Historical Legacy of Colvin Taluqdars' College
Lucknow is home to some prominent schools and colleges dating back to the colonial era. Colvin Taluqdars' College is one such educational institution that has a history of its own.
There was a time when people used to talk about " Ilm and Talim" in any part of the country, then there was a mention of Lucknow. Colvin Talukaidar College was also included in it.
This Colvin Taluqdars' College with a beautiful and happy past is today one of the leading schools in the city.
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Colvin Taluqdars' College, Lucknow |
According to most of the historian, Sir Auckland Colvin (1838-1908) was a British Empire official in India and Egypt. He was born into the renowned Anglo-Indian Colvin family. He was administrator general in Egypt and financial adviser to the Khedive.
From 1883-92 he was back in India, first as a financial member of the council, and then as Lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces (as his father had been) and Oudh.
Sir Auckland Colvin conceived the idea of a school with the object of imparting education to the children of the British administrators and the landed aristocracy who were known as Taluqdars and founded Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow in 1889, which developed into one of the country's most prestigious public schools. The architecture of the school is an amalgamation of Mughal and colonial architectural styles.
Colvin Taluqdars'​ College produces young people who learn to discipline their feelings and display a strong moral fibre in their demeanour.
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Colvin Taluqdars' College - School Logo |
The Motto of the Colvin Taluqdars' College is "Noblesse Oblige" in French which translated from the original French suggests that "whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly".
The Colvin Taluqdars' College has trained some of the finest minds in the country.
Till the year 1933, College education was confined to the aristocracy. The purpose of the school was to train the children of the British, princes and talukdars. Historian says that the first and most important condition for entering it at that time was that the child taking admission must be from the royal family.
Only when the British left India in 1947 did it open its doors to the general public.
The college is partially residential. It has two boarding houses Awadh and Anjuman, which can seat 150 students.
Like other schools, there is a house system here. The school has five houses - Ajanta, Nalanda, Sanchi, Taxila and Ujjain. The school has an annual sports day and a day to meet old students, which is celebrated as 'Durbar Day' in December.
Colvin Taluqdars’ College represents the glorious past and the associated history that narrates the whole saga that Lucknow witnessed from the colonial era until the modern-day.
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Rashidul Haque
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