Kinnaird College Book

CELEBRATING KINNAIRD
Pioneering Women’s Higher Education

in the Punjab
Vivienne Stacey
Copyright © 2001 The Association of Kinnaird College for Women

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Published by The Association of Kinnaird College for Women
Printed in Pakistan by
TITLE PAGE
CONTENTS
FOREWORD by the BISHOP of LAHORE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE COLLEGE PRAYER, MOTTO, SHIELD, SONG and OATH
Chapter 1. A TUMULTUOUS CENTURY
Chapter 2. SMALL BEGINNINGS
Chapter 3. THREE LOCATIONS
Chapter 4. MISS ISABELLA McNAIR (Principal 1928 - 1950)
Chapter 5. INDEPENDENCE and PARTITION 1947
Chapter 6. MISS PRIOBALA MANGAT RAI (Principal 1950 - 1969)
Chapter 7. MISS MARGARET ROBINSON (Principal 1969 - 1972)
Chapter 8. TWENTIETH CENTURY GRADUATES
Chapter 9. THE LAST WORD: COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Chapter 10. DR. MIRA PHAILBUS (Principal 1972 - )
Chapter 11. ERA of NATIONALIZATION 1972 - 1996
Chapter 12. AUTONOMY and the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Chapter 13. REMINISCENCES
Chapter 14. A STAFF PERSPECTIVE on 1972 - 2000
AFTERWORD by the PRINCIPAL, DR. MIRA PHAILBUS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Notes on the Kinnaird Family

Appendix 2 English as the Medium of Instruction
Appendix 3 The History of the Present College Site
Appendix 4 Kinnaird College, Lahore, 1919 Inspection
Appendix 5 Kinnaird College, Lahore, 1927 Inspection
FOREWORD
THE RIGHT REVEREND DR ALEXANDER JOHN MALIK, BISHOP OF LAHORE

CHAIRMAN, THE ASSOCIATION OF KINNAIRD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
Reading through the history of Kinnaird several thoughts come to mind. Firstly, what a great
deal of research, reading, listening, discussion and simple hard methodical work must have
gone into this whole venture. Congratulations Miss Vivienne Stacey! Secondly, I realized
that so many of Kinnaird’s present day problems of inadequate finance and lack of freedom to
choose staff, too small and too few classrooms, out-dated office equipment, inadequate library
facilities seem to have been there from the start. Thirdly, with a sense of pride and humility I
note a determination to survive, to make good in an uncertain even a disheartening situation.
Over and above all facts and figures are the special elements which have fused together to
light up Kinnaird’s history, giving it a glow and a warmth that has reached out to thousands of
students all over the world. I refer here to the women who have guided and nurtured the
college. Women such as Miss Isabella McNair, Miss Dorothy Boswell, Mrs. Lila Najmuddin,
Miss Priobala Mangat Rai and Miss Margaret Robinson and Dr. Mira Phailbus, all persons of
great personal integrity with an unquestionable commitment to Kinnaird. All of them while
gifted with great personal qualities have also been blessed with a team of dedicated loyal
colleagues who shared their progressive vision for Kinnaird. They have shaped the character
of generations of students allowing talent to blossom and seeking out hidden gifts in others.
They have been role models to girls, teaching a life of dignity, femininity and graciousness
along with intellectual curiosity. Above all, they have been a wonderful witness to Christian
life and have shown us that however disturbed the world around us might be it is possible to
live simply and think highly.
A sentence from what I have read stands out in my mind: “An educational system is not worth
much if it teaches a student how to make a living but not to make a life”. It is with this in
mind that I come finally to the Christian character of Kinnaird - this is at once distinctive and
all embracing. In that it derives its ethical and moral life from the Bible it is distinctive. In that
many of its values are common to other faiths it is all-embracing. Kinnaird students and staff
have responded from the heart to these values and shown that women from diverse
backgrounds and beliefs can override differences and unite to form a solid phalanx of
enlightened minds - marching together against obscurantism, ignorance, intolerance and hate.
It is these qualities of dedication and commitment to the higher values which Miss Vivienne
Stacey has captured so truly in her account of the history of the college. The college owes
Miss Stacey a debt for so faithfully recording its history and for reminding readers of the life
and service of those who have made Kinnaird the special place it is.
Bishopsbourne
Cathedral Close
The Mall
Lahore
January 2001
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Like most people I had heard of Kinnaird College before I ever saw it. In my youth in England
I remember meeting Lord and Lady Kinnaird, more recent holders of the title than those
connected with the early history of the college. When I arrived in Pakistan in Lahore by train
in 1954 I was met by the head of the Science Department, Miss Dorothy Boswell. She came to
welcome me as a fellow member of the same organization which founded the college in 1913.
I stayed for a few days at Kinnaird High School but came to dinner at Kinnaird College that
first evening and met the Principal, Miss Mangat Rai, and some of the staff. After a few days I
left for Gujranwala and then Sialkot to start my Urdu studies. Through the years I visited the
college, sometimes to see the annual play, once to give a series of lectures as a visiting lecturer
in Biblical Studies, many times to visit friends and have a quiet weekend on the beautiful
campus, and in October 1968, and June and November 1969 to represent the Bible and
Medical Missionary Fellowship on the Board of Directors. It never occurred to me that after
living for thirty-seven years in Pakistan I might return to research and write a history of this
unique college. I am very grateful to the Principal, Dr. Phailbus, and the Association of
Kinnaird College for requesting me to do this. Not only have the researches been fascinating
but I am enriched by many pleasant encounters and stimulating conversations with old
students, lecturers and friends of Kinnaird College.
In this account of Kinnaird College I have tried to present its history in a semi-popular rather
than an academic form. I have quoted extensively from the earlier annual reports, from its
magazine, The Last Word, and from some of the significant letters I found in the archives. I
have paid particular attention to three periods in the history of the college. The first is the time
when some campaigned for such a college, and of its birth and early years. The second is
1947, where I have focussed on how Kinnaird College fared and contributed when Pakistan
was born and how it reorganized and grew with the new country. The last is that largely
covered by the memories of present and past staff and students, whom I have met and who
recounted their own experiences of Kinnaird College. I have had the privilege of meeting and
discussing the college with such people not only in Pakistan and India but in the U.K., the
U.S.A., Canada, the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Inevitably I
had to be selective so I hope each will be ready to see her story reflected in the experiences of
others. There is much that I admire which I cannot include, due to constraints of space,
especially some of the poems in The Last Word.
Finally I would like to express my thanks to my friend and colleague Miss P.R. Tring who has
made so many helpful suggestions about my efforts; and to Mrs. M. Phailbus, Mrs. Perin
Cooper Boga and Mrs. Ira Hasan for all their help and encouragement.
Vivienne Stacey
Paphos
Cyprus
January, 2001
THE COLLEGE PRAYER, MOTTO, SHIELD, SONG and OATH
1. The College Prayer
May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon us and all our work this day; may He give light
to guide us, courage to support us and love to unite us, now and for evermore.
2. The College Motto1
Light to guide us, Courage to support us and Love to unite us.
3. The College Shield
A former student (1958), Zara Mumtaz, with the help of Mrs. M. Velte made a design for the
Shield. The words on the Shield are: Light - Courage - Love.
The mountain is for courage and the rising sun behind it is for light, and the flower in the
foreground is for love.
4. The College Song2
Now we praise you, God Almighty

Maker of this world, and King,
Lord of Mercy, Lord of Judgment,
All in joyful worship sing.
Help us; guide our faltering footsteps
With your light upon our way.
As you have been always near us,
Draw us closer everyday.
In this world where you have set us

We would serve you all our days,
Body, mind and spirit joining
In a ceaseless hymn of praise,
Grant us light to guide us onward;
1The Student Executive Committee chose a motto and emblem for the College. They decided that the
motto should be taken from some words often used in College Assemblies.
2Written by Miss Kathleen Dall, Lecturer in English 1959-67.

Courage for support, we pray;
Love forever to unite us;
In your presence may we stay.
5. The College Oath
At Kinnaird College for Women, the Principal, Staff and Students’ Council have traditionally
assisted one another and worked in complete harmony to uphold the college oath:
I pledge to live up to the trust placed in me; to willingly and conscientiously fulfil my
responsibilities; to work with integrity and loyalty; to be rather than to seem.
Chapter 1
A TUMULTUOUS CENTURY
Although Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, was not founded until 1913 we have to look
back to the previous century to understand the soil in which it took root and grew. The
Punjabi woman born at the beginning of the nineteenth century saw startling changes. For her
great-granddaughters at the end of the century the Punjab was almost a different world.
Early in the nineteenth century the Sikhs took over power from the Muslims. The Sikh
chieftains struggled against each other until the remarkable Ranjit Singh appeared subduing
one chief after another and exacting tribute. These chiefs were rewarded with the protection of
the name of the astute man who virtually ruled the Punjab. After his death in 1839 British
influence increased and, finally, in 1849 the Punjab was annexed.
Communications gradually improved. The first train in India was introduced in 1853. By 1856
telegraph linked the main cities. Then came the War of Independence in 1857. Telegraphic
messages enabled the British rulers to alert each other and plan strategic moves. Their
opponents lacked similar opportunity to coordinate their efforts. After the rulers restored calm
and order, Queen Victoria’s Proclamation was made on 1st November 1858 announcing the
end of the rule of the East India Company and bringing much of India under the British
Crown. In 1877 Queen Victoria assumed the title Kaisar-i-Hind (Empress of India). When
the century reached its end Queen Victoria still ruled but nationalism was in the air.
The Grand Trunk Road linked Amritsar with Peshawar. Railways, bridges and canals changed
the face of the Punjab. The Punjab Railway, with its headquarters in Lahore, started a regular
daily service between Lahore and Amritsar in May 1862. The line between Lahore and Multan
was opened in 1865 by the Viceroy, Lord Lawrence.3 The Sirhind Canal was opened in 1882
and the Chenab Canal in 1892. Despite famines and plagues greater prosperity came to many
through the development of agriculture. In 1901 the North West Frontier Province was
created out of the Punjab. Ten years later the capital of British India was moved from
Calcutta to Delhi. Nationalism was a force to be recognized, and the Press a power to be
reckoned with. The rulers, sharing the benefits of their civilization, had unleashed forces
which eventually they could not control. However, nearly another half century passed before
independence was achieved.
Christians, both local and foreign, had acted as leaven in society, unleashing forces which were
beyond their vision and imagination. Reactions to Christianity produced socio-religious
societies among Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims like the Arya Samaj, the Anjuman Islamia and the
Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam.4 New cultural patterns emerged and life was never to be the same
again. Our interest is particularly in the area which is now the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
since this is where Kinnaird College is located. The rise of Ranjit Singh and his magnificent
court in Lahore gave a new importance and influence to this region at the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
The Punjab under Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh was born in 1780 in Gujranwala. He captured Lahore from the Moghuls in 1799
and Amritsar in 1802. The first treaty of friendship between Ranjit Singh and the British was
signed in 1806 and a further one in 1838. Ranjit Singh died in 1839, having ruled for forty
years. He was one of the most remarkable men of his century. He inherited a large district in
the heart of the Punjab and, encouraged by his mother-in-law, set about trying to unify the
Punjab. Eventually he ruled a community of about one and a half million Sikhs. He gained
control of most of the Punjab, which probably included about ten or twelve million Muslims
and Hindus.5 He expressed interest in other faiths, visiting Hindu and Muslim shrines and
discussing religion with people of various faiths or of no faith, like some of the Europeans. He
is reported as saying that every man should follow his conscience in seeking to worship God in
the way that seems right to him. At the same time he remained a devout Sikh.6 As far as we
know no Christian congregation existed in the Punjab during his rule but he had close dealings
with some individual Christians. He employed French, Italian and other European soldiers to
train his army, as well as Britons and Americans.
Ranjit Singh had a very international and cosmopolitan court. He welcomed foreign travellers
3For this and further information see From Couplings to the Khyber, P.S.A. Berridge, David and
Charles, 1969, pp. 36 ff.
4Socio-religious societies and social change in the city of Amritsar under British rule, Mrs. Anand
Gauba. Proceedings of Panjab History Conference. Twelfth Session March 17-19, 1978. Panjab University,
Patiala.
5Religious Policy of Ranjit Singh: its Background and Analysis, S.K. Bajaj. Proceedings of The
Panjab History Society. 11th Session. November 1976. pp. 208-9.
6Ibid. p. 211.
and invited guests.7 The Rev’d John Lowrie, an American Presbyterian missionary, had started
work in Ludhiana in 1834. Ranjit Singh invited him to Lahore as he wanted an English school
for the education of his children and those of his nobles. Negotiations broke down because
Ranjit Singh would not allow the teaching of the Bible in the proposed school. However, the
visit was friendly as were the talks on religion.8
The Punjab after the death of Ranjit Singh until the British annexation, 1839 - 1849
In December 1845 the Sikh army, contrary to previous agreements, actually crossed the River
Sutlej. Two days later the British declared war. After several battles and skirmishes the British
army entered Lahore on 20th February 1846. On 9th March the First Treaty of Lahore was
signed. The terms of the treaty included the surrender by the Sikhs of the land between the
Sutlej and Beas.
The Governor-General noted that it was not intended that the Punjab should remain an
independent state. Major Henry Lawrence was chosen by the British to implement the peace
settlement and became the Resident in Lahore. He had immense compassion and a deep
understanding of the peoples of the Punjab which he had gained by living among them. He
understood their feelings, reactions and prejudices. He was one of those rare Westerners who
recognized that personal friendship was more important than the rigid enactment of just laws.
His brother, John Lawrence, acted as Resident and Agent and took his place temporarily
during his illness in 1847 until another Resident arrived. In 1849 Henry Lawrence returned
and again became Resident.9 John Lawrence was very different from his brother. He was
shrewd, businesslike and blunt in manner with a genius for organization and administration.
Both the brothers were devout Christians as were a remarkable number of the British who
helped them in the Punjab. After the annexation of the Punjab on 29th March 1849 Sir Henry
Lawrence sent a letter of welcome to the Church Missionary Society10 (C.M.S.) missionaries
and a subscription of five hundred rupees a year for mission work, showing the importance he
attached to their work. It now became easy for missions and missionaries to work in the
Punjab. Work had already started in Sindh. One era ended and another began.
Work among women
Work among women and girls, whether in the Hindu and Muslim zenanas or through schools,
was now pioneered. Such work had already been done by Mrs. Winter of the Delhi Mission.
She taught secluded women and girls in their homes as well as starting schools for very young
girls, normal schools11 for training Indian and European women as teachers, an Industrial
School for poor Muslim women, and schools for the European and Eurasian children of the
station.12 Now it was the turn of the Punjab. In 1867 Sir Herbert Edwards wrote to the
7Foreigners at the Court of Ranjit Singh, Harbans Singh. The Panjab Past and Present. Vol XIV-11.
October 1980. p. 109.
8Ibid. p. 116.
9British Residency and Agency System in North West India, V.S. Suri. The Panjab Past and Present.
Vol. II Part I. April 1968. p. 35.
10Founded in 1799 and recently renamed the Church Mission Society.
11A ‘normal school’ was a teacher training college.
12Digests, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G.) Records. p. 617.
C.M.S. in London urging them to undertake zenana13 work in the Punjab similar to what they
had done already in other parts of India, through Bible classes and schools. Other societies
were also at work in this field. Certainly Christian philanthropic enterprises, run by educated
and sometimes wealthy women in and from the U.K., affected women in India. Education had
a significant place in their planning. The Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society
was founded in the U.K. in 1852 to aid Indian women. Its name reveals its concern for the
training of teachers and the establishment of schools for women and girls. It was particularly
concerned for those girls who were restricted in the women’s apartments of Muslim and Hindu
homes. Later, in 1880, it officially changed its name to the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission
(Z.B.M.M.) indicating its concern for medical as well as educational work. In 1957 it became
the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship (B.M.M.F.) and it is now known as Interserve.
The Indian women of Northern India were generally half a century behind the women of
Calcutta and Bombay for whose enlightenment efforts had been made much earlier, so it is not
surprising that this society was soon at work in the Punjab. The start of the Punjab Missions
in the 1850s spurred things on, while Bengali Indian Christian business men in Lahore were
championing the provision of education for their daughters. The policy of the new rulers was
not so clear. Some of the great administrators like John Lawrence turned their attention to
developing this part of Northern India. How much the education of women was a priority it is
difficult to discern. Maskiell considers that: “The British government’s overall policy, which
promoted higher education in the English language focusing on Western subjects such as
European history, fostered neglect of female education because no nineteenth century Punjabi
social group advocated university education for women. Only Western missionaries, in their
desire to train Punjabi Christian women to staff local schools, promoted female higher
education and envisioned it leading to public employment for women.”14
13Pertaining to women; the women’s section of a house, especially in Muslim and Hindu homes.
14Maskiell, Michelle Women Between Cultures: The Lives of Kinnaird College Alumnae in British
India,
Syracuse University, 1984.
Chapter 2
SMALL BEGINNINGS
The High School for Girls
The Government Kinnaird High School, the oldest girls’ school in the area which is now
Pakistan, was founded in 1864 by a few Indian Christian businessmen to provide ‘superior
education’ for Christian girls in the Punjab. They realized the important influence women
would have in their homes and knew that no balanced and effective progress could be made
solely through boys’ education. Since the American Presbyterians had already opened Rang
Mahal School for Boys, Dr. Charles W. Forman of the A. P. M. was asked to help the
committee of the new school for girls. He requested Miss Emma Fuller to become the first
Principal.15 The school was opened in June, with seventeen pupils in the Mission Chapel at
Naulakha on the road leading from the Railway Station to Government House. Fourteen
pupils were from Lahore, two from Jullundur and one from Gujranwala. The school was
originally started to educate Christian children - the daughters of educated Bengali converts to
Christianity who had migrated to the Punjab, daughters of local converts and a few orphans. It
admitted the first Hindu girl in 1866. Until other buildings were ready, the school met in
Newton Villa adjoining the present compound of the Government Kinnaird High School. “The
Object of the school is to train Native Christian girls as teachers, and to impart a sound
English and Vernacular education to girls whose parents are inclined to pay on a moderate
scale. The school is under a Lady Superintendent, with a staff of one English lady assistant, a
European Matron and a Munshi, and, being in receipt of a grant-in-aid, is inspected by the
officers of the Educational Department. The school is supported by the parent society in
England, as well as by subscriptions raised in this country and fees levied from the parents of
the girls who attend it.” 16
Over the years since 1864, there have been ten principals of the school and each was full of
plans for the future. They saw the various possibilities for developing education for Christian
girls. Miss Zeb Zaman, the first Pakistani Principal, ably led and guided the school from 1970
until 1996 when she retired from Government service and handed over her responsibilities.
In 1886, a student from Kinnaird High School was the first girl in the Punjab to pass the
matriculation of the University of the Punjab and in 1899, a student of Kinnaird High School
was the first girl in the Punjab to pass the F.A. examination. The number of students grew
steadily - from the initial 17 to 256 in 1927, to 705 at the Centenary in 1964, to 820 at the
15Miss Fuller was Principal of the School from 1864-73. She was succeeded by Miss Henderson
(1873-79). Miss Agnes Keay was Principal from 1879 until her death in 1905.
16Syed Muhammad Latif, Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities, Lahore, 1892.
p. 331.
time of nationalization in 1972, and to 1,537 at the time of the Jubilee celebrating 125 years.
During its long history, Kinnaird High School has been a source of inspiration for the
education and character building of women.
The name Kinnaird17
During its hundred and thirty-four years of service to the girls and women of Lahore and the
Punjab, and through its boarding arrangements for girls from all parts of the country, the
school has been known by a variety of names - the Native Christian Girls’ School, the Lahore
Christian Girls’ School, the Lady Dufferin Christian Girls’ School (c.1884), the Kinnaird High
School (1907), and now since nationalization in 1972, the Government Kinnaird High School
(for Girls). The school name was changed from Lady Dufferin to Kinnaird in 1907 because
Lady Dufferin’s name was connected with non-Christian medical work for Indian women and
it might appear that the school was secular too. 18
The name Kinnaird comes from a titled family from Scotland who were involved with India,
politically (Lord Arthur Kinnaird spoke on Indian issues in the Parliament at Westminster) and
in concern over social and mission issues. The name ‘Kinnaird’ was given in honour of Lady
Mary Kinnaird and her family, who helped and supported the School and the College. Her
husband, Lord Kinnaird, and her son were successively Chairmen of the committee that raised
financial support. Lord Kinnaird personally lent money for building in the school and later
donated funds for the college rooms.19 After Lady Kinnaird’s death, her daughters, Gertrude
and Emily, continued this concern. It is especially interesting to read the parts of Emily’s
Reminiscences about Lahore.20 Emily, who was born in 1855, wrote: “I visited India for the
second time in 1905-6 in the company of my sister Gertrude, whose special sphere of labour
was the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, my object being to revisit friends and to give a
helping hand to the Association in various places.”21 Of her fourth visit to India in 1921-22
she recorded: “At the same time I found what tremendous strides higher education had made
in the interval between my last visit and the present. There were now seven million educated
Indians. Instead of the few women students I knew thirty years ago there were hundreds in
many schools and colleges in Bengal, Madras, Lucknow and Lahore. The Kinnaird Christian
College in Lahore developed from the Kinnaird School there bearing our name. Girls’ schools
are inspected by women inspectors many of whom are Christians because the Christian
community is the best educated and its women willing to travel about freely.”22
Before the Kinnaird College Board meeting in January 1933 the Kinnaird College Committee
in England suggested that the word ‘Christian’ should be added to the name of the college.
The Board agreed that as the name ‘Kinnaird’ was understood to mean ‘Christian’ in the
Punjab, the insertion of ‘Christian’ in those days of communal feeling might suggest to non-
Christians that the college desired to exclude them, therefore it would be a mistake to
introduce it. The Principal was asked to write and explain this point of view of the Board to
the Kinnaird College Committee in England.
17See Appendix I. I am indebted to Miss P.R.Tring for obtaining this information for me.
18London minutes of Z.B.M.M. No.835, May 1st 1907.
19London minutes of Z.B.M.M. No.751, April 16th 1902.
20The frontispiece of her book shows the Hon. Emily Kinnaird with Jamila Siraj-ud-Din, an early
student of both Kinnaird High School and Kinnaird College.
21Reminiscences p.130.
22Ibid. p.174.
First mention of the College
The earliest mention of college level work was in a letter dated 21st March 1900, from the
Principal, Miss Agnes Keay, to the London Committee. She wanted an F.A. class but was
refused. Later that year Miss Keay was requested by a former pupil for help with further
studies, so she gave her undergraduate teaching. In 1901 this developed into a teacher
training class, meeting the needs of those who wished to train for a profession. It later became
a separate institution known as the Kinnaird Training Centre. Some girls, however, wished to
pursue university qualifications. Permission for F.A. was given in 1902 by the London
Committee23 provided that there was no extra expense and spiritual work did not suffer. Soon
after this Miss Keay was seriously ill and was sent home in 1903. She died in 1905. All
initiatives for starting college classes came from the Lahore Committee, not from the London
end. Some years later, ‘a college in embryo’ emerged within the school. In this way Kinnaird
College developed within the framework of the school as pupils requested further studies. In
May 1912 permission for an F.A. class, College Department, was given and in February 1913
application for affiliation was made to the Punjab University. In 1913, college classes were
opened on the school premises and six girls enrolled. In December 1913 the participation of
other missions was invited. World War I seems to have slowed down much activity and left a
shortage of money. As more girls joined the college classes at Kinnaird High School a
bungalow on Mayo Road was rented. College classes continued and separated from the school
in 1918 and became what is now known as Kinnaird College. The only subjects taught there
were English, Urdu, Mathematics and History. In 1917, the B.A. class had started with five
girls. Another bungalow was rented, this time on Empress Road from the American Methodist
Mission. The third-year classes were held in a small room and the library reposed sedately in
the pantry.
The six students who formed the first Kinnaird College class in 1913 and those who taught
them probably had little idea that this was the beginning of the most prestigious women’s
college of the area which was to become the country of Pakistan. A class photograph of the
first F.A. class (1915) was presented to Kinnaird College by Dr. J. J. Sinclair. The students
have been identified in the following order from left to right, with one exception:
Elizabeth Roshan Khan, Lily Jackson, Mary Thakur Das,

