Welham Boys’ School in the Doon valley, one of the renowned residential public schools in the country, turns 77 this year. Welham was founded in January 1937 as a preparatory school for boarding schools in England and India by Ms Hersilia Susie Oliphant, an English lady, with a capital of £1,000. Over the past 77 years, the school has grown into an institution preparing boys for the CBSE examination.
The story of Miss HS Oliphant, who set up the Welham Boys’ preparatory School in the Doon valley is an extremely inspiring saga of a dedicated lady who worked tirelessly for the cause of education in India for several decades. Not many know that the founder was born on August 17, 1883 and spent her childhood at Playworth Hall, Retford, Nottinghamshire. There is no record to establish that she ever went to school or college. In 1920, Miss Hersilia Susie Oliphant arrived in India to work as a companion to the Maharani of Cooch Behar. Soon, she left Cooch Behar and went to work in Kanpur and then Delhi. From Delhi, she came to Dehra Dun and worked at The Doon School and Colonel Brown School.
She was resolved to set up a Preparatory School in the Doon valley. In 1936, the owner of 5,Circular Road, Hukum Chand, informed her that the house could be made available for the school. The place was done up and the first boy to join the Welham Boys’ Prep School in January 1937 was Maqbool Hussain Khan. Miss Oliphant’s dream of a residential kindergarten and prep school for Indian children was finally realised. She was then 54-years-old. There were only six boys to begin with. The year 1938 saw 30 boarders and 20 day scholars.
The school was founded as a preparatory school for boarding schools in England and India by Ms Oliphant, with a humble capital of £1,000, named by Miss Oliphant after her girlhood home, the Welham village in Nottinghamshire, this boys’ school has indeed come a very long way from its sheltered existence as a little prep school in the quiet Dalanwala area of the Doon valley. It has gone from ‘Strength to Strength’, as says its motto. Founded in January 1937, it kept sending its boys to other schools like The Doon School and Mayo College after Class 5, for many years till 1980. The first Class Xth batch appeared for boards in 1985.
The school is spread well over 30 acres and has a spectacular view of the Himalayan hills. There are around 500 students at Welham Boys today. The School Magazine titled The Oliphant is brought out by the student-editors. India’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who studied at the Welham Boys’ School and The Doon School in the 1950s, said at one of founder’s day celebrations at the Welham Boys School, where he was the chief guest, that after leaving the ‘familiar’ atmosphere of the Welham Boys’ School, when he went on to The Doon School, he ‘felt lonely and unhappy’ for the first few weeks. “I stayed at Welham for two years and it was like home to me. It was a small school then. When I went to The Doon School, I was quite unhappy as it was a very big school with lots of students. I was a timid child. The atmosphere of fellow feeling I was used to at Welham was missing in the Doon School. My most enjoyable time was spent at Welham. The founder, Miss Oliphant, was a motherly figure, though stern at times,” said Habibullah. “In fact, I never found that atmosphere at any other institution. Welham prepared me in many ways to go out into this world,” said Habibullah.
In 1956, Ms Oliphant donated all her assets to the Welham Boys’ School which presently is administered by a distinguished Board of Trustees. Mr SK Kandhari took over as the Principal in January 1983. He was the Principal for almost 18 years, and helped raise the school from preparatory to Class XII. The Principal today is Ms Gunmeet Bindra under whose guidance the school is moving from strengh to strength.
There is great stress on athletics, table tennis, swimming, Taekwondo, dramatics and music at Welham. Welhamites are also very keen on plantations and reforestation activities. Among the famous ex-alumni of Welham are Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Mani Shanker Aiyyer and actor Zayed Khan. In 2012, the school held grand celebrations to mark its platinum jubilee.