John Anderson Graham

[1][2][3][4][5][6] He was the founder of the Dr. Graham's Homes, Orphanage-cum-School for destitute Anglo-Indian children at Kalimpong, in the Eastern Himalayas on the borders of Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, and India.

[1][9][11] With minimum and interrupted schooling, he started working as a clerk in a role of licking stamps and delivering messages.

While studying at the university, he became the secretary to the committee producing Life and Work, a Church periodical, and also learnt here the importance and power of propaganda and dissemination of information.

It also housed "Guild mission" and a training school for catechists; later, with growing diseases, a hospital with 25 beds was opened in 1893.

[1][11] As a missionary, he was responsible for the growth of Christian churches, hospitals, and economic development activities by raising funds from Scotland.

John and Katherine Graham started this to relieve the plight of underprivileged children of Anglo-Indian descent and numerous destitutes from the streets of Calcutta(present Kolkata) and the tea plantations of Darjeeling, Dooars, and Terai.

In 1908, Graham was assisted in his work at Kalimpong by James Purdie, a welfare worker in Glasgow prison, later happened to be an important player in managing the finances efficiently and building up the necessary reserves ensuring constant flow of funds for homes.

[12] In 1914, Aeneas married Clara Anne Rendall, who was also a Church of Scotland missionary and a teacher at St Andrew's Colonial Home.

At present, it is providing education to Eurasian, Anglo-Indian, ethnic Negalese people, students from neighbouring lands of Tibet, Bhutan, and locals from different creed and clan too.

[1][4][5][7][8][9][11][15] The rapid expansion of Kalimpong homes had become a matter of concern for the Foreign Missionary committees due to budget constraints.

Graham and his other missionaries were also criticised by Lepcha Christian communities, who felt that they had been educated for only vocational pursuits and not for business, trade or commerce.