_______, Annie Rallia Ram, Miss Martha Stewart (sewing teacher),
Louisa Jessu, Hemlata Ghose
Prebhu Dei Tika, Chloe Morgan
Mary Thakur Das was the daughter of Rev’d Thakur Das, former Minister at Naulakha
Church. Louisa H. Jessu in 1935 became Headmistress of Government Girls High and Normal
School, Karnal. Hemlata Ghose was the daughter of a Bengali father whose Hindu parents
moved to the Punjab after becoming Christians. She passed her F.A. from Kinnaird College
and B.A. and B.Ed. from other Lahore institutions.24 After retiring from her post as principal
of a Government School for Girls somewhere in the Punjab, she returned to Lahore and taught
for over ten years at Kinnaird High School. Chloe Morgan later married Dr. J. J. Sinclair,
former Principal of Forman Christian College.
According to an early brochure, when financial difficulties at the time of World War I
23Minutes of the London Committee of Z.B.M.M. No. 910, November 5th 1902.
24See Maskiell, p.84.

threatened to close the Kinnaird College there was a storm of protest from students, the
Government and Christians. The Board of Kinnaird College for Women was gradually formed
with the following bodies joining in the year indicated.
Zenana Bible and Medical Mission 1913
American Presbyterian Mission 1919
Church Missionary Society 1919
Punjab Indian Christian Conference 1921-1951
United Presbyterian Mission 1923
Church of Scotland 1946
American Methodist Mission 1949
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 1954
Anglican Church of Canada 1962
Reformed Church of the Netherlands 1962
When in 1919 the American Presbyterians joined, Dr. R. Ewing, Principal of Forman, became
Chairman of the College Board.25
Early Principals
Miss Joan McDonald 1913 - 1915
The first Intermediate class (F.A.) was started in the October of 1913, with Miss Joan
McDonald as the first Principal. She did most of the spade work in starting the college. She
was a woman of vision who wrote in 1914: “This is a small beginning but some day not very
far distant we hope to offer a science course and then the number will increase. We hope to
have a new college building in the near future”. The science department was not founded until
1950 - two world wars, lack of finance and partition of the subcontinent were the main
hindrances. Although science was undeniably much needed as an option for women, the
numbers at the college increased from the initial 6 to 170 by 1951. “From 1913-1922
Kinnaird College was the only women’s liberal arts college in the Punjab...it trained a
generation of teachers during its brief span as a pioneering institution of women’s higher
education. Early students were mostly Christian...among the first Punjabi women to take up
professional employment and to demonstrate that women could hold public positions. They
had an influence out of proportion to their numbers...Only 4% of girls of school-going age
were attending school in the Punjab in 1912.”26
Miss Mohini Maya Das 1915 - 1916 and 1919 - 1920
Another Principal and teacher, Miss Mohini Maya Das, belonged to one of the foremost
Christian families of the Punjab. Many of her nieces studied in Kinnaird at various periods. In
teaching History she roused keen interest in her students.
Miss Annear 1916 - 1919
Miss Annear, an excellent teacher of English, was Principal for three years until she married
Rev’d H. J. Jenkins in the spring of 1919. She continued to teach her class until four months
before the final examinations. Hers was the first staff wedding in the college, the next being
25The Pakistan Times Supplement for the Golden Jubilee of Kinnaird College.
26Maskiell, M. G. Women’s Higher Education and Family Networks in South Asia: Kinnaird College,
Lahore, 1913-60, University of Pennsylvania unpublished Ph.D.Thesis, 1979 .
Miss Porter’s thirty-five years later.
Miss Elizabeth M. Edwards 1920 - 1928
Miss Edwards was in office longer than any other early Principal, and even her tenure was
broken up by leave in the U.K. and ill-health. There were good deputies or acting principals
when she was away. She was very concerned to learn from the examples and experiences of
other women’s colleges in India. At a meeting of the Kinnaird College Board on 22nd
December 1920 it was resolved that Miss Edwards represent the college at the Conference of
Principals of Mission Colleges to be held at Poona. Then in Lahore in November 1922 a
scheme of cooperation with the Government Intermediate College for Women was proposed.
There was some demand for a purdah27, non-Christian college, in which men were not
allowed. Miss Edwards noted that by cooperating, the Kinnaird College Board of Directors
would prove its willingness to serve the cause of education among non-Christians without
detriment to the main work of building up strong Christian leaders. Moreover, as it was
anticipated that Science classes would be opened at the Intermediate College, cooperation
would give Kinnaird College the advantage of instruction in Science without the cost to the
college of maintaining expensive laboratories.
In 1923 Miss Edwards wrote: “The college has definite aims: to show sympathy with Indians
of all classes... to show India worthier ideals of education; to prepare India for self-
government; to make a true presentation of Christianity to non-Christians. And to make it
possible for Indian Christians to let their light so shine before non-Christians that all may see
their good works and glorify God”.28
In a letter to the Chairman of the Board, Rev’d Ross Wilson in 1925 Miss Edwards wrote:
“Dr. Speer is indeed a great soul...His postscript is splendid. ‘That the school management
arrange their duties so as to secure ample time and opportunity for the presentation of Christ
to every pupil’”29. The college developed in every way under her leadership and with its
competent staff. In the same year Miss Ahmad Shah, lecturer in Elementary Philosophy and
English History was invited to become the first woman Inspectress of Cooperative Societies.
More staff were clearly needed to take part in support and management. Miss Edwards also
called the attention of missions to the importance of ensuring that the resident staff was not
composed of missionaries to the exclusion of Indian ladies. In 1925 it was also resolved that a
Senior Anglo-Vernacular Teachers’ training class should be opened as soon as possible after
the college obtained a permanent site, provided the Government made an adequate grant for
the maintenance of this class. In her interim report the Principal noted the appointment of Mrs.
L. Najmuddin, a former Kinnaird student, as a temporary part-time lecturer in English. This
was the start of Mrs. Najmuddin’s long association with the college in a teaching capacity
which did not cease until her retirement over forty years later. She was born in 1899 into a
Muslim background. Her father eventually became an Anglican clergyman. She married Mr.
Luther Najmuddin in 1924. After his retirement from Government service he became Bursar of
Kinnaird College. The Najmuddins had no children but treated Kinnaird students as their
daughters.
27Most Muslim students wore veils, and nearly all Muslims and Hindus came from homes where
there were separate parts of the home for the women.
28SHADOWS FALL APART: the Story of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, J.C.Pollock, Hodder
and Stoughton, London, 1958. p. 124.
29Letter from Miss E. M. Edwards to Mr. Wilson, 6th April 1925.

Kinnaird College was becoming known not only in the Punjab but beyond and its student
enrolment gradually increased. His Excellency the Governor of the Punjab presided at the
Opening of the new campus of Kinnaird College on Lake Road on 7th December 1926. The
Bishop of Lahore, the Rt. Rev’d H.B. Durrant gave the Address on the subject of University
Education.
During the years from 1923 to 1929 there was great uncertainty about the principalship. Miss
Komolini Sircar, Miss Edwards, Miss D.M. Honeybourne, and Miss E.J. Martin were all either
full or acting principals during this time. The reasons for the changes were usually illness. The
Board struggled to fill the post until Miss McNair of Madras Christian College for Women
became Principal in 1928. She actually took up her post in 1929 and continued until 1950.
Miss Komolini Sircar 1922-23 and intermittently until 1928
Miss Komolini Sircar was Principal at various times from 1923 to 1928, but refused to accept
a permanent appointment in spite of her concern for the college. As far back as 11th May 1924
she had written to Mr. Wilson: “I don’t think I can let the sabbath dawn before telling you that
after our conversation together I feel that I must fulfil my promised term of service i.e. till
March 1925, not out of any sense of duty or obligation, but just to show my faith in the future
of the college, and to get my faith strengthened. No one element has led me to come to this
decision, yet it would not be unfair to say that perhaps your faith and courage is an indication
of the faith and courage of our Board of Directors. I feel that if the college is to emerge
successfully out of this period of trial and strain the Directors, staff and students must stand by
and help in that struggle so that it shall emerge persevering and increasing all that has been
best in the past ideals and traditions of the college.” Miss Komolini Sircar was a truly
dedicated Christian woman. She could have been confirmed as Principal, but preferred to go
and live in a remote Punjab village to which she devoted sixteen years of her life and service.
She made a deep and lasting impression on the minds and characters of her students, many of
whom sent her regular contributions when she carried on her village work relying entirely on
God to supply her needs.
The College Annual Report for 1921-22 records: “Much as we grieve at losing Miss Sircar we
dare not seek to keep her back from what she believes to be God’s purpose for her life and we
rejoice that a woman of such spirituality, such energy and consecrated common sense should
take up work under the National Missionary Society. We trust that Miss Sircar will be
stationed near enough to us so that she may visit us frequently and keep alive in us the Christ-
like spirit which is hers in so full a measure.”
The Early Years
The Annual Reports give us good insights into the very early years of the college. In 1917 the
most important events were the separation of the college and school and the opening of B.A.
classes. College classes continued to be held in some of the school classrooms but with the
hope eventually of a new college building.26 The college enrolment was fifteen students -
seven in the first year class, and eight in the second year. The staff were as follows:
Miss Annear B.A. Principal and Lecturer in English
Miss Maya Das B.A., B.T. Lecturer in History
Miss Stephens B. Sc. Lecturer in English
626Annual Report of Kinnaird High School and College under the Auspices of the Zenana Bible and
Medical Mission. (Formerly the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society) 1917.
Mr Sardari Lal B.A., B.T. Lecturer in Mathematics
Maulvi Abdul Karim, Munshi Fazil, Lecturer in Urdu
Mr. Daulat Ram B.A. Lecturer in Hindi
Mr. Lal Singh B.A. Lecturer in Punjabi
Rev’d Nazir Talibuddin, pastor of Naulakha Church and devoted friend and counsellor of
missionaries and students, died. Ever since the founding of Kinnaird College he had taken the
students’ Bible class every Sunday.
The college curriculum was, as in previous years, confined to the four subjects necessary for
the Intermediate Arts examination of the University of the Punjab - Mathematics, History,
English and the Vernacular. Only in the latter was any variety possible. Permission was
received from the University to add Philosophy and later Bengali to the list of subjects studied
for the purposes of examination. Eight students attempted and passed the Intermediate. The
growing demand for the higher education of women in the Punjab made further developments
imperative in Kinnaird College. In 1917 three students who had passed the Intermediate
joined Forman Christian College, where the lack of suitable arrangements for women students
was a source of embarrassment to professors and students alike. Early in June the first-year
class enrolment at Kinnaird was thirteen, larger than at any previous time.
The affiliation of the college to the University of the Punjab as far as the B.A. degree
necessitated an increase in staff, as well as in the amount of classroom space and boarding
accommodation. However, in June the new third year class came up and not one wanted a
place in the hostel so the other bungalow was not required until 1919. Only eighteen resided
on Mission premises; one lived at the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.)
hostel, while others lived with parents or guardians. The number of students on the roll at the
beginning of 1918 was twenty-five and at the end thirty. At one time there were thirty-four but
one changed her plans and went to the Medical College in Delhi, two left to take up teaching
and one fell victim to the influenza epidemic in October. The influenza epidemic caused the
closure of all educational institutions in October and November. There were disappointing
examination results: out of seven who entered for F.A. only two were wholly successful; three
passed ‘in compartment’. Four of these joined the third year class of the college, and one the
second year; yet another went to the Central Training College with the intention of working
for the Senior Anglo-Vernacular examination; another studied elsewhere. One encouragement
was public recognition of the achievements of two of the college students. Bhana Ram, who
had in 1917 passed very high in the F.A., was in February presented with a gold medal, given
annually by Rai Bahadur Ganga Ram, C. I. E. 27, to the woman student who passed the highest
in the University examination for the year. The next year Miss Fazal, for the same reason, was
offered a scholarship through the University authorities. The close of the war again brought
into near view the scheme for making the college into a Union College, and the erection of a
suitable building.28
In January 1919 the Principal Miss Annear married Rev’d H. J. Jenkins, Chaplain of the
Wesleyan Church and a near neighbour. On Miss Annear’s resigning in January Miss Maya
Das, lecturer in History, was appointed Acting Principal. In May 1919 for the first time in its
history the college sent B.A. students for the University examination. Five entered for B.A.
and eleven for F.A. The results were not so good as they might have been. Two were
successful, one failed, two were ‘in compartment’ in English. Nine out of the eleven candidates
727Commander of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) was an award usually given to distinguished Indian
civilians until the end of British rule in 1947.
828Annual Report of the Kinnaird Christian College for 1918.

for F.A. passed, while one was ‘in compartment’ for history. There was an encouraging
enrolment of new students in June and September. At the beginning of 1919 twenty-nine
students were on the rolls and by September there were forty. Of these forty the majority were
Christians, fourteen were Hindus, one Sikh, one Parsi and one Muslim. The staff became
more diverse with the arrival in November of Miss Edwards of Z.B.M.M.; followed in
December by the first American Miss Porter of A.P.M. and in January Miss Honeybourne of
C.M.S.29
In July 1920 the news that the Government intended to open Lahore College for Women
called for further reflection. As a small college Kinnaird was necessarily very costly to run but
so long as it was the only Women’s College the labour and the money seemed well spent.
The Kinnaird College authorities consulted the Punjab Indian Christian Conference about the
rightness of continuing to use the teachers and the money for this purpose if there were
another college teaching the same subjects in the same city. The Conference unanimously
resolved that the Indian Christians were convinced of the necessity for the continuance of the
college so that their daughters might have the opportunity of receiving university education in
a Christian environment. As an earnest of the depth of their conviction the Conference
promised the college a grant of Rs. 2,400 to pay the salary of their representative on the staff
from 1st April 1921 for twelve months. This whole sum was raised in less than half an hour in
a small meeting of the Conference. Although the sum was granted for one year only, it was
confidently expected that this grant would become annual.
Since the missions cooperated so generously, and since the Indian Christian community so
strongly desired the continuance of the College, the future of the College seemed assured.
Even though numbers remained small for a decade or more after the opening of the new
Government College, there would eventually be plenty of room for two women’s colleges in
the Punjab. It was felt that the college was still needed in spite of the opening of the
Government College, because although the teaching might be duplicated the work of training
young women for leadership in the Christian community could not be done elsewhere.30
Kinnaird College for Women was probably the only Union College in India run by Christians in
which the local Christian community assisted in the support and management of the College.
Much as the local financial assistance was valued, the moral support was valued even more.
In the course of little more than a year the college changed from a Zenana Bible and Medical
Mission College into a Union College, with a Board of Directors consisting of two
representatives of each of the six cooperating bodies as well as co-opted members. The
college spirit remained calm during a period of political unrest. The Non-Co-operation
Movement, founded by Mahatma Gandhi to campaign peacefully for the independence of
India, only reduced the numbers by one as; most of the students felt that they would serve
their country best by continuing their education. The Christian students took a keen interest in
the work of the National Missionary Society and contributed much to the success of the
Society’s Annual Sale of Work.31
929Report of the Kinnaird Christian College under the auspices of the Zenana Bible and Medical
Mission 1919-20.
030Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1921-22.

During the year 1921-22 the College operated under its new constitution. Its chief defect was
the faulty organization between the Board of Directors and the Home Boards of the different
Societies. The solution seemed to be to have a Kinnaird College Committee in London at
which representatives of the British Societies supporting the college could meet and confer,
and another such Committee in New York. The lack of such a Committee in New York
resulted on the college’s being left off the list of colleges to benefit from the large fund raised
in the United States of America for Women’s Christian Colleges in the East.
Another critical need was evident during the year - that of a new hostel. Lack of adequate
accommodation may have caused the parents of many non-Christian girls who would have
preferred to come to the college to refuse to allow them to do so. Even Christian parents
might have sent their daughters to the Government College if a new hostel had not been
provided soon.
The number of students had been practically stationary since 1918 which was the first year in
which the college had four classes but a steady, though not a rapid increase in numbers was
anticipated. In the University examinations the students again obtained very creditable results.
In April 1922 for the third year in succession all candidates passed in the Intermediate
examination. In the B.A. examination Miss Mona Benjamin was placed fourth in the list of
students (men and women) taking honours in English, and Miss Jamila Siraj-ud-Din was the
first Indian woman student to obtain honours in Economics in the Punjab. The Shah Din Gold
Medal was again awarded by the University to a Kinnaird College student - Miss Josephine
Hakim Khan, as she was first among the women students taking Urdu as her Indian language.
The Intermediate examinations which the average student passed at the age of eighteen or
nineteen were a natural stopping place for the majority. Many who took the F.A. course with
enjoyment were likely to find the B.A. course too great a tax upon their mental and physical
development. For this reason, and because the demand for teachers for the primary and middle
classes was so great, the staff encouraged many to stop at the F.A. and only permitted those to
proceed to the B.A. course who gave evidence of all round mental, moral and physical fitness.
One of the most gifted students, Miss Sushila Harkishen Lal, B.A., became the first former
student to teach in the college. She filled temporarily the post vacated by Lala Sundar Das as
Lecturer in Philosophy, serving in the midst of her many social duties in an honorary capacity.
Since those responsible for Kinnaird College were unsuccessful in persuading the Lahore
Intermediate College for Women to postpone the opening of the new college it seemed best in
the interests of Women’s education in the Punjab to adopt a system of Inter-College teaching.
Kinnaird College registered six students, and the Intermediate College five in the first year
class. The students of the two Colleges were taught together, with teaching in English, History
and Mathematics in the hands of the Kinnaird College lecturers, while the Intermediate
College provided lecturers in Philosophy and Languages. Because of the sacrifice of time and
strength by both staff and students Kinnaird College was reluctant to continue the experiment
beyond the trial period of two years, especially as some of the conditions agreed upon had not
been fulfilled by the Punjab Government.32
The number of Kinnaird students did not vary very much from year to year, nor the number of
successes in the Punjab University examinations. In 1923-24 four old students were studying
for the M.A. examination. From the statistics below we can see the numbers enrolled for
1923-24, with the detail of the communities represented and the numbers of residential and

