St. John’s College Magazine Digitized Version of the College Magazine 1905 Converted into Editable Format (MS Word) By Christie. A. Pararajasingam March towards the Bicentennial At the beginning of the year that marked the 195th anniversary of the College, the Principal called upon all the students, staff, parents and well-wishers to join in the march towards the College’sbicentennial. I decided to join the ‘army’ in my own little way. I thought of initiating the process of digitizing and converting all the magazines in the College library into MS Word or other Editable Formats, with the following objectives in mind: To preserve the historic books in the College library for generations to come. To enable the Management and Editors interested to easily search what they are looking for. To enable stakeholders like Old Boys to quickly access the information that they require. To make images easy to extract and reuse. This can’t be done with a PDF, because its images are embedded. To easily edit large areas of text. To make the magazines in the library easily accessible to everyone by uploading them on the internet The oldest magazine in the library, published in 1905 appeared to be the best place to begin work on. The task was much harder than expected, taking more than 50 hours of man hours. Though cumbersome, the walk down memory lane I took, proved to be very informative and enjoyable. I invite you too, to take this walk. Happy reading! Christie A Pararajasingam St. John’s College Magazine 1905 ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE A BRIEF SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY St. John's College is the chief Educational Establishment of the Church Missionary Society's North Ceylon Mission. In 1831 a Boys' English School was established at Nallur by the Church Missionary Society under the superintendence of the Rev. Wm. Adley. Its object was partly to give to the students intellectual, physical and moral training; but more especially it was intended to be a Missionary institution promoting in various ways the spread of the Christian religion upon the principles and doctrines of the Church of England. For nearly ten years the school was carried on at Nallur with very good results, but in 1841 it was transferred to Chundikuli, in order to make room for the girls' boarding school which still exists at Nallur. Under the name of the Chundikuli seminary the work was carried on in various premises hired for the purpose by the Rev. J. T. Johnstone who was then in charge. In 1846 the school was removed to its present position adjoining St. John's Church. Part of the ground was granted by the Government, and for the remainder, the seminary was indebted to the late P. A. Dyke Esqr. who was the Govt. Agent of the provincefor forty years and took a deep interest in all church work. The materials of the old Dutch Church were used by Mr. Pargiter for the construction of the school building. For many years the work went on steadily under various principals and head masters whose names are recorded below. In 1876 the Rev. D. Wood bought an additional piece of land on which in 1888, a boarding house was erected by the Rev. G. T. Fleming with funds collected from old boys to perpetuate the memory of Mr, J. Everts who had been our head master for twenty years. Unfortunately the land was not very suitable for building and required much stronger foundations than those laid with the result that fourteen years later the building had to be taken down and reconstructed on a firmer basis. In 1890, at the request of the acting principal, the seminary was made a centre for the Calcutta University examinations and the first examination was held in February 1891 when six candidates presented themselves. Our jubilee was celebrated in that year and tomark the occasion it was given its new name "St. John's College.’’ In 1893 it was affiliated to the Calcutta University as a second grade college. On the 12th October 1899, the roof of the main building collapsed. Had this occurred half an hour later when the whole school would have been assembled the accident would have been very serious. As it was, no one was hurt. For nearly a year the teaching was carried on in the narrow dormitories of the boarding house, the vestry of the church and even under the shade of a large tree. In February 1901 Dr.Copleston, then Bishop of Colombo, formally opened our new hall with its four class rooms. In May of that year, our primary school was completed, and in October three of the four wings of our boarding house were completed. In 1903, a well-ventilated kitchen was built and also a row of large and neat classrooms replaced the thatched shed known as the Lower School. In 1904 the final wing of the Boarding House was built as well as an additional kitchen for vegetarian cooking. The college is greatly indebted to the Rev. Jacob Thompson for all these improvements in the buildings. These are some of the memorials of the hard and noble work he has done during the last four years. At present the institution consists of a school and college department. In the school boys are prepared for the annual examination conducted by the Government Inspector. In the college department the course of instruction is adapted to the Junior and Senior Cambridge Local examinations. The total area of the College grounds together with those at present occupied by the Girls High school is eight acres so that there is abundant open space. We have a football ground, which, though not of full size, is sufficient for school games. For cricket our boys have to walk to the Esplanade. This is a brief record of the past for which we thank God and take courage. PRINCIPALS Rev. J. T. Johnstone 1841-1846 Rev. R. Pargiter 1846-1866 Rev. D. Wood 1874-1878 Rev. E. Blackmore 1878-1879 Rev. G. T. Fleming 1880-1889 Rev. C. C. Handy, B. A. (Acting) 1889-1892 Rev. J. W. Fall, M. A. 1892-1895 Rev. J. Carter, M.A. 1895-1899 Rev. R. W. Ryde, M.A. 1899-1900 Rev. Jacob Thompson 1900-1902 Rev. C. C. Handy, B. A. (Acting) 1902- Rev. Jacob Thompson, M.A. 1902-1904 HEADMASTERS W. Santiagoe 1811-1848 John Philips 1848-1853 Robert. Williams 1853-1866 S. Williams 1866-1867 J. Evarts 1867-1887 Rev C. C. Handy, B. A. 1889- ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE Principal Rev. Jacob Thompson, M. A. Cantab. (on furlough) Acting Principal Rev. W, J. Hanan, B A. Dublin Head Master Rev. C. C. Handy, B. A. Calcutta Mathematics Mr. S. Somasundaram, B. A. Cal.[certificate. Classics Mr. E. A. Niles, F. A. 2nd class Teachers' Mr. L. S. Ponniah, B. A. Cal. [certificate. English Mr. G, Philipiah F. A. 2nd class Teachers' Tamil Mr. M.Luther Other Assistants Mr. S. K. Ponniah B. A. Cal. Mr. S. V. Chinniah F. A. 2nd class Teachers' [certificate Mr.S. M. Thampiaiyah F.A. 2nd class [Teachers' certificate. Mr.A. Murukasoe Cal. Ent. 2nd class Mr. H. Schwatsz [certificate Tamil. Pupil Teachers A. G. Charles 3rd year D. C. Richard 3rd year G. T. Henry 3rd year L. Jansen 2nd year R. Saba Nadasar 2nd year E. J. RajaRatnam 1st year D. C. Chinniah 1st year Bursar Mr. G. Philipiah Organist C. Toussaint Clerk & Roll-keeper S. Solomon GENERAL RULES 1.Boys are admitted into the School after an examination. No boy can be admitted into the lowest standard above the age of twelve. In the case of boys coming from other schools a certificate of good character and payment of fees is required. 2 Fees must be paid in advance. A discount of ten per cent is allowed if fees are paid before the first of every month. Fees will be charged for the whole term till notice of withdrawal is given. FEES Senior Local class 3.00 per mensem Junior Local class 2.50 per mensem VII. Standard 2.00 per mensem VI. Standard 1.75 per mensem V. Standard o 1.50 per mensem IV. Standard 1.25 per mensem Ill.Standard 1.00 per mensem Il. Standard .50 per mensem I. Standard .25 per mensem 3 The school hours are from 9 A.M. to 12. 15. P.M. and from 1. 30. P.M. to 4. P.M. During hours of divine services and when work is carried on in the school, boys are not allowed to play in the compound. Boys entering the Chapel, Hall, or Classrooms are required to be seated in their places. 4 There are three terms in the year:— Lent Term. January to April. Trinity Term. May to September. Christmas Term. October to December. Vacations about 3 weeks at Christmas about 5 weeks at Easter about 1 week in July about 3 weeks at Michaelmas. 5 An examination in the term's work is held at the end of each term. A terminal report of each boy's conduct, progress and attendance is sent to his parent or guardian. Monthly examinations are also held. A weekly report of each boy's attendance and work is also given. Parents are requested to aid the Masters in enforcing the due preparation of home lessons, upon which a boy’s progress greatly depends. 6 Boys who are absent from school without leave must bring a letter of excuse from parent or guardian on their return to school. Sickness is regarded as the only valid excuse.