In 1752, a 17 - year old Frenchman named Claude Martin came to India as a humble private in the armies
of the East India Company. But Claude Martin was no ordinary soldier of fortune. He rose rapidly to
the rank of Major General and also spent many years in the service of Shuja-ud-daulah, the Nawab of
Oudh. By the time of his death in September 1800, he had amassed property worth over half a million
pounds sterling.
So far, Claude Martin’s career reads like that of so many other Europeans who found fame and fortune
under the powerful patronage of the East India Company. And indeed, if that was all there was to the
man, he would have soon been forgotten in the musty pages of history.
However, Claude Martin was a man of vision and he left generous endowments to start schools in
Lucknow, Kolkata and in Lyon, in his native land of France. La Martiniere Schools, Kolkata, were the
result of his desire to start an educational institution for the “public good of the town of
It took 30 years to dispose off the litigation arising out of Claude Martin’s will. Finally, as a
result of a Supreme Court decision, La Martiniere Schools opened in Kolkata, on 1st March, 1836.
La Martiniere for Boys offers an all-round education upto the Higher Secondary level. It is affiliated
to the Council for the ISC Examinations New Delhi, which conducts the ICSE & ISC Examinations at the
close of Classes X & XII.
The school has a very wide spectrum of co-curricular activities which receive as much importance as
the academic disciplines. Through this extensive range of activities, the students are exposed to
varying situations and issues. They regularly participate in Inter-School Competitions at the local,
State, National and occasionally, at the International level.
The scholastic, the intra and the extra-mural programmes of La Martiniere are geared to nurturing
academic excellence, independent and creative thought, tapping of diverse talents, leadership training
and a deep commitment to serving the community.
The School Song was composed by Frederick James Rowe who was an Assistant master in LMC from 1868-1870. After his death on 5th Jan, 1909, the school alumni placed a bronze tablet in his memory in what is now the Memorial corner inside the Visitors Lounge.
Chorus
Hail! Hail! The name we own,
Hail ! To the giver ;
Blessing and bright renown,
Be his for ever !
All his martial deeds may die,
Lasting still his charity,
This his laurel blooms for aye
Dead-he-lives in us to-day.
This then our song shall be,
As we chant his eulogy-
"May our Founder's name endure,
Ever spotless, ever pure!”
Chorus
Faithful may we ever be
Followers of his constancy,
Firm of hand against the foe,
Soft of heart to succour woe,
This then our song shall be
As we chant his eulogy-
"May our Founder's name endure
Ever spotless ever pure!"
Chorus
O Almighty God, and most merciful Father who has taught us to praise Thee as well for the dead as the living. We thank Thee for Claude Martin, our Founder, for Catchick Paul Chater, our benefactor, and for the lives and examples of all who have served thee in this School. Pour down Thy blessing, we pray Thee, upon those who are now here, Prosper our labours, as Thou in Thy wisdom see’st to be best for us. Protect us, we beseech thee, from all things hurtful both to soul and body. Preserve us by thy Holy Spirit from sin and selfishness, and make us generous and brave, pure and true, in all our work and in all our play, that our tasks being sanctified by Thy love, our days here may be attended by Thy blessing; and that when our day's work on earth is over, thou mayest send us rest from our labours under the shadow of Thy wings; for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord, AMEN.
Sir Catchick Paul Chater, a Foundationer and ward of the school studied in La Martiniere from
1856-1863. From an early age Chater displayed academic brilliance and a limitless capacity for hard
work. After completing school, Chater entered the world of trade and commerce and prospered. By the
second decade of thphilanthropy was already legendary and earned him a knighthood from the British
Crown.
e 20th Century, he was a very rich, famous and deeply respected banker in Hong Kong. His In the
meanwhile, La Martiniere Schools, Calcutta were in dire financial straits and, in a desperate bid to
keep bankruptcy at bay, were forced to sell two large buildings near either gate of the Boys' School.
It will remain to the eternal credit of the Martiniere teachers of this period, that they volunteered
for a substantial cut in their salaries in a heroic but vain bid to save the school. Unfortunately,
all these efforts failed to solve the schools' financial dilemma and, La Martiniere prepared to close
down.
Learning that the school was in deep financial distress and on the verge of closure, Paul Chater sent
his Alma Mater a generous donation of Rs. 6 lakhs in 1925, and Rs. 5 lakhs the following year. He also
expressed a desire to visit his Alma Mater in 1926. Unfortunately, he died on the 27th May, 1926, two
months before his proposed visit.
To perpetuate its benefactor's name, a grateful Martiniere included Chater's name in the school prayer
and named an annual holiday after him, and his bust erected at Junior School lawn.
The rest is history and, without once looking back, La Martiniere has moved from strength to greater
strength.