non-residential students.
Students
31st March 1924
Residential. Non-residential Total
Christian 11 4 15
Hindu 7 3 10
Parsi 1 1
Sikh 2 2
___________________________________________________________________
21 7 28
April 1923
Number of Candidates Passed
Intermediate 13 11
B.A. 5 5
In that year the first “Old Students Weekend” was held. Several old students stayed in College
while others were present at one or more of the special functions arranged for the weekend.
As the college had by then been in existence for eleven years its former students were
working in many different spheres. Some were teachers or head mistresses in Mission or
Government High Schools, one was a lecturer in a Government College for Women; one or
two were doing valuable work in Boys’ Mission Schools and thus fulfilling the hopes of sundry
missionary commissions which had stressed the desirability of introducing women teachers
into the lower departments of boys’ schools. Many old students married and as wives and
mothers they were bringing into home life the ideals learned at college as well as having much
influence in the communities in which they lived.33
After repeated requests from various missionary bodies the college at length released Mrs.
Samuel from her work. It was felt that her special gifts for evangelistic work did not have such
full scope in the college as they would in the work that she undertook in Rawalpindi. Staff
and students alike said goodbye to her with sorrow for during her stay in the College her
kindness and her gracious personality made her beloved by all.34
The next year proved very eventful for the college. Early on it was decided that since adequate
funds were not likely to be available soon for the purchase of a new site, advantage should be
taken of the permission granted by the American Presbyterian Mission for the erection of a
new hostel on the present site. Soon after this decision was reached a letter was received from
the London Committee of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission promising £2,000, if claimed
during the next two years, to be used, in conjunction with gifts of other missions, for the
purchase of a new site. Encouraged by this offer, the college began negotiations for the
purchase of a site, and communicated with the other cooperating missions concerning grants
for the purchase of the new site. It was hoped the securing of a new and more central site
and better buildings would attract larger numbers of students to the college.
The year closed with an increased enrolment of thirty-eight students. The very unusual
phenomenon of larger numbers in the two upper classes as compared with the two lower
classes was partly due to the fact that for the first time students passed the Intermediate
434Mrs. Samuel later helped Miss M.T.Peterson in the founding of the United Bible Training Centre.
examination from the Government Intermediate College for women, and wishing to study
further, they all joined Kinnaird College, the only college for women affiliated to the Punjab
University preparing women for the B.A. degree. It was also encouraging to note that women
teachers were, more and more, coming to the college for further study. It seemed most hopeful
for the future of the Punjab girls’ schools to keep the idea of further study before such
teachers. These rather older and more mature students formed a very valuable element in the
life of the College.
The number of the Christian students remained fairly stationary but the number of the non-
Christians increased both among the resident and among the non-resident students resulting in
about fifty percent of non-Christians in the college, a much higher percentage of non-
Christians than was to be found in any other mission college for women in India. The non-
Christian students not only increased in numbers but also in influence. This created many new
problems for the Board of Directors and the staff to wrestle with in the future as we will see.
A great change was made in the administration of the college in October, when the office of
warden of the hostel was created with the object of setting the principal free to undertake
more teaching. Miss Sircar was appointed as the first warden, as it was most important to
have the hostel life guided by an Indian lady. The college rejoiced in the honour paid to Miss
Sircar when she was co-opted on to the Executive Committee of the National Christian
Council. In October the College welcomed back Miss M. Ahmad Shah, a former member of
the staff who had spent the previous year as Lecturer in Philosophy in the Isabella Thoburn
College. In November Miss George, an old student of the Women’s Christian College in
Madras, was welcomed to the staff. College life was enriched by the experience of having
staff and students not only from the Punjab but also from other parts of India.35
The main event of this period was the decision by the College Board of Directors to purchase
a new site on Lake Road near the University Observatory.36 Another important event of
1925-26 was the college’s loss at the death of the Rev. Dr. Sir James Ewing, formerly a
distinguished member of the Kinnaird High School Committee and for several years Chairman
of the Board of Kinnaird College. When Dr. Ewing retired to the U.S.A. he became a
member, and latterly, President of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church.
The number of twenty-six students enrolled in 1926-27 was smaller than usual, largely because
of the full effect of the competition of the Lahore College for Women, which had for the first
time four college classes. That about fifty percent were non-Christian students indicated that
many non-Christian parents preferred education for their daughters in a Christian environment
to the purely secular education to which Government colleges were restricted. The number of
girls passing the Punjab Matriculation examination was increasing very rapidly as the following
figures show:37 In 1918 seventeen out of thirty-four passed, in 1923 sixty-two out of eighty-
four passed and in 1927 one hundred and four out of one hundred and sixty-four passed.
Many of the Christian girls who did well in the Matriculation examination did not have the
means to go on to college. Scholarships were needed for good students to enter college
classes.
The next year the college was encouraged by news of Miss Jamila Siraj-ud-Din, a former

graduate and the first Indian woman to be awarded a State Scholarship to study in England.
“A cable message from London brings the news that the University of Edinburgh has conferred
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics upon Miss Jamila Mary Siraj-ud-Din, the
talented daughter of Professor and Mrs. R Siraj-ud-Din of Forman Christian College of
Lahore. Miss Siraj-ud-Din proceeded in 1924 to Europe as a State Scholar for further study
after passing her M.A. in Economics at the Punjab University. Six weeks ago the Punjab
Government cabled her, through the High Commissioner for India, appointing her to the post
of the first Industrial Instructress for Women in the Punjab.”38 Her father, Professor Robert
Siraj-ud-Din, was a Board member of Kinnaird College and served for many years. The family
had even closer connections with Forman Christian College as the following caption to a
photograph headed A Family of Formanites shows.39
Professor Robert Siraj-ud-Din 1889-1936; Mrs. Robert Siraj-ud-Din 1903-4; Miss Joyce Siraj-
ud-Din 1928-31; Miss Jamila Siraj-ud-Din 1922-4; Ahsan Siraj-ud-Din 1936; Aslam Siraj-ud-
Din 1922-4; Miss Ruby Siraj-ud-Din 1927-31.
The statistics for 1928 showed a marked increase in the number of students at the beginning of
the new academic year on 31st March with a total of thirty-nine. Of these twenty-five were
resident - sixteen Christians, five Hindus, two Muslims and two Sikhs. All the eight candidates
passed the Intermediate examinations, while three out of four passed the B.A.
The reunion for former students of the college was held during the last weekend of February.
Miss Lois Tika from Delhi and many old students were welcomed back. A full programme on
Saturday afternoon and evening started with tea and badminton, followed by a business
meeting at which further funds were raised for the scholarship which the alumnae were
providing for a student in the college at that time. When it became dark enough, Mr.Gupta of
the Mayo School of Art gave a lantern lecture on Indian Art. Evening prayer followed just
before dinner. After dinner letters were read from many of the old students and the evening
ended with dramatic sketches presented by the students in the Hostel.40
By 1929 there were up to forty living on the compound and the demand for the next year was
to be even greater. Every available inch of room was utilized. The wood godam41 and another
outhouse had been improved for students to live in them. One of the classrooms was vacated
for living accommodation and a tent was set up after the fashion of the tents used to teach in
on the old compound down near the railway station.42
Enrolment 31st March 1929

Resident Non-Resident Total
Christian 29 29
Hindu 8 10 18
Muslim 3 2 5
Sikh 1 1
838Punjab Educational Journal, December 1927.
939The Folio, Magazine of Forman Christian College, Jubilee Number 1886-1936.
141storeroom.

_____________________________________________
40 13 53
Twice a week the whole college used to meet for a general course of Bible Study. Their main
study was the idea of God in the Old and New Testaments. Two other days in the week the
college divided into smaller groups - Senior and Junior. Certain discussion circles meeting in
connection with these Bible classes were helpful and interesting. The whole college used to
meet for evening prayers in the hostel at the end of the day. It was the hope of the staff that
the help derived from these sources might prove to be a real inspiration to the present
students, remaining with them as they left to do their share of the world’s work.
A survey of students who attended the college from 1913-29 showed some interesting figures.
One hundred and ninety-nine students had attended the college, 105 Christians, 73 Hindus, 9
Muslims, 9 Sikhs and 3 Parsis. Of these, 80 became teachers, and of these 5 taught in other
colleges. Two students went into medical colleges and became practising physicians. Seven
studied for the M.A. Quite a number of those who married and established homes in the
Punjab, devoted part of their time to school work and other social service. The very first
women admitted to the University were Kinnaird graduates.
Mona Sunder Singh, a pupil of Kinnaird High School, was the first Senior Student of the
college (1921-22). She was the second daughter of Sunder Singh, a teacher in Wazirabad
Christian High School and his wife Salome (née Isa Das). Mona was born in 1899 in Daska.
She was a brilliant student and always topped her class at school and college. She won the
Asgari Khanum Gold Medal securing 90% marks at the University. She taught Mathematics to
the Higher Classes at the Alexandria High School in Amritsar (1924-35). She was appointed
Principal of the Christian High School for Girls, Gujrat in 1934 and continued teaching and
managing the school until 1940 when she resigned because of ill-health. After recovering her
health she was invited to serve in her alma mater, Kinnaird College, as a lecturer in
Mathematics and then as Superintendent of the Student Mess. She loved flowers and looked
after the gardens. She retired in 1970 and died in Lahore in 1984. 43
A personal account
The 1962/63 The Last Word, edited by Neelam Shah, was a Jubilee issue marking fifty years of
the College’s existence (1913-63). Mrs. L. R. Najmuddin wrote a charming article on
Memories Old and New. She noted her intimate association with the college for forty-seven
out of its fifty years existence and then continued: “I can go back even further to claim a share
in its first three years too, for the college classes were held in the Kinnaird School building
itself, and their rooms were just down the verandah from us, who were then in school, and
their resident students occupied a dormitory in the school building...The first Intermediate
class (F.A.) was started in the October of 1913, with Miss Joan McDonald as the first
Principal, who did all the spade work. Three years later I joined the first-year myself. There
were just seven of us, and with the five or six in the second year we formed the whole student
body. Kinnaird School had run a Teachers’ Training class for some years44 then and for the
time being these budding teachers and we formed a union, having assembly, debates, Bible
classes and other such programmes and activities together.
343Information from the personal records of Sham Sunder Singh (more generally known as Mr.S.S.S.
Albert) through the kindness of his widow Mrs. Doris Albert.
44Since 1901.
The B.A. classes were opened in 1917, the first group graduating in 1919, just one year before
my class. Thus by 1918, all the four classes of an Arts Degree College were functioning and
we moved out from the school buildings into the bungalows at the back on Mayo and Empress
Roads... Even with the four classes, there were only about forty-five of us, forming a compact
‘Family’, though five different religions were represented and half the students were non-
residents. Our studies were new and interesting. I especially remember my delight as I delved
into the treasures of English Literature, always a favourite subject of mine, but made doubly
so under the inspiration of one of the best teachers I have ever known, Miss Annear, our
Principal for three years of my student life. She got married in the spring of 1919, but
continued to teach us until just four months before our final examinations... Another teacher
was Miss Mohini Maya Das... Studying history under her was a source of curiosity and keen
interest... Our small staff also had three men; there was dear old Maulvi Sahib, a remarkable
and gentle soul, simple and unsophisticated as scholars were in those days; the Philosophy
teacher, a young Hindu gentleman and Mr Sardari Lal, our Maths professor, had earlier taught
me in the matriculation course and now steered me through the rocks and whirlpools of
B.A.Maths. I have personal knowledge of what a wrench it was for him to leave Kinnaird, his
University observatory, and his hometown at the time of partition. He has kept up his interest
in Kinnaird, reads the old students’ bulletin regularly and attends students’ meetings in Delhi.
Every time I have met him on my visits to India, he has asked me for up-to-date news of ‘his’
college...
“Of the tiny group of my first years in college, some are still in Pakistan, among them Dr.
Khadija Feroze-ud-din, a prominent figure in educational circles, retiring a Deputy Directress
of Education in the old Punjab, and a leading Muslim woman today...Most of my college
mates have done pioneering work in women’s education in the country, without whose initial
contribution, there would have been little progress made in that sphere. In 1920 my class
graduated, one of us even winning the Patiala-Syme gold medal standing first in English in the
province. So Kinnaird was winning distinctions in the academic world even in its infancy!
During the next five years after leaving college I taught in the Victoria School, a government
school for girls inside the walled city, and later moved out with some of its students to start
Lady Maclagan School, and for a brief while even taught in the newly opened Lahore College
for Women. I also got married and set up house. In January of 1925, to my utter surprise, Miss
Edwards then Principal, and Miss Sircar asked me if I would come and teach English in
college!
“One of my close links with the students was forged through dramatics, and this came about
literally as the result of an accident. Miss Grace Mason, one of the finest young women to
serve on the college staff, had brought a unique freshness and vigour into its life and activities
during her brief years here. She died in a riding accident just a few months before her furlough
was due. We were all stunned with the shock, not only because of the tragic suddenness of her
death, but because she had made a very special place for herself in the college, and in the
Lahore community at large. In the academic sphere she had started the subject of Geography
in Kinnaird and also lectured for the new Geography Department of the University. In the
extracurricular activities it was she who put the College Dramatics Society on a firm basis,
raising the standard of acting through regular weekly performances, lecturing, and training
students in the art. She was the first to persuade the college authorities to permit public
performances by the students, and so produced the annual plays for two years in the Regal
Cinema, and others at the Y.M.C.A. Her producing of the plays single handed, with all that
was involved in the preparation of scenery, properties, costumes, and directing was a
remarkable achievement and of a standard far above the general amateur levels of the day. It
was no small matter for me to step into Miss Mason’s shoes as staff adviser of the College
Dramatics Society...I have watched the college grow from its small beginning, as the first
woman’s college west of Lucknow... to what it is today.”
Chapter 3
THREE LOCATIONS OF KINNAIRD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
Since its founding in 1913 Kinnaird College for Women has only operated on three sites. The
college spent thirteen years respectively on its first and second sites and has occupied its
present site since 1938. Mrs. L.R. Najmuddin summarizes for us as follows45 “Another
milestone was reached when the college, bursting at the seams, had to move from its old
premises behind Kinnaird School to Lake Road near the University grounds; next to Sir Ganga
Ram’s land. Here, three or four bungalows housed the students, staff and the classes. Small
cottages and a residential block seemed to grow like trees out of the ground as numbers
continued to increase. Soon it was felt that these makeshift arrangements were not good
enough and a proper college should be built. After much searching the present site was
chosen, and some more time went into careful planning and building. In the autumn of 1939,
under the shadow of a world war, we opened on the new site with good, adequate buildings in
ideal surroundings. Miss Porter laid out the gardens, planting a large variety of fruit and
flowering trees, some of them quite rare in Lahore. Thus we have beauty and colour in the
garden even through the arid summer months. This lovely college has become one of the
beauty spots of the town, and perhaps the finest in the country.” Miss Porter planned the
selection of trees and shrubs so that there is always something in bloom throughout the year.
Now as we approach the end of the century there are about eight hundred and thirty trees and
a thousand shrubs and bushes on the campus.
Let us take a closer look at each of the three sites.
The first site 1913 - 26: at and near Kinnaird High School, Lahore
As we have seen Kinnaird College started under the aegis of Kinnaird High School in 1913. In
terms of building it used some of the school buildings inadequate though they were for this
545Memories Old and New.

purpose. Our best idea of the early location and facilities are to be inferred from the 1918-19
Government inspection report quoted below.46 The full text of this historic document is to be
found in Appendix 4.
“The last inspection was in April, 1917. The College had then applied for affiliation to the B.A.
in four subjects. The Inspection Committee recommended that the affiliations desired should
be granted, subject to certain improvements being made as regards the teaching staff and the
library, and on the understanding that the proposed arrangement of classrooms would not be
regarded as permanent... This third year class was opened in 1917, and in November it was
reported that a room had been specially appointed and furnished as a library, and that the
Principal had been freed from any work in the School. On the 18th January, 1918, the
Syndicate recommended affiliation of the B.A. classes. Affiliation was granted the same
month... As proposed, a bungalow on the Mayo Road has been occupied as a residence for
two of the staff. A small side room has been utilised as a library and reading room, in which
small classes are held. The small dressing room has also been converted into a tiny classroom
for B.A. classes. Three classrooms are occupied in the School. One of these is used for the
assembling of the students (now thirty in number). The room is too small, especially in the hot
weather. It is recognized that these arrangements are inadequate; moreover the School
requires the use of the three classrooms used by the College. Another bungalow adjoining the
bungalow on Mayo Road has now been rented from the American Mission, at Rs. 90 per
mensem. This contains four fair-sized rooms, with the usual pantry, dressing rooms, etc. It is
proposed to use this building for the library, the College Office, and classrooms. To the front
rooms no objection is raised, but it seems to the Committee that if the rooms at the back were
used as classrooms, the rooms in the middle would be deficient in light and ventilation. Also it
seems necessary to insist that the library and reading room should not be used for other
purposes; not, for instance, as a general common room for the boarders... The boarders are
accommodated in quarters between a School and College bungalow. The rooms are small and
inadequate for the numbers. They face south, and have low roofs, so that they are very hot for
working during the hot weather. They have no windows, only roshandans.47 The dining room
is dark, and too small for eighteen students and three members of staff. There is only one
kitchen; there should be three. Hindu students have to do their cooking in their rooms. There
are no arrangements for sickness. A better hostel building is urgently required. Such bad
hygienic conditions not only lower the vitality of the students, but set a low standard before
those who will for the most part be themselves teachers... In its anxiety to encourage the
higher education of women, the University has not been exacting in laying down conditions for
affiliation of this College. It is open to question, however, whether this policy may not have
an unfortunate effect on the higher education of women in the Province. The conditions of
work with which the staff and students of the Kinnaird College are now struggling would not
be tolerated elsewhere, and the education given under these conditions cannot be said to be a
University education, and so is not meeting the demand. It is recommended, therefore, that
the Syndicate should inform the Mission concerned that the present state of things cannot be
allowed to continue indefinitely, and that if it is wished to maintain this institution, some
definite proposals must be put forward for providing adequate buildings and equipment, and
for maintaining a whole-time staff selected for the purpose.”
It was not surprising, therefore, that Board members continued to be exercised by the
problems of inadequate accommodation. At the meeting of the Board of Kinnaird College on
9th October 1919 at No. 1 Mayo Road Rev’d Ross Wilson was elected a member of the
646University of the Panjab. Inspection of Affiliated Colleges,1918-19. Report No.6, Kinnaird

College, Lahore. 8th February, 1919.
747Skylight.
Board and as Chairman. The Board discussed the cooperation of other missions in the work of
the college - the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.), the United Presbyterian Mission
(U.P.M.) and the Methodist Episcopal Mission (M.E.M.). The Board noted that under the
present situation the founder body, the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission (Z.B.M.M.), was
supplying Rs. 5.000-6,000 annually plus a bungalow... The American Presbyterian Mission
granted Rs. 2,000 annually for two years...their bungalow is on low rental for college use.
Miss Maya Das reported that she had applied for a site on Multan Road in the proposed
University area. However, the Committee was keeping in mind the possibility of securing a
more suitable site. Another Committee was appointed to draw up an appeal for funds as the
problem of insufficient lecture rooms and hostel accommodation remained.
Efforts continued. The Rev’d J. C. R. Ewing wrote to Rev’d Ross Wilson on 12th May 1920:
“We...ought to move from the present site...if we do not do so now, we shall regret it in the
near future. The present site will only be tolerable if it can be enclosed by a very expensive
wall.” The Principal corresponded with C.M.S. for permission to use St. John’s Divinity
College for two years. The site would remain as at present and new buildings could be erected.
In her letter of 17th December 1920 Miss E. M. Edwards wrote to Mr. Ross Wilson: “He (Mr.
Force Jones) asked me to write a definite request for the use of the buildings (of the Divinity
School) and let him have the letter before Christmas... Mr. Force Jones said he anticipated
most difficulty from the Indian members of the Committee who would be concerned about the
welfare of their young men who are now housed there. I spoke about the chapel and he said it
was not consecrated but merely dedicated so there could be no difficulty about our conducting
our ordinary college chapel services there.” Miss Edward’s letters to Mr. Ross also expressed
concern about the Government’s plans to open a Women’s College in Lahore in May 1921.
By 22nd December 1920 the American Presbyterian Mission (A.P.M.) was contributing the
salary of a missionary plus Rs. 2,000 annually as well as a periodic grant of Rs. 3,000 and a
reduction of Rs. 15 in monthly rent for Newton Villa. The C.M.S. contributed the salary of
one missionary. The Z.B.M.M. contributed the salary of one missionary; an annual grant of Rs
3,000 as well as the Z.M. House and Bible Women’s quarters. The U.P.M. and M.E.M. had
not yet decided what they could do. Rev’d J. C. R. Ewing in a letter to Rev’d Ross Wilson in
February 1922 wrote about a special Fund set up in the U.S.A. to help Christian Colleges in
India. “We now find that when the list was made up it was definitely restricted to institutions
in which not less than two American bodies were cooperating. As the United Presbyterians
had not then formally gone into the college here, we were left out in the cold...I know no place
where there is greater need for a Women’s College than here in the centre of the Punjab. To
me it has become quite evident that we cannot very much longer continue at the present site. I
heard it described a few days ago at a public meeting as “positively shocking”. $100,000 is
needed at once for site and buildings.”
On 15th April 1922 Rev’d Ross Wilson wrote to Mrs. H. C. Campbell, Secretary of the
Women’s Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church. “Kinnaird College is
the only college for women in Punjab with its over twenty million population... Even more
significant is the action of Punjab Indian Christian Conference a year ago when the question of
the discontinuance of the college for want of funds was up. Their estimate of the importance
of the college is seen in their grant of Rs. 2,400 for the year, the first grant of any moment
ever made towards a missionary school or college by an Indian Christian body in the Punjab.”
The Board requested the use of the Z.B.M.M. bungalow and quarters until June 1923.The
Principal’s Interim Report of 3rd October 1924 noted that the acquisition of half the A.P.
Mission House and the use of three tents has made it possible to house ten more resident
students and to provide a sick room for the students.
Financial problems of Kinnaird College
On 21st May 1924 Dr. E. D. Lucas noted that “The College has really come to a crisis in its
history, and must either secure funds or close its doors... The next University inspections of
the Kinnaird College will probably recommend disaffiliation unless some practical steps have
been taken to provide a new building.” In a letter dated 22nd May 1924 Rev’d Ross Wilson
wrote to Rev’d M. R. Ahrens, Chairman, Executive Committee, Punjab Mission. “The
enclosed communication requires little comment from me. Suffice it to say that I have great
faith in Kinnaird College, in its staff (no Women’s College in all India has a better!), in the
need of the Christian Church and of the Punjab for such a college, and in the fitness of this
particular college to meet that need. I would only add that the college is in sore straits for lack
of adequate accommodation. Other cooperating Missions are not now in a position to give
substantial assistance. I have not the slightest doubt that they will do so subsequently. Our
Board is in a position to help by virtue of the Sage Legacy, which is available for women’s
work and only for that. And I believe that our Board will help if we can convince them that we
believe Kinnaird College to be worth the expenditure of Rs. 50,000 of that Legacy.”
Mr. H. D. Griswold, Secretary, India Council wrote to Mr. Ahrens: “It will be worthwhile to
summarize briefly the considerations that strongly favour the continuation of the Kinnaird
College:
1.It is a Union College with four (or five) cooperative bodies. This is a great asset in itself.
The expense and responsibility are thus distributed over most of the Missions and Churches of
the Punjab, and thus the burden resting on each is lightened.
2.It is a first grade College teaching up to the B.A. standard.
3.It has excellent Staff. A great asset.
4.It is the only Christian College for women in the Punjab with its more than 2,500,000 people
and 329,000 Christians.
5.The Punjab and North West Frontier Province have altogether four Christian Colleges for
men, and only one for women, the existence of the College for Women being in peril at the
present time.
6.Madras has a Union Christian College for women with twelve cooperating missions; the U.P.
has the Isabella Thoburn College with two cooperating missions; and the Punjab has the
Kinnaird College with four cooperating missions. In each of these areas there is at least one
Government College for women. Christian young men, as a rule, read in Christian Colleges.
Shall we cease to make provision for the higher education of the Christian young women of
the Punjab?”
There was an encouraging turn of events early in 1924 when it was decided to begin
negotiations for the purchase of a site with the hope that within the next two years the
college would be established on a new and more central site with better buildings and so may
attract larger numbers of students. Z.B.M.M. was asked to release Miss Anderson Scott from
January to July 1925 to raise money for the new site. In early 1925 the College was still
basically linked to the School premises. On 9th January 1925 the Principal, Miss E. M.
Edwards, wrote to the Rev’d R. Wilson, the Chairman of the Board: “I am not sure if we
ought to investigate prices of other sites at the same time or if we should put every effort into
this attempt to get the Patiala Vakil Khana.”
On 22nd March 1926 the Board met at Kinnaird College. The C.M.S. indicated that no finance
was possible in the coming year from their side. The Z.B.M.M. was requested to lease their
bungalow for a further two years. The A.P.M. was requested for half of the bungalow now at
the disposal of the college. In March 1925 just before the 1924-25 Annual Report was
printed the joyful news arrived of the gift of $20,000 gold for the Building Fund from the Sage
Legacy48 through the American Presbyterian Mission.
The second site 1926 - 1938: Lake Road
Three houses and 54 kanals49 of land became available opposite the University playing fields
on Lake Road for about Rs. 2,500 per kanal so the Board decided to buy it after getting a
loan. The Chairman of the Kinnaird College Board, Mr. F. D. Warris, and the Secretary were
appointed to negotiate. The new site was formally declared open by His Excellency the
Governor of the Punjab on December 7th 1926. On the new site were three bungalows and
two smaller buildings. The biggest and best of the bungalows became the main hostel in which
most of the students lived. The warden and another member of staff had their rooms in that
bungalow; in it also was a little Prayer Room and the Students’ Dining Room and Common
Room. The middle house contained the Library and most of the class rooms and the third and
smallest bungalow had become the staff house...The new site cost approximately Rs.150,000
and the improvements to the grounds and buildings cost more than Rs. 25,000. It was good
news that the Department of Education recommended a grant of Rs. 50,000 upon the initial
expenditure, and a further sum (both of these, subject to the vote of the Legislative Council)
upon the completion of the new building.50
Selections from another Government Inspection Committee Report (1926-27)

