Eighty years is a long time in the history of any institution and is an apt occasion to look back at the journey so far of that institution. An educational institution in a verdant green corner of the Doon valley where many well known people went to as their first little school has today grown into a larger institution, moving from “strength to strength” over the last eight decades.
Welham Boys’ School, one of the renowned residential public schools in the country, turns 80 this January .Welham was founded in January 1937 as a preparatory school for boarding schools in England and India by Hersilia Susie Oliphant, an English lady, with a capital of £1000. Over the past eighty years, the school has grown into an institution preparing boys for the CBSE examination.
The story of Miss H S Oliphant, who set up the Welham Boys ‘s preparatory School in the Doon valley, is an inspiring saga of a dedicated lady who worked 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, and 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 realized. She was then 54 years old. There were only six boys to begin with. The year 1938 saw 30 boarders and twenty day scholars.
The school was founded as a preparatory school for boarding schools in England and India by Miss Oliphant, with a humble capital of £1000. 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. 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 Ten batch appeared for boards in 1985.
The school is spread over 30 acres and has a spectacular view of the Himalayan hills. The School Magazine titled “The Oliphant” is brought out by the student-editors.
In 1956, Ms Oliphant donated all her assets to the Welham Boys School which presently is administered by a distinguished Board of Trustees. S K Kandhari took over as 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 Gunmeet Bindra under whose guidance the school is moving from strength 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 Zayed Khan, the actor.
In 2012, the school held grand celebrations to mark its platinum jubilee.