tournament, and in 2004 the national rounds of the Inter School Frank Antony Memorial Debate.
Mr.Raja McGee,Principal/Secretary in 2007 introduced the United Students Organisation (USO)with elected office bearers to assist the teachers in school administration.
Courtesy: CBSOBA (http://www.cbsoba.com/history.htm)