give us a good idea of the new campus.51 The full document is found in Appendix 5.
Buildings
“The change of the site from Empress Road to Lake Road is an undoubtedly great
improvement. The former position besides being cramped must have been both noisy and
dusty... One is a bungalow occupied by the staff; one a large bungalow occupied by students
and staff and the third used mainly for classes. This is the worst of the three. It is an old
fashioned bungalow of which the rooms are very small and dark. It is barely sufficient to
accommodate the present number of students (26) and when the classes increase, it will be
necessary to dismantle the present building and put up a more modern and properly designed
College building. ..The College is at present in debt over the site and improvements made...So
it is doubtful whether they will be able to spend much more without outside aid. There is a
well in the compound and tennis and badminton courts; and a netball ground.
Library
There is a modest little library which is worthy of a larger room. Rs 1,357 were spent on
books in the year ending March 1926.
Hostel
848Named after an American benefactor to higher education in Asia.
949One kanal is one eighth of an acre or approximately 605 square yards.
151University of the Panjab, Inspection of Affiliated Colleges, 1926-27. Kinnaird College for Women,
Lahore. Report No. 6.
There are about twenty girls in residence. They are in the charge of the Vice-Principal but the
students themselves superintend the ordering and giving out of stores. They appear to manage
their mess very economically.
Physical Culture
Apart from games there is no regular Instructor in drill. The College would welcome
assistance from the University in providing a lady Instructor.
General
The staff is adequate and satisfactory... We were struck with the neatness and cleanliness of the
premises and the excellence of the general arrangements in the College and the Hostels.”
Looking for a better site than Lake Road
Within four years it became obvious that the Lake Road site was not large enough, although a
new building had been constructed immediately behind the old hostel. Should the present
compound be sold in lots it was hoped that these two buildings would go together bringing
some return for the capital spent on the new building. A Sites Committee, appointed by the
Board of Directors, was busy searching for a new site for the college. The Board had decided
that the present compound was not large enough, and also that it could not afford to buy any
of the neighbouring land, even if it were available. The only course open seemed to be to move
out to the outskirts of Lahore where land was cheaper, and to build there. 52
While in 1929 the accommodation had been increased by building a little hostel, the next
year the college secured a neighbouring house on lease. It was well-known in Lahore as the
house formerly occupied by Sir Fazl-i-Hussain, at one time Minister for Education in the
Punjab. The landlord was H.H. the Nawab Saheb of Bahawalpur. The house had two very
useful large rooms. One, formerly the drawing-room, was used as an assembly room as it was
the only room large enough to seat all the students when they sat on the floor. The other large
room was used as the college dining-room. This new house could be reached very easily from
the main compound through an opening in the dividing wall allowing staff and students to pass
backwards and forwards as if it were all one compound. No other house in Lahore could have
served so well.53
It is interesting to compare the student enrolment of 31st March 1932 with that of 31st
March 1927.
1927 1932 1927 1932 1927 1932
Christian 10 36 2 5 12 41
Hindu 7 20 4 19 11 39
Muslim 2 10 4 2 14
Sikh 1 8 2 1 10
Parsi 1 1
______________________________________________________
20 75 6 30 26 105

The Report of the Lindsay Commission approved the Board’s plan to move to a larger site
near the new Forman Christian College site, and to cooperate with that college in
postgraduate work. The Lake Road site suited Kinnaird College until the College so increased
in size that it needed larger premises not only for its immediate use but also for its future
development and expansion. It was soon clear that Kinnaird College needed a bigger and more
suitable site and buildings if it was to expand. This matter clearly concerned the Principal and
Board as well as other Christian leaders as the following letter from Rev’d. Canon W. Paton to
the Principal of Kinnaird College shows. Other letters show how much Miss McNair agonized
over this generous and tempting offer by C.M.S.
The possibility of Kinnaird College moving to Agra
20th July, 193254

Private and Confidential
Miss I. T. McNair
Kinnaird College
Lake Road,
Lahore, India.
My Dear Miss McNair,

This is an entirely private enquiry which I do not want you to mention to anybody. You are of
course aware that Canon Davies was not only Principal of St. John’s College, Agra, but was
very largely responsible for building it, and he still has naturally a good deal of influence over
the policy and destiny of that College. I knew that the Lindsay Commission felt when visiting
the United Provinces that with St Stephen’s College, Delhi near at hand, and Allahabad, not to
mention Cawnpore, in the same Province, they would like to recommend some other use to be
made of St John’s College buildings if only they could have found some suitable purpose.
They could not think of anything, and accordingly suggested that St John’s, Agra, should
continue. Canon Davies has now privately mentioned to me the somewhat breath-taking
suggestion that St. John’s, Agra, should be handed over to Kinnaird College! He asked me
what I thought about it, and he does not want the matter discussed generally, at least not until
it is quite plain that it is a practical proposition. I made the immediate comment that it might
be asked whether the Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow did not render the addition of a
second women’s college in the U.P. very inadvisable. More important, is the question of the
Punjab. All your letters and much other evidence go to show that there is a tremendous
awakening among the Punjab women and girls, and that a Christian college is needed there
more almost than anywhere in India. Canon Davies entirely agrees that it is a sine qua non of
policy that the Punjab should be adequately served. Would it be possible for the Punjab to be
served by an absolutely first class women’s college, with splendid buildings, but at Agra?
There are two sides to this. There is first of all the question of sentiment - would people go
outside the province, is the distance too great, is Punjab loyalty too great? The other
questions affects regulations - would appointments for teachers in the Punjab be available for
students with an Agra degree, etc., etc.? If you were to answer these questions in the
affirmative I think that the disposition of the societies for radical change is so remarkable that I
should not regard it as in any way impossible to get the catastrophic decision taken. I am,
however, much afraid that you will say no, and I want you to understand clearly that Canon
Davies fully realises that under no conditions would it be right to take a step which would
mean a failure adequately to serve the Punjab. On the other hand, I think that full weight must
454Copy of text of letter on the International Missionary Council headed note paper.
be given to the magnificent opportunity of splendid buildings, together with a certain amount
of endowment, and I happen to know that the endowment is still virtually in Canon Davies’
own hands, so that whatever C.M.S. were willing to do in the way of giving missionaries to
the staff the endowment would be there.
You will understand that it would be most undesirable that this should be discussed at this
stage, and I am therefore sending this note to you and to nobody else in India.
Yours very sincerely,

W. Paton
Miss McNair wrote such a significant reply to Canon Paton that I include it in full.
Tipperary,
Landour, Mussoorie, U.P.
August 11,1932.
Private and Confidential
The Rev. W. Paton,

Edinburgh House
2 Eaton Gate,
London, S.W.1
My Dear Mr. Paton,
The enquiry contained in your letter of July 20th has been in my mind day and night since I
received your letter three days ago. I wonder if you can imagine how I long for the time when
Kinnaird can have suitable and dignified buildings. Our need has never been so great as it is
now because of our increased numbers; nor has the possibility of securing them ever seemed
so remote, at least in my experience. Ever since I came to the Punjab I have been hoping for
special help from America, but one hears constantly these days of the cuts which the American
societies are suffering; and when they find it impossible to support the work already in
existence, it does not seem likely that in the near future they will be able to provide funds for
land and buildings for Kinnaird. We are besides threatened with reduced contributions from
our cooperating societies. The result is that I have never been so little optimistic about
securing new buildings for the College as I have been during the few weeks I have been up
here. Canon Davies’ suggestion therefore that Kinnaird should take over the buildings of St.
John’s, seemed to me at first a wonderful answer to the needs of the College for adequate
accommodation. The thought of the Chapel and of the Science laboratories and of an
endowment perhaps being at our disposal, seemed almost too good to be true, and I was for a
few minutes greatly exhilarated. But almost immediately I began to think of Lahore without
the College, and I could not believe that it was right to abandon it . I have put off writing until
mail day in the hope that some new idea or inspiration would come that would make it seen
right for us to contemplate leaving the Punjab and trying to serve it from Agra. But alas! with
the lapse of time my first reaction, that we should stay in Lahore, has only been confirmed.
I feel very deeply the responsibility you have put upon me in asking for my opinion on Canon
Davies’ very generous suggestion. I should have liked to share it with Mr. B.L. Rallia Ram,
for he can speak as one who knows not only the Punjab but the rest of India as well. But I am
afraid that he would agree with me in saying that our task lies in Lahore. The following are
some of the reasons.
1. The Punjab is a province by itself, conscious that it is different from the rest of India.
Canon Davies once said to me when I was anxious that the girls from the Victoria School in
Agra should come to Kinnaird, that Lahore seemed very far away from Agra. It is equally true
to say that Agra seems very far away from Lahore. Both this year and last I have advised
parents whose daughters I could not admit for lack of room to send them to Isabella Thoburn,
but I do not think that they followed my advice in a single case. The oldest women graduates
in the Punjab are old students of Isabella Thoburn College. But one reason why Kinnaird
came into existence and remained in existence when there were so few students, was that these
few would have no college education if Kinnaird had not been there. Their parents would not
have sent them to Lucknow. I know that many things have changed in the last few years, and
I remember that Agra is a few hours nearer Lahore than Lucknow; but I still believe that no
matter how good the college at Agra might be, it would, as things at present are, fail to attract
many of the students who are now anxious to come to us.
2. I believe that the Punjab ought to have a Christian College for women in its capital. No
province suffers so much as the Punjab from communalism. I constantly give thanks that as
far as I know we are without a trace of communal feeling in College; and I ascribe our happy
united community life to our Christian teaching, our daily meeting together in Chapel, and to
our common dining room. I think that we render a service to India in helping to break down
communalism in its greatest stronghold. The College has the confidence of some of the
leading men in the Punjab. In October we shall have as students two of the daughters of the
Minister for Local Self Government. We have already the daughter of the Chief Justice, and
the daughters of one or two High Court judges. The other day there was published in the
press an appeal signed by many of the leading fair-minded men in Lahore, calling on the
Government and the press to do all in their power to oppose the militant communalism with
which we are now threatened. Quite a number of its signatories are fathers of our students, all
Lahore lawyers. I do not think that they would send their daughters to Agra, nor do I believe
that our Sikh students, of whom we have a growing number, would ever leave the province.
3. If Kinnaird were to leave Lahore other colleges would certainly come into existence. The
Sir Ganga Ram Trust is intending to open college classes within the next few years; but they
would be only for Hindus. Government is considering opening a second college for women in
the province; but I have heard it said lately that now that Government admits students, so
many from each community, communal feeling is nowhere stronger than in Government
colleges. So if Kinnaird left there would be no other college to do what it is now doing to
unite women of different communities who are likely to have an important part to play later on
in social and political life.
4. How the change would affect the Christian community is of course the most important
consideration of all. It is less conservative where its girls are concerned than the other
communities. Yet it too is very conscious of belonging to the Punjab and I think that it would
resent the removal of the College to Agra. Some of those who belong to it are also poor, and
I think that the additional travelling expenses, etc., would weigh with them. I think that a
change to Agra would mean the loss of a number of Christian students to the College. I think
that you are right when you say that it looks as if a Christian college for women were needed
in the Punjab almost more than anywhere else in India. It is needed for non-Christians, and it
is needed for Christians. The Church in the Punjab is young and its task is beset with
difficulties. Mr. Rallia Ram wrote recently, “Thus the Kinnaird College is an indispensable
necessity both as an effective evangelistic agency and as a training ground for the leadership of
the Punjab Church.” I believe that it can only hope to fulfil this twofold mission adequately in
Lahore.
I do not think that at present it is a question of whether without suitable buildings and
equipment we can do in Lahore what we might do for a different constituency in Agra. But if
Kinnaird should continue for much longer to be without the support from Missions which I
think it ought to have, and if there were still a possibility of moving to Agra - but perhaps
Canon Davies wants the question settled now - it might be right to consider it very carefully. I
understand Canon Davies’ unwillingness to have the proposal discussed at present, and yet I
believe that nothing would help us so much to get for Lahore the funds we need as the
knowledge of this proposal in certain circles!
But will you not ask someone else for his opinion? I do hope so. As you know I have been
barely three years in the Punjab; and it is possible that in my desire to be fair to the Punjab I
have stated its case too strongly.
As for the Isabella Thoburn College it draws its students from a very wide area. It is not a
provincial college in the sense that Kinnaird is. And if there were a second women’s college at
Agra in the U.P. it would also draw widely from outside of the province. I do not think that it
would greatly affect the Isabella Thoburn, though of course the question would have to be
gone into very carefully.
I do not think that there would be any difficulty about the Punjab accepting women with Agra
degrees. There are quite a number of women at present teaching in Government schools who
come from outside of the Punjab.
Will you please let Canon Davies know that I have been deeply touched by, and am most
appreciative of his most generous proposal. It has cheered me greatly to learn that Kinnaird
and its needs are not forgotten. I confess that I feel like someone who has signed his own
death warrant, but I believe that there is the possibility of reprieve. At the back of my mind
there lurks the thought that this proposal is an answer to our prayers, although at present I
cannot exactly understand how.
With kind regards,

yours very sincerely,
I. T. McNair
It was a costly decision not to accept such a generous offer. No one could have foreseen the
partition of India and the fact that Agra would remain in India while Lahore would be in the
newly created Pakistan by 1947. It was providential that Kinnaird College remained in Lahore.
It was also convincing even in 1932 that the Punjab needed such a women’s college within its
own boundaries.
God honoured the decision for the college to remain in Lahore and the next year the Danepur
farm site of twenty acres was bought from the Salvation Army although it seemed so much at
that time on the periphery of the city. The Executive Committee of the Association of
Kinnaird College which met on 28th November 1933 discussed a competition for the selection
of an architect for the Danepur site as well as the sale of the Lake Road property. By 8th
January 1934 the Executive Committee resolved that the teaching of Science must be an
essential part of the teaching programme of the college. It recommended to the Board of
Directors that in all plans for the future, this fact should be taken into reckoning. On 24th
March 1934 the Board of Trustees of K.C.W. met at the new college site to discuss the
procedures for straightening the boundary line between college land and the land adjoining.
On 28th September 1936 the Executive Committee took up the matter of a Chapel at the new
site. The Principal reported that the following resolution had been passed at a meeting of the
resident staff held on 23rd September 1936: “The residential staff, Kinnaird College, is
strongly of the opinion that for the better realization of the ideals of a Christian College a
Chapel should be included in the plans for that part of the new College to be built before
removal to the new site takes place.” The Executive Committee was also fully convinced that
a Chapel must be built as an essential part of the first unit of buildings on the new site, so that
from the very beginning, the college might be rooted in sound Christian principles and
traditions. The Committee also felt that as much of the money as possible needed for the
Chapel should be raised in India, and an appeal also be made to friends outside of India. Mr.
Dann offered to act as joint architect with Mr. Brentford for the Chapel at the new site. On
15th May 1937 at a Statutory meeting of the Board of Directors at Kinnaird College it was
decided that the building should go ahead.
The Executive Committee on 11th January 1938 noted that the Women’s Work Committee of
the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church of U.S.A. hoped to raise $20,000
for the building of the College Chapel. At its 24th January 1938 meeting the Board of
Directors discussed further the plans for the Chapel and the other members of staff were asked
to join the meeting. The Principal, Miss McNair, made a statement concerning the Chapel. Mr.
Dann’s plan was accepted in general with the addition that the architect be asked to introduce
a cross, wherever he thinks best and in whatever form he advises on the outside of the
building. Many took part in a discussion of some length about the kind of building that the
College Chapel should be. The resident staff were unanimously of the opinion that, in view of
the student body for whose use the Chapel was intended, it should be a simple building in
which all might feel at home.
The new Kinnaird College campus was officially opened on 3rd November 1938. The Prime
Minister was unable to be present to lay the Corner Stone so the Rev’d William Paton who
had had so much to do with trying to help in the provision of a suitable site was requested to
officiate. After the opening prayer by the Honorary Secretary of the Board of Directors, Mr.
B.L. Rallia Ram, for God’s blessing and protection on the buildings, and for the College and
its promotion of the right type of education to the country, the Chairman of the Board of
Directors, Rev’d E.D. Lucas gave the Opening Address, the Principal Miss McNair made a
Statement. Then, before William Paton,55 Secretary of the International Missionary Council,
laid a cream sandstone Corner Stone with a brief inscription bearing his name and the date,
the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Punjab, Mian Afzal Husain, gave his speech from
which the following is an excerpt. “In the Intermediate examination, held in 1937, of the 47
candidates who appeared, 46 were declared successful and of the 41 who appeared, 40 were
declared successful for the Degree examination. In my opinion, the examination results,
however glorious, very inadequately reflect the influence which a college has on its students as
individuals, and as citizens of a fast developing and progressing country. To my mind it
appears that our present day education suffers from one very serious defect. The educated lose
touch with the masses, and in our already complicated caste system we are creating yet
another caste more rigid and more aloof - the caste of the ‘educated’. I am glad to find that
true to their missionary tradition, Miss McNair and her staff have safeguarded against this
eventuality and have planned contacts between the educated girls and their less fortunate
sisters in the villages in the neighbourhood of Lahore. These students, brought up in large
55See the correspondence earlier in this chapter between Mr. Paton and Miss McNair about the offer
of St. John’s College, Agra as a possible site.
towns, know little of the life in our villages where real India lives, and the value of this aspect
of your education and the experience cannot be overestimated.”
On 3rd December 1938 the Executive Committee dealt sympathetically with a letter from the
Indian Christian Association Secretary about a public meeting of Indian Christians protesting
against the non-employment of Christian labourers on the new site. On 2nd February 1939 the
Executive Committee resolved that the wall of the College compound, and if possible, the
servants’ quarters be erected with Christian labour.
The removal of the college to the new site by the canal began the third chapter of its history.
Miss Symonds very gallantly undertook the whole responsibility of planning and carrying out
the removal. To remove classroom furniture for over two hundred students, a library of over
four thousand volumes, furniture for over eighty resident students and a dozen resident
members of staff, not to speak of games equipment and all sorts of odds and ends, was no
little undertaking.56
On 16th May 1939 the Executive Committee met on the new site. Several subsequent
meetings in May and June were all about building. The outbreak of World War II slowed
down many of the hopes and plans of the Board. On 24th April 1951 the Executive
Committee was still discussing the building of a Science Block and a Chapel at Kinnaird
College using grants for each from the A.P. Mission. The Treasurer of A.P. Mission who had
recently visited Lahore urged that the money be used or a case be made out as to why not. The
following points ensued:
i) in pre-Partition days it would have been desirable to have a chapel, but in the light of
existing circumstances this might not be advisable. At present all students attend morning and
evening chapel in library or an ordinary classroom. The erection of a special building with
essentially Christian associations, architecture, etc. might cause many girls to cease attending
morning and evening prayers.
ii) If the gift for the chapel could be combined with that for Science, it may be possible to
build an auditorium together with classrooms, suitable for science. The auditorium could be
used for various purposes, including morning and evening prayers.
iii) a separate room in the new building could be set aside especially for prayers.
On 11th May 1953 at its Annual Statutory meeting the Board of Directors recorded its deep
sense of loss at the death of Mr. B. L. Ram. He became a Board member in 1921 and served
as Secretary until his serious illness in 1951. “He was chief advisor in the purchase of both
sites...one of the foremost Christian leaders of our time...a wise representative of Christian
parents’ points of view.”
On 6th February 1954 the foundation stone of the McNair Building for Science was laid. The
name of the building was in honour Miss McNair. On 21st May 1955 the Annual Statutory
Meeting of the Board particularly discussed the proposed College Hall. The Principal
reported that it was very desirable that the College Chapel-cum-Hall be built as soon as
possible. Last year with 315 students in the College it was very difficult to accommodate them
in the library for morning prayers. The detail was as follows:
Christians resident 33; non-resident 18; total = 51
Muslims resident 87 non-resident 169; total = 256
Parsis resident 1; non-resident 2; total = 3
M.A. students resident 1; non-resident 2; total = 3
Casual students non-resident 3

