Bishop Cotton Boys' School

Origins

The school's past extends back to the British Raj and the Victorian era with its beginnings in a house on High Grounds over which now stands the great ITC Windsor Hotel. It was started in 1865 by Rev. S T Pettigrew, the then Chaplain of St. Mark's Cathedral who had a vision of starting a school for the education of children of European and Anglo-Indian families. In his own words, he wanted to "establish a day and boarding School for the Children of Christian residents in the station and its vicinity." The school was named in honour of George Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta, under whose stewardship a scheme of education was organized for the Anglican Churches in India. After India gained independence from the British in 1947, the school began to be, and is still governed by the Church of South India.

In the first five years of the school it had three principals. It was only with the arrival of George Uglow Pope, a distinguished Tamil scholar (who translated the famed Tirukkuṛaḷ into English) that the present site was acquired For Rs 47,500. The boys' school and the girls' school functioned on the same campus but under different heads. Under the stewardship of Pope, the school grew from strength to strength. A collegiate section was started and the school obtained recognition from the University of Madras. He gave the School its motto – 'Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum', meaning 'Neither to the right nor to the Left'.

When Pope left India in 1892 to take up the post of Reader at Oxford University, the standard of the school began to decline. By 1906, closure of the school was contemplated.

Henry Whitehead, Bishop of Madras, the chairman of the board of governors, as a last resort, invited the members of the Brotherhood of Saint Peter to save the school from closure. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, of the Brotherhood of St. Peter, later to become Bishop, revived the school. The school still celebrates St. Peter's day amongst other traditions such as Guy Fawkes' bonfires. In 1911, the girls' school was moved across the road. William Elphick worked for a quarter of century for the growth of the school.

The last living member of the Brotherhood of St Peter in India, Father David, died of old age. He lived and worked in the school as the school chaplain.

General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust

The General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust pays tribute to the School, in memory of General K. S. Thimayya, Cottonian (1918 to 1922). The Trust organises the annual Thimayya Memorial Lecture, and awards the Thimayya Medal to Cottonians who have demonstrated exemplary public service. The Trust also operates a Benevolent Fund that supports former staff members of the School, monetarily.

Notable alumni

Science

Nasir Ahmed, Indian-American electrical engineer, invented the discrete cosine transform

B. Jayant Baliga, electrical engineer

Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan, Australian bioengineer and neuroscientist

Varghese Mathai, Australian mathematician

Ananth Dodabalapur, Indian-American engineer

Angus Finlay Hutton, British naturalist

Raja Ramanna, Padma Vibhushan, scientist and former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission

Kalidas Shetty, food scientist

Edward Alfred Minchin, British zoologist

Military

Apparanda Aiyappa, first Indian Signal officer in chief

Jameel Mahmood, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command (1992–93)

Sultan Mahmood, General

Lalit Rai, Kargil War hero

Leefe Robinson, British fighter pilot, Victoria Cross awardee

Vijai Singh Shekhawat, former Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy

Sir Frank Simpson, Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff

Kodandera Subayya Thimayya, former Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army

Malcolm Wollen, former chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics limited

Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff

Positions of responsibility

Norman Majoribanks, former governor of Madras

Gopal Krishna Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, Government of India

Dinesh Gundu Rao, Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the Government of Karnataka

Akbar Mirza Khaleeli, Indian ambassador to Iran from 1980 to 1984 and Italy from 1986 to 1990

A.R. Khaleel, former vice-president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and president of the Karnataka State Football Association

Shahu II of Kolhapur, Member of Parliament from Kolhapur constituency and scion of the Kolhapur royal family

C. V. Ranganathan, Indian diplomat and statesman

Srinivasa IV Rao Sahib, ruler of the Jagir of Arni (1931 – 1948)

Revathi Thirunal Balagopal Varma, titular Elayaraja of Travancore

Medicine

Ajit Varki, Indian American physician-scientist

Sudi Devanesen, Canadian family medicine physician and educator

Business

Nandan Nilekani, Padma Bhushan, co-founder of Infosys and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Philip Wollen, Australian philanthropist, environmentalist and animal rights activist; former vice-president of Citibank

Rohan Murty, Indian technical officer, junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the founder of the Murty Classical Library of India

Bharat Goenka, Padma Shri, co-founder and managing director of Tally Solutions

Kunal Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Unravel Data

Varun Agarwal, founder of Alma Mater

Sam Balsara, founder, chairman and managing director of Madison World and Madison Communications

Phaneesh Murthy, former CEO of IGATE

Dilip Jajodia, British-Indian businessman

Arts

Lucky Ali, Bollywood singer

Biddu Appaiah, British-indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer

Prabhu, Indian actor, businessman and film producer

Ricky Kej, Padma Shri, Indian composer, music producer, three-time Grammy Award winner

Feroz Khan, actor

Brodha V, hip hop artist

Ashvin Mathew, stage actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter

Ramkumar Ganesan, Indian film producer, actor

Stuart Wolfe, British actor, sculptor

Sports

Brijesh Patel, cricketer

Colin Cowdrey, English cricketer

Mayank Agarwal, cricketer

Eugeneson Lyngdoh, footballer, MLA from Mawphlang constituency, Meghalaya

David Mathias, cricketer, Bahrain national cricket team

Amit Verma, cricketer

Nihar Ameen, swimmer

Ravikumar Samarth, cricketer, Karnataka cricket team

Other notable alumni

Kenneth Anderson, Indian writer and hunter

Tarun Khanna, American academic, author, and an economic strategist

Makarand Paranjape, former director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla

Timeri N. Murari, Indian novelist, journalist, playwright and screenwriter

David Chellappa, Anglican bishop