Founded by Sir Henry and Lady Honoria Lawrence, Sanawar is the first co-educational boarding school in the world. Historical archives suggest that during the summer of 1846, Henry Lawrence in the company of Col Boileau, Lt Beecher of the BENGAL ENGINEERS and Lt Hodson of the Corps of Guides, searched for a site in the Simla Hills around Kasawli to establish an asylum for the children of the British other ranks. However, he eventually selected the hill of Sanawar at a height of 1750 meters (5600 feet) as it combined most of the requisites for an asylum, viz. isolation, ample space and suitable location not too far from European troops (Kasawli Garrison). Around 134 acres of land was purchased from the Rana of Bhagat, a princely state. Once the site was selected, construction work was entrusted to Lt William Stephen Raikes Hodson (1821–1858) of Hodson’s Horse fame, the first Bursar of the School, who commenced work on 1st April 1847.
Henry Lawrence placed the school in the capable hands of Mrs Charlotte Lawrence, wife of the eldest of the famous Lawrence brothers, Sir George St Patric Lawrence. The school was formally opened on 15th April 1847 with seven boys, seven girls, one master and one mistress in-charge. They lived under canvas for a few weeks in the area which is now the girls’ games field, known as 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal Stadium (Peace Stead), anxiously waiting for the buildings to come up before the rains. The first impressions of the school were over-whelming; everything was on a grand scale; its estate; its buildings; and above all its spirit, which is difficult to define. By 1853, the school’s strength increased up to 195 pupils and over the years, Sanawar has developed into a leading public school.
The first Principal of the School was the Rev WJ Parker (1848-1863). Notable events during his period include the first Founder’s Day in 1849 and the opening of the Chapel in 1851.
Regimentation and Colours: The Lawrence Asylum, Sanawur (as it was known at the time) was the first school in the Empire to receive The King’s Colours on 30 June 1853. Following Sanawar, only five schools and colleges received similar honours in the entire British Empire, the others being Eton, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham, the Duke of York’s Royal Military School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
The Earl of Dalhousie deemed it fit for the school to troop its own Colours. The Commander-in-Chief Maj Gen Sir William Maynard Gomm, GCB arranged for Colonel Armine Simcoe Henry Mountain, CB the Adjutant General to present the Colours on his behalf.
Coincidentally, The La Martiniere College, Lucknow received its Blue and Gold Battle Honours, bearing the legend ‘Defence of Lucknow’ for actions in 1857. Their Colours were earned when our founder, Brigadier-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, KCB served as the Chief Commissioner of Oudh, residing at Lucknow. Further, the grave of Major William Stephen Raikes Hodson, associated with construction activities in Sanawar, is located at La Martiniere College where he fell along with the College Boys who earned the battle honour.
From its Foundation, the financial burden of the Asylum as part of the School was borne by Sir Henry until his death in 1857, when the government assumed responsibility for the finances as a mark of esteem to his memory. Under these arrangements, control of the School passed from the ‘Honourable Board of Directors’ to the Crown.
The principal, Rev Parker was followed by Rev J Cole (1864–1886) and Rev A Hilldersley (1886–1912). The fourth Principal, The Right Reverend Major George Dunsford Barne, CIE, OBE, VD, DD (1912–1932) developed Sanawar into a major public school along English lines with House and Prefectorial systems, games on an organised basis and a curriculum working towards Cambridge University Examinations.
House System: Six houses in Sanawar were named after 1857 mutiny British officers: Lawrence, Nicholson, Roberts, Hodson, Herbert Edwards and Havelock. These men had a close association with Brig Sir Lawrence and had earned prestige during the mutiny. Devices adopted from their knightly coat-of-arms were given to the Houses named after them and are now displayed on either side of the stage in Barne Hall.
Lawrence House with Yellow colours was named after the founder Brigadier-General Sir Henry Lawrence, KCB who needs no further introduction. Nicholson House with Light Blue colours was named after General John Nicholson who successfully led the assault during The Relief of Delhi in 1857. Roberts House with Dark Blue colours was named after Field Marshal Earl Roberts, VC who was born in India, served in the Relief of Lucknow and was posted as C-in-C during the Boer War in South Africa. Hodson House with Green colours was named after Major WSR Hodson, who supervised the building of the main school as a subaltern and later raised Hodson’s Horse, an irregular cavalry regiment of The Bengal Army during 1857. The cross-country run was named Hodson run and immortalized in the School Song by Bishop HB Durrant, a friend of principal The Right Reverend Major George Dunsford Barne, CIE, OBE, VD, DD who tried to commemorate the military heritage of the School. Herbert Edwards House with Deep Red colours was named after Major General Sir Herbert Edwards, KCB, KCSI who was a close friend of Brig-Gen Sir Henry Lawrence, wrote his posthumous biography “Life of Sir Henry Lawrence”, and built a porch for the Chapel near the War Memorial. While Havelock House with Orange colours was named after Major General Sir Henry Havelock, KCB who led relief troops to Kanpur and Lucknow.
1920s: The tradition of military training at Sanawar remains strong and several contingents of boys enlisted from the School were sent straight to the battlefields of the Great War. In appreciation of their war-service, the School was re-designated as the “Lawrence Royal Military School” in 1920. Later, the Prince of Wales personally presented the School with new Colours In 1922.
Both The King’s and School’s Colours were replaced in 1929, following the Royal Charter and arrival of HRH The Prince of Wales in India. A contingent of 99 Boys marched to Dehradun where Ensigns, Wally Jones and Jimmy Dallimer were the colour party. The founder’s grandson, Sir Alexander Waldemar Lawrence gifted new School Colours in memory of his father, bearing the coat-of-arms and crest of his family along with the school motto ‘Never Give In’, embossed beneath a royal crown.
The principal king-of-arms, having authority to grant armorial bearings, certify genealogies and noble titles pointed out that the School could not have the same crest representing the family and it self. Subsequently, H.E the most Hon., the Marquess of Linlithgow, Viceroy and Governor- General of India, presented new Colours without the family crest on 14 Sep 1940.
Sir Alexander Lawrence’s colours were laid to rest in 1957 and Lord Linlithgow’s navy blue flag was rescinded around 2005. The new Red & White flag is now paraded every 4 October, bringing to fore over 170 years of a shared military heritage.
The centenary year (1947) was crucial to the development of the School. With Independence, the bulk of its staff and children returned to the UK. The Governor General, Lord Louis Mountbatten, presided over the Centenary celebrations of the school and read out a special message from King George VI. Thereafter, control of the School passed from the Crown to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence. All memory of 1857 was to be rescinded as a new nation was born and Indianisation promulgated. Consequently, the houses were reduced to four, and renamed after the mountain ranges of India by Headmaster Mr EG Carter in 1952.
The Indian Army transferred the School to the Ministry of Education in 1949 who subsequently, formed an autonomous Lawrence School (Sanawar) Society in 1953. The Chairman of the Society is the Secretary for Education, Government of India.
In 1956, Mr EG Carter retired as Principal and was succeeded by Major R Som Dutt (1956–1970), the first Indian Headmaster of the school, who was succeeded by Mr Shomie Ranjan Das (1974–1988) and many others who built on the strong foundations of the past.