Total resident 122; non-resident 194; total = 316
The Hladia Hall and Chapel, with seating capacity for five hundred, was used for the first time
for morning Chapel on Saturday the 15th March, 1958. It was named in honour of Mrs.
Hladia Porter Stewart, who as Miss Hladia Porter joined the college staff in 1919. At various
times she served as Acting Principal and Vice-Principal. After being married from the college
in 1954 she joined her husband, Dr Ralph R. Stewart, a famous botanist and the greatest
authority on the flora of the Northern Areas of Pakistan, at Gordon College, Rawalpindi.
A new hostel called the Jubilee Hostel was built to mark the Jubilee in 1963. Another Jubilee
project was the swimming pool opened in 1964. The foundation stone of the new dining hall
was laid by Miss Mangat Rai. Around this time the spacious and well-built open air theatre
was demolished to the dismay of some. The building was opened in March 1972 and named
the Mangat Rai Dining Hall. Various builders, engineers and maintenance staff have through
the years served the College well. I mention two such men who represent many. James R.
Wardropper, born about 1886 in England, an engineer by profession, did invaluable work as an
engineer and maintenance man, responsible for overseeing the construction of the Hladia Hall
and the design and construction of the Jubilee Hostel, the swimming pool and part of the
Dining Hall, until his death in 1971. Mr. G.P.David succeeded Mr. Wardropper, continuing his
work until he died in 1975.
One of the high points of the Kinnaird 75th Anniversary celebrations was the lively
Convocation address in Urdu, English and Persian by President Zia ul-Haq. He was very
genial and full of good will towards the college, and announced several generous grants to the
college including the valuable piece of land which adjoins the college. It was a great shock to
learn of his untimely and tragic death a few weeks later.
The Last Word 1988 issue, edited by Kamila Hyat, marked Kinnaird’s seventy-five years of
women’s education as well as the Golden Jubilee of the present campus, where Kinnaird has
been located since 1938. Forty Golden OAKS57 came from India to participate, along with
OAKS from U.S.A., Canada, Europe and the Middle East. The OAKS donated as an
anniversary gift Rs. 500,000 towards the establishment of a Postgraduate Block for future
college students on the adjacent plot of land which would be used for Postgraduate Studies at
Kinnaird. There are plans to build an Auditorium as well as the Postgraduate Block on this
land.
In 1990 the new Science Block was completed. From the Principal’s Report at the 1992
Convocation we read: “Commemorating the Foundation Stone laid at this campus fifty-four
years ago, last month, on 3rd November the Association of Kinnaird College laid the
foundation stone for yet another hostel which hopefully will relieve some of our concern for
finding residential accommodation for desperate students anxious to pursue their studies at
Kinnaird. With almost eighteen hundred students on the college rolls, the demand for more
residential places has increased tremendously, particularly in the last four years. The new
hostel will accommodate a hundred and forty girls.”
1992 marked the actual acquisition of fifteen kanals of land adjacent to the college. After eight
years, two lawsuits and stacks of correspondence, with the help of the Prime Minister, the
Chief Minister of the Punjab, the Education Department, the Commissioner and his team, and
several strategic moves, the land was finally handed over on October 16th. “This plot will
757Old Associates of Kinnaird Society. Green OAKS (1970s - 1990s), Silver OAKS (1950s - 1960s),
and Golden OAKS (1913 - 1947).
enable us to put into ‘action’ our postgraduate programme the plans for which were submitted
to the government many years ago but put on hold for lack of space.”
The Red House, which was the original Danepur Dairy, served for many years as a dining hall
and a first year hostel until it became too delapidated. It was then used only for storage and a
few extramural activities and finally demolished in the year 2000. By then the campus housed
the following buildings built in the years listed.
1938 Staff House

1939 Academic Building containing classrooms, library, reading room and office
1939 Mangat Rai Hostel “A”
1939 Najmuddin Hostel “B”
1954 McNair Building for Science
1958 Hladia Hall
1961 Second tube well
1963 Jubilee Hostel (converted in 1998 to the interim Postgraduate Block)
1963 Two large classrooms and two small rooms added to the Science Building
1963 Two staff suites added to the Academic Buildings
1963 Two staff suites added to the Staff House
1963 Seven servants’ quarters; modern sanitation & electricity put into all servants’ quarters
1964 Swimming Pool
1972 Mangat Rai Dining Hall
1988 New Science Laboratories built at right angles to the existing Science Block
1999 Mira Phailbus Centre
1999 Perin Cooper Boga Amphitheatre
The Mira Phailbus Centre is in partial use as a hostel and if funds are forthcoming should soon
be completed. This beautifully designed Centre with its three conference rooms, amphitheatre
and modern hostel facilities will no doubt qualify as another of Lahore’s outstanding buildings
combining appropriate architecture with modern requirements. When an architect was being
sought for this latest hostel and centre two former students who had been resident in the
college competed with several others. One graduated in Architecture in Sydney, Australia, and
the other in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A. The Committee selected these
two, Mrs. Sajida Vendal and Mrs. Fauzia Qureshi, who said they wanted the privilege of
working together on this project for their former college and would share the commission. The
Presbyterian Church (Women’s Program), U.S.A. and a Pakistani philanthropist have been
two of the main donors. It is amazing how through all its history God supplied the financial
needs of Kinnaird College, often at the last minute, by donations of money and land from the
Government, donations and grants from organizations and individuals of various communities
within the country, and from allocations from Churches abroad. The faith of the Board of
Directors and those responsible for policy and administration has often been tested. Often
without visible resources they went ahead and needs were met.58
The next great challenge has come from the granting of autonomy in September 1996.
Obviously all existing facilities are totally inadequate for Kinnaird’s exciting future. Interim
arrangements for classrooms for new courses have been made in Jubilee Hostel. For the long
term a multi-purpose Auditorium is planned for the plot of land adjacent to the college. The
scope of this building project is one of national importance. It will serve not only Kinnaird but
the city of Lahore. It is, therefore, essential to design an auditorium which meets the highest
international standards and incorporates the latest and most appropriate technology. It is a
858See Appendix 3 for more on the history of the present site of the College.
project of vast dimensions. Initial costs are estimated to be approximately Rs. 15 crores59. The
building will meet the demands of the women of Pakistan - not just the Punjab - and should
make a singular contribution to the cultural life of Lahore. 60
Chapter 4
MISS ISABELLA McNAIR (Principal 1928 - 1950)
Miss McNair: a profile
Miss McNair, a devout Christian and church attender, was an independent educationalist
959One crore equals ten million.
060Principal’s Report at the 64th Convocation of Kinnaird College for Women, 11th March 1997.
attached to no society or agency. She served Kinnaird College and the cause of women’s
education in the Punjab with great distinction. She left her mark not only on the college but on
the city of Lahore where she was well-known and respected. It is not surprising that she was
awarded the gold Kaiser-i-Hind medal, just before Independence, in the last Honours list
conferred by the British Government. The investiture of this honour took place after
Independence and the ceremony was performed by Sir Francis Mudie. Her greatest
contribution to the college was probably the way she guided it in the unsettled months before
Independence and into a totally different cultural situation in the newly-born country of
Pakistan. A detailed account of this period is given in the next chapter.
Financial problems
Cables had been going to and fro in April 1929. The college Chairman, the Rev’d Ross Wilson,
cabled to Rev’d Thomas Carter D.D., Z.B.M.M., London with reference to the withdrawal of
their Kinnaird College grant. The United Presbyterians were also cutting their money grant in
half, hence the crisis which would probably entail closing college. He also cabled to Rev’d
William Paton as follows: “London Committee of Z.B.M.M. have notified withdrawal financial
support K.C. U.P.s cutting their money grant in half. Proposed cuts total Rs. 8000.This
probably means closing College. Can nothing be done? Urge your intervention to arrest
catastrophe.”
The Rev’d William Paton replied to the Rev. Ross Wilson that on receiving his cable about
Kinnaird he went as soon as possible went to see the two secretaries of Z.B.M.M. to impress
on them the extremely serious nature of the step the Society had taken. It was entirely due to
financial stringency. The Z.B.M.M. is not a denominational body, but was dependent to some
extent on a group of interested people many of whom were getting old and so there was more
uncertainty about its income. Mr. Paton said that he had written an article for The Zenana, the
Society’s publication to explain the urgent need.
The London Committee of Kinnaird College meeting on 10th May 1929 rejoiced in the
courage and faith of the Directors in deciding to continue to run the college for at least
another year, and joined with all friends of the college in earnest prayer that the necessary
funds would be provided and that the college, which was so invaluable to the Punjab - and
especially to the Indian Christian Community - may be continued.
The college survived the crisis and continued to progress. However, the financial situation of
the college was one of the greatest burdens Miss McNair inherited especially after the cuts in
grants in 1929, and the opening of Lahore College for Women. .
College expansion
On 22nd November 1930 Kinnaird College for Women was registered under the Societies Act
of 1860. From this period Miss McNair was mainly responsible for searching for a new
location and moving the college from its inadequate Lake Road site to its present beautiful
campus. Soon after becoming Principal Miss McNair revealed herself as a woman of vision as
the College Annual Report for 1929-30 shows: “about thirty students, who wished to come to
college this year, have been reluctantly told that there is no accommodation for them. They
apply to us from practically every province of India, and even from Burma. We feel that the
time has come for the college to look far into the future and plan for a much bigger
programme than has hitherto seemed necessary. It looks as though the demand for college
education by the women of the Punjab would far exceed all possible accommodation now in
sight. We wonder if we should build where we are. There are only between five and six acres
of land in this site, and the present buildings are so arranged that the available building space is
very uneconomically distributed. It seems a pity to tear down bungalows which might house
comfortably people for another fifty years to come. They will not bear a second storey.”
The student enrolment on 31st March 1929 had been encouraging. There were sixty-seven
students, forty-seven residents and twenty non-residents. In December 1930 an Honours
English course at Rs. 2 a month was approved by the Executive Committee and the
Constitution of the college was registered.
The first General Meeting of the Association of Kinnaird College for Women was held on 23rd
January 1931 and included the following representatives.
1.Church Missionary Society: Canon R. Force-Jones; Miss D. A. T. Lyon
2.Punjab Indian Christian Conference: Mr. B. L. Ram; Mr. F. D. Warris
3.American Presbyterian Mission: Rev’d H. A. Whitlock; Mrs. J. B. Weir
4.United Presbyterian Mission: Rev’d R. Maxwell; Miss L. E. Scott
5.Zenana Bible and Medical Mission: Miss E. A. Nathan
Miss W. Singha, Z.B.M.M., was absent.
At the second General Meeting on 1st May 1931 it was decided that should the Methodist
Episcopal Mission, the Baptist Missionary Society or the Church of Scotland Mission desire to
join the Association, the Board of Directors was authorized to admit them.
In June 1931 a subcommittee met to discuss the teaching of oriental languages with Sanskrit
& Persian up to B.A. It was recommended that Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Persian and Sanskrit be
offered in Intermediate classes; with free tuition in Sanskrit and Persian provided there was a
minimum of three students per class. A semi-official letter was received from the Director of
Public Instruction suggesting that as the special grant was to be continued the next year, the
college should do all in its power to increase the number of Muslim students by having “fairly
strict purdah arrangements”. The Principal replied that every care was taken not to do
violence to the feelings of Muslim students and that the number on the roll was such as to
suggest that Muslim parents had confidence in the college.
The enrolment of students in Kinnaird College continued to be encouraging as this

comparison shows:
Comparison of student enrolments in 1925-26 with 1930-31
Residents Non-Residents Total
1925-26 22 8 30
1930-31 60 21 81
“The chief service the college is rendering to the province is through the teachers it sends out
every year. These find their work in nearly every high school for girls in the Punjab, and in
many places in other parts of India... The college has tried to set high ideals before the
students it sends out from its walls; and we believe that the quality of their service is as
important as the numbers that have elected to help the Punjab in these ways. We earnestly
hope that the Department may be able to render further assistance to the college at this
juncture.”61
16126th March 1929 letter of Rev’d R. Wilson, Chairman, Board of Directors of Kinnaird College
for Women, to Mr R. Sanderson, Director of Public Instruction, Punjab about Kinnaird College’s financial
crisis.
Religious representations in the enrolment
It is also interesting to look at the religious representations in the enrolment and compare
1928-29 when Miss McNair became Principal with ten years later. The numbers of Hindus
increased dramatically as did the numbers of Sikhs.
Year Christian Hindu Muslim Sikh Parsi Jain Total

1928-29 29 18 5 1 - 23 76
1937-38 36 106 31 27 1 - 201
In 1931 the staff consisted of:

4 Foreign female teachers
1 Indian Christian male teacher
4 Indian non-Christian male teachers
3 Indian Christian female teachers
2 Indian non-Christian female teachers
In the Intermediate examination, held in 1937, of the forty-seven candidates who appeared,
forty-six were declared successful and of the forty-one who appeared, forty were declared
successful for the Degree examination.
The Principal’s correspondence
Miss McNair’s correspondence as Principal makes fascinating reading and gives an insight into
the day to day challenges of college life. She corresponded with parents about their children
and with the staff about a variety of individual personal and professional matters. In 1932 the
problem of Christian students with low marks in Matriculation and the question of their
admission to Christian colleges in the Punjab exercised her considerably. In 1940 there were
letters from parents about fasting and health, and permission to fast. In 1941 Miss McNair
was concerned with the matter of the Muslim Professor Mr.Wahid-ud-Din and his estranged
junior wife. In 1942 a case of discipline for a fourth-year student showed the concern of the
Principal and of the mother of the student.
In 1933 a subcommittee was appointed to consider the case of Miss S. Ittyerah, a staff
member whose termination of services Miss McNair recommended to the Board. Behind this
lay much counselling, consultation and correspondence. In 1938 Miss Martin’s health was a
matter of concern and Miss McNair corresponded with Landour Community Hospital in the
United Provinces and with the United Lutheran Church General Hospital, Rentichintala,
Guntur District.
In 1937 Grace Mason, a Cambridge graduate in Geography, applied to teach at Kinnaird

College. This led to extensive correspondence. Miss Mason was appointed but within three
years she died suddenly through a fall from a horse on 20th October 1941. Miss McNair was
then involved in funeral arrangements and the sending of cables and letters to the family.
A biographical sketch which showed the depth of her knowledge and appreciation of her
colleagues, was sent to her friends with an appeal for gifts for a memorial fund. “Miss Mason
came to India in 1937, as lecturer in Geography at K.C. She was the first to hold the post,
and her name will always be associated with the department which she founded. She was a
systematic and interesting teacher of Geography, which by an exchange arrangement, she also
taught at F.C.C. Latterly she lectured at the University also, in Honours classes. This led to her
becoming a member of the Board of Studies in Geography and an Added Member of the Arts
Faculty of the University.
Miss Mason made a distinctive and valuable contribution to almost every department of the
life of K.C. Under her guidance the College Dramatics Society received new life, and it was
largely through her efforts that the Society gave their first public performances which were
much appreciated for their excellence. She was also largely instrumental in starting a school on
the compound for the servants’ children, while the anti-illiteracy campaign roused her interest
and latterly claimed much of her time. It is impossible to enumerate all Miss Mason’s interests.
Literature, music and art and whatever else has value for the human spirit, interested her; and
religion was central in her life. Miss Mason loved India and the Indian people, and was
remarkably quick in understanding Indian culture and the Indian mind. This trait gained for her
in a short time a very wide circle of Indian friends who found much to appreciate in her happy
gift of humour, her quick and penetrating mind, her undoubted sincerity and above all her
great capacity for friendship.” At the 9th February 1942 meeting the O.S.A. considered
suggestions for a suitable memorial for Miss Grace Mason, lecturer in Geography, who had
been tragically and suddenly killed in a riding accident in 1941. The suggestion adopted was
to build up the college servants’ children’s school which owed its foundation to Miss Mason’s
very keen interest. The school was named the Grace Mason Memorial School. Every
afternoon some students taught there. Expenses of the school were met by money collected
from staff and students.
There was correspondence also over the health of the students. The college made some
provision for this by requiring that each resident student be medically examined by the visiting
College Doctor once a year and that day students present a certificate from a doctor. In the
1941- 42 College Health Report, Dr. D. D. Chacho, the College Doctor, reported that the
health of the students was better than the previous year. However, more attention still needed
to be paid to getting rid of mosquitoes; dealing with bad teeth, amoeba, and trouble with food
from the tuck shop.
There was considerable correspondence over the appointment of a suitable successor to Miss
McNair, including a letter of Mr. J. B. Cummings dated 20th April 1947 about Miss Mangat
Rai as Principal-elect and the views of the United Presbyterian Mission. After Independence
the efforts to trace and pay those staff who were unable to return to the college involved much
office work. Once instance of this was a letter in 1948 from Mrs. Joseph Thakur Das about her
sister’s (Miss Mariam Diwan Chand) Provident Fund.
There were letters illustrating the links with other colleges including Isabella Thoburn,
Lucknow (opened in 1886 by the American Methodist Mission); Murray College, Sialkot;
St.John’s College, Agra and the Women’s Christian College, Madras. On 30th October 1935
Miss McNair was asked to carry greetings to the Women’s Christian College, Madras, on its
Twentieth Anniversary, and on 10th November 1936 she was charged with the duty of
conveying the good wishes and felicitations of the Board to the its sister college, the Isabella
Thoburn College on the occasion of its Jubilee. It is not surprising that an offer was received
by Miss McNair from the Women’s Christian College, Madras, to become its Principal. The
Board requested her to continue at Kinnaird College.
Miss McNair encouraged the students to take their responsibilities as citizens seriously. On 9th
February 1939 she wrote to the Bishop of Lahore supporting an ‘Independence Day’
procession by the students. Then there was a telegram to the Viceroy requesting the release of
Gandhi from prison: “The staff and students of Kinnaird College ask for Gandhiji’s
unconditional release and express their strong conviction that this is the only right course.”
Objectives of the College
During discussion of the college budget the Board of Directors noted on one occasion that
the present economic standards of the college were beyond the capacity of the average Indian
Christian family, and that it was necessary to reduce the fees to make the college more akin to
the present needs of the community. On the other side it was pointed out that a larger number
of students of the college belong to well-to-do families who are well able to afford the present
fees, and that many scholarships were available to help the poorer Indian Christians and
others. A subcommittee was appointed to consider the future policy of the college with special
regard to its economic basis and the Christian community.
On 16th May 1940 the Association of Kinnaird College for Women at its Annual Statutory
meeting of the Board of Directors discussed Church and Mission and the economic basis of
the college. A resolution was passed and sent to the college for information and action. “The
Church and Mission Central Council is of the opinion that the present scale of expenses and
tuition fees of Kinnaird College is not at all commensurate with the economic condition of
the Christian community in the country, and hence the needs of the Church in creating
leadership, and educational advancement in the community cannot adequately be met. It,
therefore, appeals to the Board of the college, to take some tangible steps to meet this urgent
need of the Church”... Miss McNair explained that the subcommittee appointed for this
purpose at the previous statutory meeting had met once, and that some data relevant to the
matter had been accumulated. It had been ascertained that only seventy-four Christian girls
had passed the Matriculation examination of the University of the Punjab held in 1939, and
that therefore there were not enough Christian girls seeking University education to enable the
college predominantly to serve the needs of Christian students. After discussion it was
resolved that the Committee should continue to function and be requested to complete its
work more speedily. Its terms of reference were broadened to include consideration of the
primary objective of the college and to consider the questions: Is the college a missionary
institution primarily meant to be an evangelistic agency among non-Christians, or is it intended
to provide higher education for the Christian Church? How far is it possible to combine these
two objectives in a single institution?
An Interim Report of the Principal on 20th January 1941 noted that the college has two
hundred and sixteen students of whom a hundred and thirteen are resident. Of these thirty-one
are Muslims, thirty-two Sikhs, thirty-four Christians and a hundred and nineteen Hindu
students. Five students attended the Student Christian Movement Conference at Kandy,
Ceylon, along with Miss Mathiaparanam of the college staff.
Development of the College
At the 20th December 1943 Executive Committee meeting the matter of the cooperation of
the United Presbyterian Mission was discussed. The U.P.M. wanted to continue its
cooperation in the person of a staff member but wanted reassurance on the theological basis of
Kinnaird College. A subcommittee appointed by the Mission stated how it viewed the
Christian stance of the College and its theological position. The Executive Committee of the
Board of Kinnaird College wanted this report to be studied carefully as it seemed to be based
in parts on a misunderstanding of the facts. So at the 13th May 1944 Annual Statutory
meeting of the Board of Directors a deputation from the U.P.M. received ample time for a
presentation followed by discussion. The Board was convinced that the Mission’s
understanding of the religious position of the college was erroneous. The U.P.M. was urged
to continue its cooperation without suspicion and continue with finance and staff. Again at the
19th May 1945 Annual Statutory meeting of the Board another effort was made to reassure
the U.P.M. and encourage their continued full participation as they were still not fully satisfied
doctrinally with the college.
The 11th May 1946 Annual Statutory meeting of the Board of Directors again discussed the
opening of a Science Department. They planned to:
a. prepare a complete scheme
b. approach churches and missions in India and overseas for finance
c. approach the Government for non-recurring and recurring grants
In spite of the need, it was impossible to implement plans because of a shortage of Science
teachers and uncertainty about Government help.
Miss Mangat Rai was designated Principal from the date of Miss McNair’s retirement. Miss
McNair had indicated her desire to retire as soon as possible after May 1947 when she would
reach retirement age. It was agreed that Miss McNair be released from 1st November 1947,
but should there be any change of circumstances she would be urged to continue until May
1949. Miss Porter resigned as Vice-Principal requesting that Miss Mangat Rai be appointed
Principal-elect.
At the 21st June 1948 Board of Directors meeting the continued shortage of staff because of
the upheaval following partition was noted and the Principal reported various vacancies.
Unless these vacancies could be filled very soon it would be almost impossible to carry on the
college. The Chairman appealed to the representatives of cooperating missions. Mrs. Frank
Thakur Das had resigned as she and her husband had decided to live in India. The college still
had no teacher for Mathematics.
The possibility of restrictions being imposed by the Government on religious instruction had
been previously discussed, together with the advisability of revising the paragraph about
religious instruction in the prospectus. Christian teaching in the college was again discussed
and Mr. Ram reported on an interview he and others had with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In October 1948 Miss McNair said she would like to retire not later than November 1949.
The Science need was great but it was impossible to start at present because of the critical
situation which made Government help uncertain. It was decided to proceed with blue prints.
Life at Kinnaird 1939-50
The Annual Reports of Kinnaird College from 1939 until 1950 give some further idea of its
progress under Miss McNair’s later years of principalship. The following table shows the
number of students on the rolls on 31st March 1940. The majority group was Hindu.
Christian 31 6 37
Hindu 37 66 103
Muslim 19 19 38
Sikh 23 8 31
__ __
___
110 99 209
Among the Christian students was one Anglo-Indian. At the Convocation in February Mrs.
Harper of Moga delivered a delightful address on the possibilities of the child. The prospectus
for 1939-1940 stated that the college was affiliated to the University of the Punjab up to the
degree level in English, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Economics, Sanskrit, Persian,
Astronomy, Political Science, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi.62 The February 1941 Convocation
speaker was Dr. T. G. P. Spear of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. Among the guests was an old
friend, the Hon’ble Emily Kinnaird. The Dramatics Society produced one of Mrs. I. C.
Nanada’s Punjabi plays in the summer term, while, the college branch of the National
Missionary Society had as usual a stall at the N.M.S. sale.63
The 31st March 1942 enrolment showed that more had dropped out so that for the first time
since 1927 there was a lower enrolment than in the previous year - a total of two hundred and
eleven made up of thirty-five Christians, a hundred and fourteen Hindus, twenty-nine Muslims
and thirty-three Sikhs. The average age on admission (between fifteen and sixteen) was less by
a year than it was ten years ago and less by two years than it was twenty years ago. It became
apparent that some of the college traditions which were moulded by and for a small and
maturer group of students, needed some alteration if they were to suit the present changed
conditions.64 The next year the total enrolment was two hundred and twenty-two.
Political unrest in the country
Despite political upheaval in India and contrary to expectations there were very few disorders
when colleges opened. No strike occurred in Kinnaird College although there was a period of
tension during Gandhiji’s fast. When after ten days his condition was critical many students
fasted and would not attend classes. The college was in debt to about Rs. 85,000 because of
the abnormal rise in prices and decrease in income. The American Presbyterian Mission could
not pay its annual grant last year. Extra expense was incurred for compound roads and the
sewage plant.65
Miss McNair noted that ever since she came to the college those responsible for it had had to
give a good deal of attention to financial problems. Fortunately the removal to the new site
had nearly been completed before the outbreak of war in 1939. War conditions prevented any
very rapid repayment of a debt of over a lakh66 of rupees. In the 1943 summer vacation
‘administrative approval’ was given to the conversion of the Government loan of Rs. 20,000
into a grant thus reducing the debt to about Rs. 70,000. The greater part of this amount had
been borrowed from college earmarked funds, including the Chapel Fund.67
Distinguished guests gave the annual Convocation Address - in 1945 Sir Henry Holland and
the following year Dr. Zakir Husain, Principal of Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, a well-known
educationalist who had represented India at the United Nations Conference on education. It is
66One lakh = 100,000.

