La Martinière College

La Martinière College is a consortium of bi-national elite private schools, majority of them located in India.

La Martinière Schools were founded posthumously by Major General Claude Martin, in the early 19th century.

Martin had acquired a large fortune while serving the Nawab of Awadh Asaf-ud-Daula and bequeathed a major part of his estate to establish the schools.

After taking up residence in Lucknow, he occupied an important position in the court of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah and later his son, Asaf-ud-Daula.

He built the palace of 'Constantia' and his fine house of Farud Baksh, both of which he equipped with luxuries that included a library of some 4,000 volumes written in many languages and a picture gallery containing a collection of works of art.

[1] The major portion of his estate was left for the founding of three institutions, one each at Lucknow, Calcutta and his birthplace Lyon in France.

Finally, as the result of a Supreme Court decision, La Martinière Schools opened in Calcutta, on 1 March 1836.

Coming about due to changing attitudes towards race among the Company administration in India, the school only permitted Indian students (of any religious denomination) to apply in 1935.

The La Martinere College flag consists of the coat of arms on a blue and gold background.

Some of the traditions of this day include an extended formal assembly in the morning with a faculty march, a speech by a prominent guest or alumnus, the playing of bagpipes, singing of the school song and other selected hymns by the College choir, and the laying of a wreath at Claude Martin's tomb.

In India, the students achieving first rank in competing academic examinations in grades 10 and 12 are awarded the Founder's Gold Medal.

Given its foundation in English tradition, it has been compared to the Public Schools of England, and has been referred to as "The Eton of the East" by William Dalrymple, in his book "The Age of Kali."

Claude Martin (1735–1800)
Claude Martin's bust inside the School
The founder Claude Martin on the obverse of a 1874 prize medal of La Martinière Lyon
The reverse of that medal by Joseph Dantzell (1805 Lyon - 1877 Paris) engraved with the winner of a 1st Prize Maurice Tissot
Auguste (left) and Louis Lumière.