interesting to note that in 1947 before independence was granted the total enrolment on 31st
March was two hundred and thirty of whom thirty-six were Christians, a hundred and nineteen
Hindus, thirty-two Muslims, forty-two Sikhs and one Jain.
Very soon after her return from studying in the U.S.A. Miss Mangat Rai made an interesting
observation regarding the Current Events Society. Before she left for America in 1944, the
students wished to discuss only Indian affairs. On her return she found them unwilling to
discuss the political situation in India. They preferred to consider the problems of other parts
of the world. They seemed aware of the difficulties of the communal problem, and therefore
careful to avoid them lest feelings should be hurt. During the serious communal disturbances
in March the college was closed only for one day. The attendance of day students was
necessarily poor for about ten days. But those who lived near attended college and several
others became resident students. The present site was so much safer than the Lake Road site.
Convocation was held on 21st February, when Mr. G. C. Chatterji, the Director of Public
Instruction, delivered a very interesting Convocation Address in which the philosopher and the
administrator both came to expression. Miss McNair noted in her Annual Report “No one
knows what political changes are in store for the Punjab. Whatever they may be, it is our hope
and prayer that the college may still be able to carry on its best traditions of cooperation and
unity. These traditions are not ours by accident. They spring out of our Christian
foundation.”68
Muslim majority with no Hindus or Sikhs
Two years later the enrolment on 31st March 1949 was :

Christian 17 10 27
Muslim 29 39 68
__ __ __
46 49 95
The excellent results of University examinations held in 1948 were nine out of ten passes in
the Intermediate, while in the B.A. all fourteen candidates passed. Two of the B.A.s passed in
First Division and ten in Second, while three passed with Honours in English and one with
Honours in History. This last student was the only candidate in all the University to win such a
distinction. The total enrolment is an increase of thirty-six on the figures for last year. Never
were there so many Muslim students in college. Several ‘casual students’ were included in the
total of ninety-five.69
The medium of instruction
The college helped refugee students by allowing fee concessions. Additional help was given
chiefly to resident students from the college Refugee Fund. The Deputy Commissioner’s Fund
was also drawn upon by quite a number of refugees. In the year following partition Kinnaird
students took little part, if any, in Inter-collegiate and University debates; but now they were
allowed to venture forth again. One very important and much discussed question and a change
which would affect every college in the University, was the medium of teaching and
examination. A special committee of teachers appointed by the Joint Faculties of the University
to consider this matter, sent out a questionnaire accompanied by the request that it should be

answered by every teacher in every affiliated college, and that if possible each college should
submit also a composite answer. Thus it was brought to light that the majority of teachers
were not in favour of teaching in Urdu as textbooks in Urdu were unavailable and technical
terms had not been agreed upon. There seemed to be a very strong case in favour of retaining
English in all Science teaching at the elementary stages, and in Medicine and Dentistry. A
reasonable view to which the Kinnaird Principal and staff subscribed was that for some years
after textbooks have been made available in Urdu a college should have the option of teaching
either in Urdu or English. The retention of English seemed desirable because it held the key to
all the treasure of modern knowledge and of ancient wisdom. On the other hand, the gulf
which had for long existed between the educated few and the uneducated many would perhaps
disappear if some men and women were educated in Urdu at the college level. But here it
would be wise to proceed slowly because the University had until recently paid little attention
to Urdu, and compares unfavourably in this respect with other universities. All were now
agreed, however, that much more attention should be given to Urdu than it had up to now
received.70
Examination results
Again the University examinations results in 1949 were very good with twenty passes in the
Intermediate and one failure and twelve passes in the B.A. with only one failure. Two of the
B.A. candidates passed in the first division, four in the second and five in the third. One B.A.
Kinnaird candidate, Akhtar Faiyaz Hussain, stood first among all the candidates of the
University taking English in the degree examination and was awarded a University prize and
medal. Another, Gulzar Bano Kakazai, passed with Honours in English and stood first among
the B.A. candidates.
Enrolments
On 31st March 1950 the total enrolment was a hundred and thirty-one of whom thirty-one
were Christians and a hundred Muslims. The number of non- resident students was nearly
equal to that of the residents. The great majority of day students came to college by bus.
Some came by private car or on bicycles. A Model Town bus brought a load of students daily,
as it did in pre-partition days, but there was difficulty with the Lahore Omnibus Service bus
from the other end of Lahore. There were not enough students so the charges were increased
from time to time.
Shortage of national staff for women’s colleges
In her last report 71 Miss McNair wrote: “During the year I have visited, as a member of
Inspection Committees appointed by the University, four new colleges for women, one which
has been in existence for a couple of years, one recently affiliated and two are about to be
affiliated. Each of these colleges, all small at present, calls for a complete teaching staff of its
own, while the number of women in this country qualified to teach at the college stage is still
small. The Central Government is offering scholarships to women for postgraduate study
overseas; and I was glad to read that three of the eleven women to whom such scholarships
have recently been awarded, are old students of the college. But it will be some time before
women who receive these scholarships can take their place in the educational system of their
country. Considering this aspect of women’s education I am more convinced than ever that
070See Appendix 2.
171Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, 1949-50.

this college must continue to look overseas for members of its teaching staff, as well as to
Pakistan.”
The Board Chairman, a friend to Kinnaird for many years, the Rev’d Ross Wilson, presided
and Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Barrister-at-law, delivered the address at the February College
Convocation. Miss McNair noted that the Debating Society usually carried on its proceedings
in English, a language which the average student now used with less facility than she did five
years ago. Some students who found speaking in English difficult, spoke in Urdu with
confidence and met their opponents’ arguments promptly and skilfully. The Urdu now used by
students was less simple than it had been even two years before. It seemed that the Urdu of
the Punjab was being influenced by the more classical Urdu of the immigrants from Delhi and
the United Provinces.
Tribute to Miss McNair
Miss McNair’s successor, Miss P. Mangat Rai noted in her Annual Report for 1950-51: “In
1947 just when Miss McNair was going to retire, the college was faced with a grave crisis due
to partition. In May the college had closed with two hundred and forty students; in October
when it was able to reopen there were only twenty-two students in the four classes. Out of the
twenty-three members of staff that were expected for the winter term, only fourteen were able
to come to the college after many delays. That year tuition fees dropped from over Rs. 45,000
to about Rs. 15,000, and hostel fees dropped in a corresponding manner. Therefore, Miss
McNair had to postpone her retirement to pilot the college through the difficulties with which
it was faced...The American Presbyterian Mission and the Government gave the college sorely
needed financial help.
“But it was not merely for these achievements that her students and her colleagues valued and
loved her. It was chiefly because of an unfailing sympathy and understanding, and affection
which was always available for the most senior down to the most junior member of the college
community. She created an atmosphere of friendliness and warmth wherever she was and had
the rare capacity of uniting people of very diverse backgrounds and winning their cooperation
and loyalty. Staff and students, British, American and Indian, Christians, Hindus and Muslims
were united and experienced the enrichment that is possible through a community of such
variety. This bond of loyalty and unity survived many difficult situations. Before Independence
there was often a great deal of political unrest among students, but throughout strikes and
agitations relationships remained unembittered and affectionate. Later, just before partition,
communal relations in the Punjab were full of tension and suspicion, but amongst the various
communities within the college genuine friendship and goodwill remained unimpaired, and
staff and students, who were members of the college community at that time, will look on that
period of unity and goodwill in the midst of the surrounding conflict as an experience of
lasting inspiration.”
Miss McNair revisits Kinnaird College
Miss McNair returned in 1958 at the invitation of Old Students, who had for several years
been collecting the money for her travelling expenses. Her visit lasted five months and she
came in time to attend the Old Students’ meeting on 22nd February 1958. Her visit did much
to renew the loyalty of Old Students to the college. During her stay she met many Old
Students in Delhi, Aligarh, Ambala, Jullundur and Chandigarh as well as in Lahore,
Rawalpindi and Karachi. During this visit the Punjab University honoured Miss McNair by
making her a Fellow of the University for life. The last time this honour was conferred was on
the Hon’ble Sir Abdul Qadir in 1902. It is an honour that had almost fallen into disuse, but was
revived by the University to show its appreciation for Miss McNair’s work in the cause of
women’s education in the Punjab.
Miss McNair’s death and memorial service
The Last Word for 1985 is dedicated to Miss McNair who died in that year, a few days before
her 98th birthday. A memorial service for her was held at the Cathedral Church of the
Resurrection, Lahore, on 27th May 1985. She was born in Scotland on 11th May 1887. She
gained an M.A. in English and then taught for a few years. In 1917 she was invited to teach
English at the Women’s Christian College in Madras. In 1928 she was asked to become
Principal of Kinnaird College for Women. At that time the college was situated on the Lake
Road site and had an enrolment of sixty students. One of her youngest students was Priobala
Mangat Rai, destined to be her successor.
After her long career at Kinnaird she returned to her native Scotland in 1950 to look after her
stepmother. Indu Mitha, an old student whose mother, Mrs. Ila Chatterji, was on the Board of
Kinnaird College for some years, gave a memorial address at the Cathedral service. She
remembered how soft-spoken and slow in her manner of speech Miss McNair was and how
her gentle scolding cut erring students to the heart. She recalled that her father mentioned how
Miss McNair had spoken out about some problems at a meeting of the University Syndicate.
“My father noticed me, as I squirmed with embarrassment wondering what impression this
gentle lady made on these learned gentlemen, and he reproved me , saying ‘We all listen with
grave attention to whatever she says, as we have the greatest respect for her and find great
value in her ideas’. I have recalled this incident to show you her status outside college and
among her peers.”
Indu cites another incident which shows Miss McNair’s open mind and flexibility of thought
without compromise of her principles. When one of Indu’s elder sisters Uma Chatterji was
senior student before independence the following incident occurred. “One of the national
leaders was released from jail, whom the younger generation, particularly students admired.
They planned to meet him at Lahore’s Railway Station and take him in procession to
Bradlaugh Hall, near Data Darbar, where he would address the crowd. A batch of Kinnaird
College girls wished to join this procession. Miss McNair tried to dissuade them because she
thought that violence and hooliganism might lead to a lathi72 charge. However when she could
not persuade them, she decided to accompany them herself. I wonder if you can bring to mind
the picture of a huge procession of Indian students in British times, going down the length of
McLeod Road and the Mall with a grey-haired British lady being driven at walking pace beside
a batch of girl students, in a shabby old car, which the whole of Lahore recognized as
belonging to the Principal of Kinnaird College. Her presence extended protection, dignity, and
sympathy with their nationalistic aspirations.”
Chapter 5
INDEPENDENCE and PARTITION 1947
The last year of the Raj and the creation of Pakistan in 1947 was the most earth-shattering
experience for all inhabitants of the Punjab since the British annexation in 1849. Relations
272Baton.
between Pakistan and India have remained strained ever since with two wars - one in 1965
and the conflict in 1971 which resulted in the birth of Bangladesh.
Miss Akhtar Qambar wrote about her early days of teaching at Kinnaird College. “The
Kinnaird of the forties was invaded richly by the general mood and tone of the times and by
the cosmopolitan character of the city of Lahore with its own brand of culture and refinement
and its concern for international and national problems. For a women’s residential, Christian
college, its interest in world affairs and its participation, ideologically or otherwise, in the
Indian Freedom Movement was remarkable.”
For Kinnaird College, however, 1947 was the most traumatic year of its history, requiring
massive readjustment. The college closed in early summer with 230 students - Hindus,
Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Sikhs. It opened in the newly-born Pakistan with only twenty-
two students, four of whom were Muslims and the rest Christians. There were no Hindus,
Sikhs, or Parsis. Some of the staff opted to live and work in India. There were Hindu and
Sikh Kinnaird graduates living in Lahore who had to leave. One of these was Kaushalys
Harwell née Puri. She enrolled in 1937 and graduated in 1941 but being Hindu had to move
out of Lahore in August 1947 amidst riots, burning and looting. Two of the Sikhs who had to
leave their homes were Mohinder Singh Batra née Kesar Singh, born in Sargodha, a student
at Kinnaird from 1942-46 gaining an Honours degree in Psychology, and her fellow-student
Rati Bartholomew née Batra, at Kinnaird from 1944-46 and Senior Student from 1945-46.
Over half a century later both returned together to visit Kinnaird again. Mrs. Grace Kumar
née Faiz was born in Lahore and attended Kinnaird College from 1931-35. Her Muslim
ancestors embraced the Christian faith in the mid-nineteenth century, thereby surrendering all
titles, lands and estates. At the time of independence and partition she was on holiday in Simla
with her three children, all under five, and three servants. Her husband was abroad. The family
eventually settled in the U.K. and she never returned to Lahore.
In the spring of 1947 there had been communal attacks in Rawalpindi and Murree, and
intercommunal tension and fear continued through the spring and summer. A young Hindu
staff member at Kinnaird College asked that a notice be put in the college entrance for her
M.A. Sikh male students: “Gentlemen will please leave their swords in the office”. Many went
around armed. Many hoped that the troubles would cease after the Independence and the
division of the Punjab had been settled. Miss Mary Cowan, lecturer in English, who became
head of the English department, 1946-60, wrote: “Christians and Hindus whom we knew, who
left early to go across the border, often assumed they would return later on. College closed in
early May because so many parents had already taken their girls away... My room in the Staff
House was near that of Nirmal Anand, whose father was head of the Law College. Night after
night she walked up and down the veranda, watching the red glow over the city, where her
family were, as houses were burnt and people killed. Each morning one of her brothers cycled
out to tell her they were still alive. Europeans did not really need to fear for themselves as the
violence was communal, but one was inevitably caught up in the despair and horror of it all.
“Before May 1947, the college had Christian staff from all over India and Ceylon. The
majority of students were Hindu, with a handful of Muslims only, and quite a group of
Christian students, many, perhaps most, of whom were from fairly well-to-do Christian
families coming originally from Delhi and the United Provinces. None of them returned,
except the few Christians whose homes had been on the Pakistan side. This meant that the
college reopened with less than twenty students and almost no Pakistani Christian staff except
for Miss Mangat Rai, Mrs. Najmuddin and Miss Sunder Singh. The Library was chaotic
because May Thomas, our Christian Indian librarian, left hurriedly and never returned, and
many, many books had gone for vacation reading and never came back. Gradually, Muslim
students, who were refugees from India, came in but numbers remained very low throughout
the academic year. The remaining Christian students reflected the predominantly rural,
unsophisticated condition of the post-Partition Church in the Punjab. As for “a feeling of loss”,
it was as if the whole college world (as well as the surrounding country, of course), had simply
been turned upside down and broken up. Lahore was full of refugees, hurt and frightened
people, with complete uncertainty about what would happen next and how the new “Pakistan”
could establish itself and develop- and the college itself had lost all the “sparkle” of a mixed
community living together in a very rich harmonious relationship. The Muslim students
coming in had, many of them, suffered the trauma of hurried escape from their Indian homes;
the Christian church had lost potential leaders; the political situation in Lahore and Pakistan
generally was uncertain and anxious, fuelled by bitterness at all that had happened... When I
went to Lahore in 1946, it was known as “the Paris of India” - a city of culture and social
grace. All that was swept away in 1947 and had to be rebuilt. I think Kinnaird was a great
stabilizing factor in the rebuilding because everyone knew that it was non-partisan.”
At the Kinnaird College Executive Committee meeting of the Board on the 13th March 1947
the protection of the college was discussed. In view of the disturbances in Lahore it was
decided that Miss McNair should ask the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Eustace, whether it
would be possible for the Government to send a guard for the college during the night. The
college authorities made preparations for emergencies but otherwise continued its normal
business.
At the Executive Committee of the Board on the 7th June 1947 it was suggested that for the
protection of the college during the long vacation two fire extinguishers and buckets and sand
for fire be purchased and that the Principal be authorized to request the Acting Principal of
Forman Christian College about approaching the responsible person in charge at that college
if help was needed at Kinnaird College. It was also felt that some responsible person other
than the servants was needed to come and live on the Kinnaird compound during the vacation
if possible.
In the Jubilee issue of The Last Word Mrs. Hladia Porter Stewart wrote of her thirty-five years
at Kinnaird (1919-1954). Her comments on Independence are particularly interesting. She
recorded: “College numbers grew, the staff also increased. For some years I was the only
American on the staff but others began to arrive. We had teachers from South India and
Bengal. In 1947, there was another upheaval. We closed college early. An armoured truck
came to take away the Sikh girls. I took the opportunity to go to South India with one of the
staff and had a wonderful time seeing new places, getting to Bombay on the day that
Independence was declared. Pictures of Jinnah and Gandhi were paraded together in the
streets; the lights around the harbour were beautiful. We never suspected what was happening
in the Punjab. I got back to Lahore on the last train that arrived safely, nine hours late, and
found myself the only member of staff in the college.
“My first care was for our Sikh and Hindu servants. With the help of Dr. Rice, Principal of
Forman Christian College, and the temporary Vice-Chancellor of the University after the
former Vice-Chancellor had been killed, they were all taken to safety and we did not lose a
single person though many of their relatives were killed in the city. We were prisoners on the
compound. The staff cook was brave enough to get food for us all. After ten days or so Miss
McNair and Miss Mangat Rai got back from Dalhousie in an army truck and took charge of
the compound while I went to Kasur to help in a temporary hospital caring for refugees who
were pouring in across the border. After it closed I went to work in the wards of the newly
formed hospital at Forman College.73 In October, we began college again with nine students
but it was not long before the numbers grew.”
Miss Catherine Symonds, another former lecturer, in Kinnaird Before and After Partition
wrote of 1935: “I remember the Quetta earthquake stirred us deeply, and we organized
parties of students to meet train-loads of bewildered refugees at the station and later to visit
those who remained in Lahore for hospital treatment. Mahatama Gandhi, too had a great
influence on our thinking and many were the discussions among the students with different
points of view as to whether or not to spin and wear only khaddar. Gandhi made us aware of
our need to know more about the poor in our city slums and of the lives of the villagers on
whom we all depended for food. So I used to take parties of students out, by car, to
surrounding villages to see what the conditions there were like. I was reminded of those days
when I found you today helping in organized relief work and in the care and welfare of the
servants’ community in the college.
“In pre-independence days the one concern which united all parties was how to hurry the end
of British rule, and students dreamed of the joy and exhilaration which self-government would
bring. Now that you have a country of your own you have to face seriously the responsibilities
of social reconstruction and of international relationships. You are one of the world’s
important nations and what you think and feel today will influence the decisions of tomorrow.
I am glad to visit you in these new circumstances and to feel that the ideals for which Kinnaird
has always stood can still make their appeal today”.
On 1st July 1947 Miss McNair wrote to Rev’d W. M. Ryburn, Auckland, New Zealand:
“Things have been very bad in Lahore and if possible worse in Amritsar. The leaders have at
least issued a joint appeal for peace (I cannot think why they did not do it earlier) and Lahore
has had fewer cases of stabbing and of arson in the last few days.”
On 10th October 1947 Dora Barton of C.M.S. wrote to Miss P. Mangat Rai from London:
“We knew of course that you must have been passing through terrible times, but your letter
made us feel very sad, and we too could have wept concerning the promised money for the
Science building. Do you think you will be able to fill any of the vacant places in the college
with Muslim students? Is there any means by which you could join forces with such a college
as the Forman?”
The most traumatic experiences of those days must have been those of the students themselves
at the most impressionable period of their lives. Syed Babar Ali’s wife, Parwin, was one of the
four Muslims who came back after Partition. Another was Shamim Anwar. The latter was to
teach history at the college for over thirty years. After retiring from the staff of Kinnaird
College, she moved into her parents’ home in Gulberg in 1990 after her mother died in 1986
and her father in 1989. The family had a famous next-door neighbour, the philosopher Ghulam
Ahmad Parwez, who died in 1985. It was he who described Pakistan as the ‘laboratory of
Islam’, the twentieth century experiment in Islamic statehood.
Miss Shamim Anwar and her Punjabi baraderie74 came from Jullundur City and District in the
Indian Punjab. Her father was Muhammad Anwar. a somewhat conservative Muslim,
employed as an engineer of the Great India Peninsula Railway (G.I.P.R.) which had its
headquarters in Bombay. Her parents were related. Shamim, born in 1928, was the eldest of
six children, with three brothers and two sisters. Her mother’s father, Haji Muhammad, came
373It became the United Christian Hospital.
474Extended family or clan.

under the liberalizing influence of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98), the founder of Aligarh
College, whom he met in his boyhood. Her early schooling was in St. Joseph’s Convent,
Bombay until, because of health, her father was posted to Jhansi near Aligarh. Shamim and her
sister were then sent to Aligarh Girls’ High School. For 9th and 10th classes she stayed in the
hostel. There she became politically aware mainly through the influence of her teachers. Her
father was very politically conscious and quietly worked for the Muslim League from 1938
until 1942, distributing pamphlets. Muhammad Iqbal had founded Tulu-e-Islam75 which her
father read regularly.
In planning the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan the Federal Government under
its dual third plan offered Federal Government servants the option of living in India or
Pakistan. Her father unhesitatingly opted for Pakistan. The original date set for the partition
was June 1948 but the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, decided to speed up the process and said
that it was to be now or never so it took place in mid August 1947 without adequate
preparation. Shamim’s father went to make reservations for seats for the family to arrive on
14th August in Lahore from Bombay. He was to be transferred to the N.W. Railway. He got
reservations for 12th August and the journey took two days and two nights. It was the second
last train to arrive safely in Lahore. It stopped a little while outside the main Lahore Station on
14th at midnight. The stations en route were all quiet. Her mother’s reaction was that this was
the lull before the storm. She was scared. The passengers sheltered in the passengers’ hut until
student activists came to say it was safe to move. They lost all their luggage which was
following. The rest of their baraderie came later, some two months later in caravans. It took
one uncle eight days to come in a cattle train from Jullundur.
Shamim enrolled in Kinnaird College in early November 1947. Her father did not know
Lahore. Whenever he was transferred to a new place he took charge of his posting and then
took the next day off to survey the possible educational institutions for his children. He
cycled. He checked the colleges but no one told him of Kinnaird College at first. When he
heard of it he went to see it and liked it and came cycling home saying ‘Kinnaird College
Zindabad’. Shamim, sitting on the back of her father’s bicycle as he cycled into the college
campus, saw Maula Bakhsh first. Then they were welcomed by a smiling Miss McNair. At that
point there were only a few Christians and Muslims at the college - a total of thirty. Earlier in
the year the enrollment was two hundred and thirty. Shamim was the first Muslim refugee
student. Miss McNair seemed to have a special relationship with every student. She took a
particular interest in Shamim, calling her “my little refugee girl”. She became very concerned
about her having to cycle four miles each way to College in the summer heat and the winter
cold. She offered, through one of the staff, a place in the Hostel with some financial help so
that a refugee family would not be further burdened. Shamim studied Political Science and
History. Nasim, her sister did Home Economics at Queen Mary’s College and then came for
the ‘Kinnaird experience’. She became an artist and later studied Fine Arts. Later Shamim did
an M.A. in History at the University of the Punjab. From 1955 until 1988 she was on the
Kinnaird College staff as History lecturer. During a sabbatical she did an M.A. at McGill
University in Montreal, Canada, on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as an educationalist. She never
returned to India and as yet does not wish to as she feels India has never accepted Pakistan.
Her memories of fellow students include Farooq Nigar in Islamabad, who came from
Ludhiana, just over the border, and a Lahori, Parveen Babar Ali, who drove a jeep with gusto.
Miss McNair taught her English and the Bible; Miss Mangat Rai taught her History. Her other
teachers included Mrs. Najmuddin; Miss Mary Cowan and Miss Porter.
Shamim said recently: “From Pakistan I got Kinnaird College and Ghulam Ahmad Parwez.”
575Tulu means dawn.

Until she was nineteen she had lived in undivided India. Punjabi was her mother tongue. She
learnt Urdu at home after living in Bombay and growing up with English and Punjabi. Many of
her students are journalists. Shamim wore the burqa76 for two years in Aligarh when travelling
before partition. After partition she used to wear it to cycle with her sister to college. Then
she challenged her father about it. Her first writing was to the Editor of The Pakistan Times
1949/50/51 against the burqa and in a weekly newspaper called The Star. Eventually her
father, having read her letters, gave her permission not to wear the burqa.
Another Muslim student who came to Lahore along with her three sisters at the time of
partition was Miss Gulzar Bano Kakazai. She still lives in Lahore. Gulzar was a pupil at the
Convent in Naini Tal. Then she attended Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow for two to
three years. Her principal, Dr. Sarah Chakko, wrote to Miss McNair about Gulzar Bano.
Gulzar’s father was born in a small state in the Punjab and her mother (and Gulzar herself) was
born in Jullundur. At college in the very cosmopolitan atmosphere of Lucknow with students
from the United Provinces she campaigned for Pakistan. She was a residential student as her
father was a forestry officer - a brilliant silviculturalist - often away in the jungles. With ten
children he was poor but from an upper middle class background. At the time of partition
Gulzar in her early twenties was sent by her father with two cousins - a boy and a girl - to
Lahore where her mother’s brother was in charge of receiving every train. (Often there were
dead bodies around on the platform). They met him at Lahore Station after a journey of eight
or nine days instead of the usual thirty hours, having experienced great discomfort and
shortage of food and water.
In Lucknow she had been studying Economics, Geography and English Literature. When she
enrolled at Kinnaird College in 1948 there was no teacher of Economics or of Geography.
Miss McNair pointed this out and said Gulzar would have to be responsible for her own
education in these subjects. Miss McNair asked Forman Christian College to allow practical
work for Gulzar in those subjects. After obtaining her B.A. she did an Honours course in
English Literature under Mary Cowan with two or three others and obtained the top position
in the University. During the years she attended Kinnaird College (1948 and 1949) the
shortage of staff was even more serious than the shortage of students. Graduates worked hard
to enrol so that the college could continue. Riffat Rashid, now deceased, was one of the first
who used to go round her relatives to enrol students. She became the first woman Dean in the
University of the Punjab. She had a Ph.D. in Physical Education but later left the academic
world to concentrate on social work. Other contemporaries of Gulzar Bano at Kinnaird
College were Dr. Rafia Hakim, Soreya Sharif and Iffat Hasan née Shah (1944-48), now
working in a Social Welfare Centre in London. Gulzar’s sister Razia Bano also graduated from
Kinnaird.
Gulzar was a passionate Pakistani and helped in the refugee camps. She wanted to do a
Masters in Economics in the University of the Punjab under Professor Rashid. Professor
Rashid introduced her to Professor Siraj-ud-din who had examined her for Honours English
and he persuaded her to do a Masters degree in English. Then Gulzar worked in the Civil
Service of Pakistan from 1950 until 1983. As a woman she was excluded from Foreign
Service. Later, it was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who opened all services to women. In the Finance
Service she joined the Audit and Accounts Service. She became an Assistant Accountant
General and retired as Commissioner of Income Tax.
At the Board meeting on 28th October 1947 it was noted that some staff were unable to
return on account of the new situation. Some were held up in India. The Principal also
676Veil covering the head, face and most of the body.

reported that the A.P. Board in the U.S.A. and the Kinnaird College Committee in England
had enquired about the emergent needs of the college owing to the changed political
circumstances. The Principal presented a tentative budget estimate with a deficit of Rs. 35,000
by the end of the current financial year. She reported that the numbers of students, which had
dropped from two hundred and thirty to twenty-two the previous October had now risen to
sixty and it was hoped that the number the next October would be seventy-five to eighty.
Many Christian families of good standing had already left and others were intending to move
to India, for they felt that there was no future for them in Pakistan. Signs of the Government’s
interest in the college had been shown by the payment of the maintenance grant in full, a
dearness allowance, and an emergency grant of Rs. 10,000. The Government was most
anxious that the college should introduce Science as soon as possible.
It was resolved that the uninvested balance of the Chapel fund should be put on Fixed
Deposit. At its 1st February 1949 meeting the Executive Committee of the Kinnaird College
Board resolved that the Principal should approach the cooperating missions and apprise them
of the financial difficulty in which the college still found itself owing to the altered
circumstances. The Principal pointed out that a sum of £75 sterling was being contributed
annually to college funds by the Church of Scotland. She further pointed out that none of the
missions represented on the Kinnaird College Association were at that time qualified for full
membership in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution. It was resolved that the
basis of membership should be revised in order better to conform to the present position.
On 10th May 1949 the Annual Statutory Meeting of the Board of Directors was held at
Kinnaird College. Budget estimates for the year 1949-50 were received. Mr. Wilson reported
on his interview with the Principal and with His Excellency the Governor. They had discussed
with him the question of securing teachers for the college from India. His Excellency had
promised to help but advised that each case should be taken up separately with the
Government. The main hindrance to the introduction of Science teaching was the securing of
properly qualified teachers. The question of introducing Islamiyyat as an additional option
subject was discussed but no decision was arrived at. The Board meeting was followed by the
20th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Kinnaird College.
At the 21st October 1949 Board meeting the enrolment of students was discussed. Miss
McNair said that the Board had budgeted for 120 students and 130 had been admitted out of
whom over seventy were in residence. Miss McNair reported on her interview with the
Director of Public Instruction who had told her that the Education Department had
recommended that next year the College should get a basic grant of Rs. 15,000 and a non-
recurring grant of Rs. 30,000 if it introduced Science. She reported that the Z.B.M.M. was
prepared to send Miss Dorothy Boswell to teach Science. It was decided that Miss Boswell
should teach Biology in the winter of 1950 and that the following year she should teach
Chemistry for which she was also qualified.
On 5th November 1949 the Board met at the College. Miss McNair reported that Dr. Azhar
Ali had been appointed to teach Urdu. He had taught for thirty-two years at St. Stephen’s
College, Delhi. At the 10th May 1950 Annual Statutory Meeting of the Board it was reported
that the Central Board of Christian Higher Education was trying to arrange a survey and
enquiry into Christian Colleges by a committee of experts, and to organize a special appeal
abroad for funds for Christian Colleges. The Central Board wanted to know whether the
survey and appeal would be made jointly both for India and Pakistan. The College Board was
in favour of a joint survey and appeal.
Mrs. L. R. Najmuddin, towards the end of her charming article on Memories Old and New in
the 1962/63 Jubilee issue of The Last Word, in which she notes her intimate association with
the college for forty-seven out of its fifty years existence, wrote: “The biggest crisis in our
history came in 1947 when the bulk of the student population and most of the staff migrated
across the newly established border. All honour to our beloved Principal of the time, Miss
McNair, that she did not let the college disintegrate completely, but put the bits and pieces
together again to refashion and rebuild. It was almost like beginning from scratch except that
we had the campus and the buildings, a mere handful of students and a skeleton staff left.
Finance became an acute problem, but our supporters in the U.S.A., the A.P. Mission, nobly
came to the rescue, the Government helped, and the crisis was tided over with faith and
prayer. To us who remained it was heartbreaking to part from so many of our students and
colleagues, besides relations and other friends in the country, and so it was for them. Kinnaird
had a spirit of fellowship which transcended the communal hostilities prevailing in the country
through that year. The cast of the annual play, The Barratts of Wimpole Street, that spring
could be said to have symbolized that spirit, for in the cast of just fourteen, five religious
affiliations were featured. And in the rest of the college too, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu girls
went about arm in arm in close groups, while outside their people massacred each other. By
Christmas of 1947 there were sixty students, and by the following year, a hundred.
Once the new regime had been established there was a sustained progress. The next step was
the introduction of Science, though it took much thought and prayer before the decisive step
could finally be taken. News of funds adequate for the purpose having been at last collected in
the U.S.A., came at the time of our greatest depression - the autumn of 1947, when we were
wondering if the college could continue at all. But God’s plans for our good could not be
frustrated. In the autumn of 1950 Biology was introduced as an Arts subject in the
Intermediate. Miss Boswell arrived in 1951 and the full Science course was taken up...Four
years later the Science Block, rightly called the McNair Block, was ready to house our three
or four score scientists. B.Sc. in Botany, Zoology and Chemistry were gradually introduced.”
So it was that Kinnaird College emerged in Pakistan as the leading women’s college of the
new country. I have decided to add Miss McNair’s Report for the year as an Appendix at the
end of this chapter as it gives such a graphic account of an extraordinary period in the history
of the college and the country.
Principal’s Report for the year 1947- 194877
At the beginning of the year under review there was a general awareness in
Lahore, even among those who generally take no interest in politics, that the
Punjab was on the eve of great political changes. But no one could then foresee
what the effect of these changes was to be on the life of the province and the city.
In May Lahore witnessed an increased number of cases of stabbing and there

were many cases of arson, some of them causing gigantic conflagrations; and here
in college we began to wonder how we could adequately protect our students
during the remainder of the summer term and our buildings in the long vacation.
It was therefore with a sense of relief that we learned that the principals of all
Lahore colleges were agreed that it was advisable to close the colleges at the end
of May instead of as usual at the end of June. As it was not considered safe at that
7 77Report for the year ended 31st March 1948, adopted as its report by the Board of Directors at its meeting,
held on the 10th May, 1948.
time for our students to travel alone some of them left us before the end of the
month, going whenever the family could arrange a suitable escort.
The members of staff whose homes were in other parts of India were also anxious
to get away without delay, as no one knew what might happen after the 3rd of
June when the declaration regarding the political future of India was to be made.
Had we not been threatened with a complete rail strike at the end of June, 1946,
and experienced a postal strike with its many inconveniences a few weeks later?
And had our hopes not been raised and crushed alternatively during the Cabinet
Mission’s prolonged visit in 1946? With all this in mind we could not bring
ourselves to believe - and we were not unusually pessimistic - that the political
leaders would be able to agree upon a decision. It was therefore an unexpected
experience, bringing with it a sense of relief, when we listened on the night of 3rd
June and heard all the leaders, one after another, announce their decision to accept
a definite plan for India’s future, even although the plan involved not only the
division of India but also the partition of the Punjab and of Bengal.
By the time the historic declaration had been made according to which Pakistan
was to come into existence, our students had left us and we discovered that our
most pressing problem for the time being was with our servants, especially with
sweepers, chiprassis78, gardeners and dhobis79. Almost without exception they
were Hindus whose homes were in the United Provinces. Throughout the month
of June they came to Miss Mangat Rai and to Mr. Najmuddin, our Bursar,
expressing their fears and stating their problems. But they were reassured and
prevailed upon to stay instead of going home as they threatened to do. And when
Miss Mangat Rai and I left for the hills early in July Miss Mangat Rai’s brother
and sister-in-law came to occupy the Staff House and so help to maintain the
morale of the compound. But they could not stay on after the 12th of August.
About this time - the date agreed on for the partition of India was the 15th of
August - communal disturbances broke out again in Lahore, much more terrible in
character than anything which had been experienced earlier in the year. But while
violent deeds were done and suffered elsewhere in Lahore the college compound
remained undisturbed, Mr. Carter Speers of Forman Christian College who
remained in Lahore throughout the summer vacation, had undertaken to do what
he could to protect it and Mr. Najmuddin visited the college daily, greatly to the
comfort of the servants. But very naturally their anxiety grew again, and when
Miss Porter returned on the 22nd August she found them fearful and anxious to
leave Lahore.
Miss Porter had spent the summer travelling and visiting friends in the South, and
was in Bombay returning to Lahore when on the 15th of August Independence for
both new Dominions was declared. There she witnessed many scenes of popular
rejoicing, and saw flying side by side the Congress flag and the flag of the Muslim
League. Little if any news of what was happening in Lahore had reached Bombay,
and so she arrived here in complete ignorance of the recent grim history of this
city.
With Miss Porter’s and Dr. Rice’s help the Hindu and Sikh servants were removed
first of all to a local camp for safety, and within a fortnight to the Dominion of
878Chiprassi is the Urdu for messenger.
979Dhobi is a washerman.
India. We have since heard from some of them and have sent them what was due
from their Provident Fund. But from others who had substantial sums standing in
their credit in the Fund, we have had no word at all.
There was a complete breakdown of communications in the Punjab, and for three
weeks Miss Mangat Rai and I had been without letters and newspapers like
everyone else in our hill station, Dalhousie. Only the radio had kept us in touch
with the outside world. We were eager to get back to Lahore and thankful when
we were allowed to return in a military lorry on the 2nd of September, and so find
out for ourselves what had been happening. A few days after our return Miss
Porter went to the border town of Kasur to nurse sick and wounded refugees in an
improvised hospital, while Miss Mangat Rai and I stayed on in college trying to
find new servants and to get the College ready for the new term. Fortunately we
had a few Christian servants who were able to keep things going. But for a whole
month we were without sweepers.
When the improvised hospital in Kasur was closed Miss Porter went to help in the
emergency hospital which Forman Christian College had opened on its campus for
sick and wounded refugee women and children, and worked there until it was time
to return for the postponed opening of college on the 15th of October.
For a time we had been almost completely cut off from other members of staff.
Many letters and telegrams were greatly delayed. Others never arrived. But
gradually the staff returned. Considerations of prudence had led many Lahore
people to avoid Kashmir, generally so popular as a holiday resort, and so all the
staff who had left Lahore had been in what had become the Dominion of India.
Each had a story to tell of the difficulties she had experienced in travelling from
one Dominion to the other. In pre-partition days the journey from Simla to
Lahore took about fifteen or sixteen hours. Miss Sundar Singh spent almost a
week en route and returned just in time to get the Students’ Mess ready for the
opening of term.
By the middle of November we had a staff such as made it possible for the college
to work according to a normal timetable, and a student body that was small but
increasing in numbers weekly if not daily. Many students who were in other parts
of western Pakistan, were prevented by the difficulties and dangers of travelling
from returning to college before Christmas. But by the beginning of January we
had about sixty students in college, and had then to face the fact that we had lost
almost 75% of our enrolment of the previous year.
We record with deep regret that in consequence of the partition of India we have
lost the following members of staff: Mr. Sardari Lal after thirty-two years of
service; Mr. Sundar Singh; Mr. Sadhu Ram; Miss May Thomas, Librarian; Miss
Kamla Sood, Physical Directress; and Miss Nirmal Anand, Lecturer in Geography.
The three last mentioned were all old students of the college. We were also very
sorry to lose Mr. Amar Nath Puri from the office where he had made himself
almost indispensable.
In the middle of November Mrs. Ila Ahuja (née Singha), an old student of the
College, came to teach mathematics in Mr Sardari Lal’s place. But family reasons
compelled her to leave in February when Miss Veda Thakur Das, until recently
Principal of Islamia College succeeded her. Miss Florence Baptist, formerly
student demonstrator in Geography, returned as lecturer in this subject in the
middle of November, having recently passed the M.A. degree examination. She
thus succeeded Miss Nirmal Anand. We had hoped for three new members of staff
from South India, Miss Alice John and Miss Hensman having left the college for
good at the end of May. But the partition of India prevented them from coming.
Miss Symonds arrived in Bombay in September after having been out of the
country for fully two years. But she did not reach Lahore until the second half of
October, when she travelled with Miss Qamber from Kathiawar. We were very
glad to have her back again especially in view of the heavy staff losses which the
college had recently suffered. But her stay here was short. She left Lahore to
return to England early in January. The chief reason why she left at that particular
time was the very serious state of her mother’s health. Another was the strong
appeal which the training of teachers at home makes at this time in the history of
England. She was engaged in such work last year and found it engrossing, and it is
this kind of work which she hopes to take up again at home. We who know how
unusual her ability is both as a teacher and organizer, are very sorry to lose her.
But we believe that the links which her connection with the college has forged,
cannot be broken; and that she will always be interested in it.
We had to refuse admission to various students prepared to enter the third year
class, because we could not offer them Economics. Dr. Rice, Principal of
Forman Christian College, very kindly allowed Mr. W. A. Shah of his staff to
lecture our fourth year class in this subject; but it was quite impossible to provide
for the third year class also. We are hoping for help on both classes next year. As
usual we have had an exchange arrangement with the Geography Department of
Forman Christian College. Dr. Manry has taught certain subjects here, while Miss
Baptist has taught others there. Mr. Dean from whom we have had the closest
cooperation ever since this college began to teach Geography, has continued in
spite of illness to keep in touch with our fourth year students by means of a
weekly class.
During the last few years I have written repeatedly of the difficulties experienced
in staffing the college. A letter from a friend at home who reads our Annual
Reports makes me think that, while writing of the many changes we have
experienced, I have failed to report on the members of staff who have been here
for many years and on whom we can always count. There is still left a group of
faithful and experienced members of staff to whom humanly speaking the
continued existence of the college is due, and I record my appreciation of the
invaluable contribution which they make. But this number must be increased. The
greatest and most urgent need of the college is for new staff to take the place of
those whom we have lost. There is a general shortage of college teachers in the
West Punjab at present, especially among women. The political situation makes it
difficult or impossible for us to recruit from South India as we used to do. So I
appeal to the missions cooperating in the college to send us without delay the
teachers whom we so sorely need. I have frequently in past years made such an
appeal. But never before has our need been so pressing. Only if the staff is
strongly reinforced now can this college make its due contribution to the
education of the women of the new state of Pakistan.
I have reported with gratitude special gifts of money which have eased our
financial burdens. When we revised our budget in November it looked as if at the
end of the year we should have a deficit of between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 35,000.
But a generous gift of $5,600 from the American Presbyterian Board in New
York, two gifts totalling $1100 from the Allocation Committee of the World Day
of Prayer Funds (U.S.A.) and a gift of over $250 from the Women’s Auxiliary of
the Missionary Society of the Church in Canada, freed us from a large measure of
financial anxiety. The Government of the West Punjab has also helped us and its
help is recorded with gratitude. In addition to the usual maintenance grant and a
dearness allowance, we received a special grant of Rs. 10,000 to make up for the
loss of fee income from the non-Muslim students. Government is anxious that, if
possible, we should open a Science Department and help to educate some of the
women of Pakistan in Science, especially some of those who hope to enter the
medical profession. We should also very much like to do so if the necessary staff
can be found. But without teachers nothing can be done. For years we have been
making known our need of a Science Department, and I have to record, again
with gratitude, the American Presbyterian Board in New York had secured
$50,000 from the Sage Trust to be used for a Science Department for this college.
We hope that we shall be able to use the money to full advantage with the least
possible delay.
We are anxious to have the cooperation of more Christian missions working in the
West Punjab. Bishop Pickett of the Methodist Church in Southern Asia visited the
college recently and spoke with approval of the proposed cooperation in the
college of the church which he represents. We hope that during his present visit to
the United States he will help to make this cooperation so often spoken of a
reality.
We have appreciated visits from other church leaders. Dr. Dodds of New York
and Dr. Weir of Dehra Dun came together to see us and listened sympathetically to
what, I fear, must have seemed like a recital of problems. The Rev’d Norman
Goodall of the International Missionary Council on an all too short visit to Lahore
met the staff and cheered and comforted us by his wise words. More recently we
were glad to entertain Dr. Manikam of the Christian Council of India, Pakistan and
Burma and also Dr. Stanley Dixon of the Conference of British Missionary
Societies, both of whom have recently travelled widely in the service of the
church.
Our college problems have been absorbing but not to the extent of excluding other
interests, and we have been glad to be in touch with the Christian Committee for
the Relief and Rehabilitation of Refugees. A number of medical women, doctors
and nurses, who have come from the West to do relief work in the West Punjab,
came to stay in college on their arrival in Lahore and went out from here to work
in camp or hospital. I can think of eight such Relief workers with whom we are
still in touch. Most of them were recruited by Pakistan House in London, but one
at least came to us from the United States, representing the World Church Service.
The Office Secretary of the Christian Committee for Relief has been resident in
college since her arrival in Lahore on Easter Sunday.
The terrible deeds done recently in the Punjab and their consequences have been
the background of all our work and thinking. The Social Service group in college
were anxious to find work to do among the refugees and are grateful to Miss
Winter of the Y.W.C.A. for making it possible for them to visit the Home for
Refugee Women and Children accommodated in the Ganga Ram School buildings.
For some time they have gone there in little groups twice a week accompanied by
Miss Qamber or any other member of staff. They play with the children or tell
them stories; and it has been cheering to hear their reports of how the children
have improved in health and self-confidence from week to week.
We have also had refugee students in college, some resident and some day
students, whom we have been glad to help in various ways. For some students we
have remitted fees in full, to others we have given small scholarships or stipends,
while in the case of others again who are resident, we have paid all their expenses,
hostel charges as well as tuition fees. From the Fund of the Deputy
Commissioner of Lahore we received a small grant in aid and we also got help
from the Government to compensate in part for fee remissions.
The Dramatics Society as usual has been the most active and enterprising of our
college societies. Early in December it acted two plays on our Open Air Stage,
one in Urdu and the other in English. There was a large audience of ladies. Out
of the proceeds the Society sent over Rs. 1100 to the Quaid-e-Azam Relief Fund.
At the same time it gave me Rs. 500 out of its reserve funds to be used as the
nucleus of a College Refugee Student Fund, a gift which I very greatly
appreciated, because it enabled us to give help where it was much needed. Again
early in April the Dramatics Society produced an Urdu rendering of Twelfth Night
in which Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Malvolio all appeared with
Eastern names in an Eastern setting to the delight of the audience. Mr. Riaz-ud-
Din Ahmad. I.C.S., the son of an old student of the college, was with Mrs.
Najmuddin responsible for the translation and adaptation. On this occasion again I
had to thank the Dramatics Society for a cheque for Rs. 800, part to be used for
scholarships and part as an additional contribution to our Refugee Student Fund.
Miss Mangat Rai and I were in Delhi in the Christmas vacation when we arranged
a reunion of old Kinnaird College students to which many were able to come. Mr.
Sardari Lal and Miss Sood were also present. A Delhi Auxiliary of our old
Students’ Association was formed. We were glad to see so many of our old
friends, and saddened when we heard how many of our old students had not been
able to secure admission into any college in Delhi. We had taken messages of
friendship from our present students to their friends who would normally have
been continuing their studies here, and brought such messages back again for
students and staff.
Old Students’ Day was celebrated as usual on the last Saturday of February when
more of our alumnae turned up than we had dared to hope for. At the business
meeting, when we asked them to send us more students, they said that if we had a
college bus it would help us to increase our enrolment. We believe that they are
right, and hope that we may be able to secure a bus or station wagon, or perhaps
make an arrangement with a private contractor or the Lahore Omnibus Service,
whereby our need will be met. The Dramatics Society enlarged to include almost
all our students, instead of producing a play for Old Students’ Day presented the
Persian Market, a most delightful entertainment pleasing to the eye because of
many beautiful costumes and colours, and restful because so completely free from
all problems and crises. The tableaux in action were accompanied by piano and
violin music provided by Miss Cowan and Sourayya Hasan. As nearly all the
students and staff had to be on or behind the stage, we invited some of our friends
who are not old students, to enjoy the entertainment with them.
In recent years Convocation has been held on Old Students’ Day or on the evening
of the day before. But because the University year has been so disorganized it was
not possible to hold it then this year. In the Inter-class Sports which were held in
February the First Year class won the Shield, much to their surprise. We have
missed Miss Sood, our Physical Directress, very much, and hope that we may
soon be able to appoint her successor. In the meantime I am grateful to Miss
Bhanot for acting as advisory member of staff for Games, and to Miss Razia
Birlas, the University Physical Directress, for advice and counsel and for coming
so willingly to take classes with our Intermediate students.
At the Inter-collegiate Sports arranged by the Punjab University Women’s Sports

Tournament Committee the college was not this year distinguished, but it still
holds the trophies won in 1946-47 for Swimming, Badminton and Tennis singles
and doubles, as the Committee arranged matches only in netball this year.
In the summer of 1947 Miss May Thomas passed the University examination in
Library Science and so became a trained librarian. But to our great
disappointment she has not returned to college. The state of her mother’s health
led her first to ask for leave and then to resign. Had travelling between Dehra
Dun and Lahore not been so difficult we should probably still have her here. Mrs.
Najmuddin and Miss Cowan have undertaken to share the librarian’s work and
have spent many hours in the Library. Unfortunately it has suffered heavy losses
traceable, like so much else, to the communal disturbances. Many books taken
home for the vacation by students who are no longer in the West Punjab, have not
been returned. A large number of them have been lost. Others are slowly finding
their way back to college.
Except for the Musical Society, the college societies have carried on more or less
as usual, with Miss Mangat Rai as advisory member of staff for Debates as well as
for Current Events, and Miss Cowan for the Literary Society. These two have
also advised the college branch of the Student Christian Movement, while Miss
Cowan has continued to help the students who carry on a Sunday School for the
servants’ children. Miss Porter has, in addition to her other varied responsibilities,
assumed responsibility for staff housekeeping, while Miss Sundar Singh has been
responsible for the Students’ Mess. The fact that we have had many new servants
and that our new sweepers still have little skill, has made unusual demands on the
patience and energy of the members of staff who supervise our grounds and
buildings.
Dr. Stephens, who for six months was our resident doctor, left us because there
was so little scope here for the practice of her profession. After an interval of
some months in which we had no doctor, we were happy when Dr. Florence
Collier of the United Christian Hospital on the Forman Campus, consented to
become our medical officer. It is a great boon to have a pleasant hospital so near
to which our servants can go as out-patients, and to which if need be our students
can be admitted.
The Kinnaird Training Centre, students and staff, occupied one of our hostels from
the middle of November until the end of March, because their own compound
which is very near the railway station, was so often encroached upon by refugees.
Here the Training Centre led an independent academic existence, using the larger
rooms of the hostel as classrooms; but joining with our students for meals, games
and evening Chapel. They have now returned to their own compound which is to
have the protection of a wall, now being built.
The following table shows how the students were distributed community-wise on
March 31st 1948:
Resident Non-Resident
Total
Christian ....... 16 5
21
Muslim ....... 16 22 38
59
Because of the March disturbances the University examinations of 1947 were

postponed until May instead of being held as usual in April. But May was a much
disturbed month and many of our Intermediate students were prevented by
circumstances beyond their control from appearing in one History paper, much to
their disappointment. Those who were in the West Punjab in December completed
the examination then; but many of our students scattered in the East Punjab, Delhi
and other parts of India had not this satisfaction. A few B.A. candidates also had a
similar unfortunate experience....Revolutionary changes have taken place in the
year under review and are still taking place. Profoundly thankful that the college
is still in existence in spite of such changes, we pray that its needs may be met and
that in the years to come it may be a centre of “true religion and sound learning”
for an increasing number of students.
I.T. McNair
Miss McNair finally retired and left Kinnaird College in October 1950.
Chapter 6
MISS PRIOBALA MANGAT RAI (Principal 1950 - 1969)
Tributes in Pakistan
Priobala Mangat Rai was born in 1911 in Abbottabad and died on 28th August 1992 in
Edinburgh, Scotland at the age of eighty-one. The Last Word for 1992-93, edited by Leila
Nina Butt with co-editor Ayesha Javed, was dedicated to Miss Mangat Rai. The theme of the
magazine was Women with Miss Mangat Rai as a role model. The Thanksgiving Service for
her life, held on 24th September 1992 at the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection, Lahore,
was an occasion for recollection and appreciation using the key words of the college motto:
“Let there be Light, Courage, Love”. Various old students spoke as representatives of many
at the service and of those who could not attend.
Santosh Singha imparted a touching and endearing insight into living with Priobala as a
relative - sister, aunt and great aunt. In her book of rules, her nephew, a little child of two at
the time, took precedence over a nap in the hot summer afternoons at the family home in
Chandigarh in India, or even a weighty report that she was writing on Kinnaird. “Let him
come and play if he wants to. After all, he is only a child.”
Kausar Sheikh brought a spark of humour to the occasion in her anecdotes of her days as a
resident student and later as a resident staff member with Miss Mangat Rai. She told how her
image of ‘Mungo’ - immaculate in her presentation, tied braids, long sleeved blouses and ever
modest attire - was shattered when she arrived for the 1988 Jubilee and stepped out of the car
- in a trouser suit!
Shamim Anwar recalled: “I had been teaching for almost a decade when one day, Miss Mangat
Rai called me to her office. It was then that I learnt of the objections of some parents, few
and far between though they were, to my ideological stance (being committed to Iqbal’s ideas
and world view under which Pakistan was envisioned). I was upset at having embarrassed her
position in this way and offered to resign since I could not compromise my convictions. At
this, she laughed, for that was not what she meant to convey to me. Then she explained her
attitude. The parents were told that a teacher has the freedom to discuss and express her ideas
within the four walls of the classroom. Freedom is what makes a teacher. When there are no
more teachers, society dies. Furthermore, when students are admitted to a college, it is
presumed that they are mature enough to listen to varied ideas expressed by different teachers
and then make their own judgments and decisions. If parents were unhappy they could
withdraw their daughters but the teacher would stay on.”
Khawar Qazi remembered the time when Miss Mangat Rai scolded her father for getting her
sister married before her graduation. “It was she who made me take a stand in refusing to get
married before my B.A.” She recalled how Miss Mangat Rai said in self-appraisal: “Mrs.
Najmuddin was very able, she should have been Principal not me. There was a rule that the
Principal had to stay on the premises. Mrs. Najmuddin’s home responsibilities did not permit
her to reside on the premises. You see, I functioned along the lines that Miss McNair and
Miss Porter had laid down. I wasn’t innovative. When I see Mira functioning I can’t help but
think that she is an innovator.”
Memories from India80
In India a memorial meeting for Miss Mangat Rai was held on 18th September 1992 at the
India International Centre, New Delhi. It was arranged by Mrs. Mohini Borker, Honorary
Secretary of the Kinnaird College Old Students Association (India) and the President, Mrs.
Mohini Sehgal. People from many walks of life shared their memories.
Dr. Akhtar Qambar, taught English Literature at Kinnaird College from 1941 until 1953, when
feeling very cut off from her relations in India she decided to leave Pakistan to take up a post
in the Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow. She expressed her grief for those Miss Mangat Rai
had left behind but stressed that this was an occasion for gratitude and quiet rejoicing and
thankfulness for Miss Mangat Rai’s public life and her leadership in the cause of education at
college and university level. Kinnaird College cannot be thought of without Miss McNair and
Miss Mangat Rai. For them it was not a profession but had the quality of a vocation - a life-
long brilliant pursuit. Miss Mangat Rai used all her gifts and the unusual opportunities that she
had to achieve the maximum result. On the personal level Miss Mangat Rai had an
extraordinary talent for creating and fostering lasting human relationships with officials in the
education department, with colleagues, with students past and present, with staff, relatives and
friends. She and Miss McNair had innumerable visits from all and sundry in their home in
Edinburgh and gave them unstinting hospitality. Miss Mangat Rai’s last assignment was in the
nature of social service. In a selfless way she gave herself to the underprivileged communities
of Edinburgh, particularly the Indians. Dr. Qambar knew Miss Mangat Rai first as a colleague
in the early forties and then as Principal of Kinnaird College and all along as a kind, wise and
loyal friend. She cherished memories of her goodness and beauty of life and counted it a
privilege to have known her.
Mr. Prem Kepal, an old personal friend of Miss Mangat Rai as well as a close family friend,
described how he often wrote poetical passages in his journal. Taking five such selections he
wrote a poem in her memory, recalling especially her deep compassion, boundless charity,
strong faith and humility. Hers was a life well-lived and in the ripeness of years she died in her
sleep. She was a great teacher; a religious spirit.
Dr. John Lal, who was not well, sent his apologies for his absence together with some of his
remembrances of “Priobala, lady of the Abbottabad hills”. He had been at Oxford University
with her brother Raj Mangat Rai, a typical British army officer, who became a distinguished
member of the Indian Civil Service. Priobala, he recalled, was always herself - gracious,
modest, quiet and intellectually tolerant.
Mr. Daniel Latify, the husband of Sarah Ityrar Economics lecturer at Kinnaird College and a
colleague of Priobala, also recalled being with her brother Raj at Oxford in 1935. He met Miss
Mangat Rai in Lahore in the early forties in the company of Sarah who later became his wife.
Prio contributed greatly to making Kinnaird College the ‘premier women’s college’ of what
was then North India and is now Pakistan. “She deserves our homage not merely for her
dedication as a teacher but for her courage and perseverance in staying at her post of duty in
Pakistan and not deserting it when I am sure many tempting offers reached her from
elsewhere. In Pakistan itself with her Hindu name she apparently had at certain stages a few
complications and difficulties which she nobly surmounted. In so doing she contributed to
080Based on a recording of the proceedings.

Indo-Pak understanding and friendship. That is a must for the well-being of our two countries
and peoples.”
Satvitri Chip, from 1928 another long-time friend who also studied with her in Lahore,
recalled: “We did our M.A.s together. No one in college could understand our friendship. I
was the naughty one; she was serious. She appreciated a sense of humour and had the quality
of making people happy.” Satvitri stayed with her in Kinnaird for eleven years after partition.
Satvitri’s daughter Ratna described Miss Mangat Rai’s visit to Delhi in 1988. She had a very
tough time at the Indian customs with her presentation plaque and carpets. Ratna went to stay
with her the following year in Edinburgh, in the flat left her by Miss McNair. “We took her out
to meals. She was always concerned about the expense. We felt she was quite lonely.”
Usha Barkat remembered her as very shy, with a gentle smile, showing modesty and dignity
in her beautiful saris. She was a very strict disciplinarian. The partition of the subcontinent
affected her. After she retired she did not belong to either India or Pakistan. She will be greatly
missed.
Priobala Batra recounted: “I was born and brought up in Abbottabad. Our families were very
good friends. My mother admired Priobala Mangat Rai and I was called Priobala after her.”
She mentioned the very beautiful service held on the day of the 75th anniversary of Kinnaird
College in the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection in Lahore. Miss Mangat Rai read the
Bible very beautifully - from the gospel according to Matthew chapter 5 verses 13-16 and
from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6-8. “I really felt she was
talking to all of us who were there or not there.”
Miss Mangat Rai’s parents
Miss Mangat Rai’s parents were both Christians of Hindu extraction. Her father, Rai Sahib
Mangat Rai, B. A., was a member of the provincial Civil Service in the newly created
Northwest Frontier Province81. Rai Sahib Mangat Rai (1877-1938) had left his Hindu home
when he was seventeen as his new-found Christian faith proved unacceptable to his family.
After studying at Forman Christian College he served first in Peshawar and then in
Rawalpindi. He also taught for some years at Gordon College, Rawalpindi.
Dora Chatterjee (1877-1938), Miss Mangat Rai’s mother, was the youngest daughter of Kali
Charan Chatterjee a missionary of Hoshyarpur, Punjab, for forty-eight years.82 He was born
into a Brahman family in 1839 at Sukhchar, a village on the left bank of the River Hugli, eight
miles north of Calcutta. Kali Charan became a pupil of the Anglo-Vernacular High School run
by the Church Missionary Society at Agarparah, two miles from his home. He soon began to
compare the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ with those of the gods he had been
taught to worship. On 8th November 1854 he was baptized in Calcutta. Cast out by parents
and other relatives and friends, some twenty young students found, at that time, a home in a
hostel erected on a compound where Dr. Duff ’s house was also situated. Here for seven years
- among the happiest of his life - the young Chatterjee lived as a student at the Free Church
College, Calcutta.83 In 1849 after the British annexed the Punjab the Presbyterian Mission
181Ibid. p.43.
282J.C.R. Ewing, A Prince of the Indian Church, p.19.
383Ibid. p.24.
opened work in Lahore, founding a school. In December 1865 college classes opened in
connection with the school. Mr. Chatterjee was offered the post of Junior Professor of
Mathematics. He studied for the ministry under various teachers and was ordained by the
Presbytery at Ludhiana on 24th December 1867. 84 He worked among the lowly and despised
scheduled castes.
His daughter Dora was the first Indian woman in the Punjab to become a medical doctor.
After some education in India Dora studied in the U.S.A. and passed her M.D. in the Medical
College in Philadelphia in 1901. She worked as a mission doctor for eight years, becoming a
physician in charge of the Denny Hospital for Women (established in 1902) at Hoshyarpur
until her marriage. She had four children, two boys and two girls. Priobala was the eldest. The
family home remained in Abbottabad.85
Career
Priobala Mangat Rai spent her early life in Abbottabad. As there was no school for girls she
was taught by her mother, who loved drama, and by her grandparents. When her father was
transferred to Rawalpindi she went to a Convent school and then to St. Denys in Murree for
the last four years of her schooling. At seventeen she began her long association with Kinnaird
College, starting as a student and becoming Senior Student. She went to Kinnaird College in
1928 for four years to study for the B.A. of the Punjab University. In 1934 after obtaining her
M.A. in History from the Punjab University she started teaching British and European History
at Kinnaird College. She claimed to come from a very narrow background and a very small
place - Abbottabad in N.W.F.P. At that time as now Kinnaird was not a college just for the
wealthy. Poor students were helped with expenses. It was a college where many traditions
blended. A mixture of Indian religious faiths and a mixed group of teachers from various
countries - deeply religious people. The guiding spirit behind those traditions was the
influence of Miss McNair, and Miss Porter who was so interested in poetry, painting, flowers,
shrubs and trees. Her heritage lives on in Kinnaird’s beautiful grounds.
In 1942 Miss Mangat Rai studied in the U.S.A. receiving a Masters degree from Harvard
University. This was followed by further study leave at Radcliffe College, Cambridge, U.S.A.
At the 1945 Annual Statutory meeting of the Board of Kinnaird College for Women Miss
Mangat Rai was designated Principal from the date of Miss McNair’s retirement, meanwhile
she continued as Vice-Principal. In 1952 Miss Mangat Rai had leave of absence to take up a
George Cadbury Fellowship at Selly Oak Colleges in the U. K. for a year. She was honoured
by Pakistan, being awarded the Tamgha-i-Qaid-i-Azam in the Pakistan Day Honours List on
23rd March 1958; and the Sitara-i-Khidmat in 1971 for her service to the cause of education
in Pakistan. She served with distinction on the Boards of the other Christian colleges, and of
some of the Christian schools. The writer still remembers the support in interest and finance
she gave to the United Bible Training Centre, Gujranwala, to start courses for new literates in
the mid-sixties. She was a member of the Academic Council of the University, and her
contributions were highly valued; she served on many educational committees.
She retired from Kinnaird at fifty-nine. After a year at Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, and
visiting and lecturing at other institutions in the U.K. she worked at a welfare centre in
Birmingham. She came in contact for the first time with many Muslims and Sikhs from the
484Ibid. p.46.
585Maskiell, p.86.
villages of the Punjab. She sometimes helped by translating Urdu at local courts. She
recorded: “Afterwards a lot of immigrants from Africa of Asian origins also came. I became
very interested in the Asian community. They had no education. They did not know the
language and yet they were making good. They were very keen on their children going to
school. I used to accompany the health visitors who visited Asian homes and who were
responsible for the health of children under five. They would discuss the diet and ailments of
the children with their mothers. We conducted surveys. I did this work for four years and
learnt quite a lot. The centre was supported by the church, industry and corporations. It was a
sort of a partnership between the private sector and the government.” Ameera Saeed wrote: “I
find it moving that her last service was among the poor - among Asians in Britain. After
leaving Birmingham she took a job in Edinburgh in 1974 as warden of a residence for married
students from overseas who were studying in Edinburgh. Later she went to live with Miss
McNair who was also in Edinburgh and looked after her until Miss McNair’s death in 1985.
To the question as to where Pakistan should best use its scarce resources for education, Miss
Mangat Rai stressed the need for setting up teacher training centres for elementary schools,
because that was the foundation for inter-communal harmony. The Kinnaird hostel was a great
mixing place, where students learnt about each other’s customs and faith. The greatest tribute
to Miss Mangat Rai, a devout believer herself, lay in the fact that in memorial services held for
her in Pakistan, India and in the U.K., all faiths were present together to honour a life well-
spent in meaningful deeds.”86
In 1990 Miss Mangat Rai was interviewed in Edinburgh for a documentary film called The
Spirit of Kinnaird made for Indo-Pak Amity87. Her interviewer was Khushalia Haver, an old
student now based in London. Noting that Miss Mangat Rai had attended the 75th
anniversary of Kinnaird College she enquired about Miss Mangat Rai’s thoughts on
relationships between India and Pakistan. She was asked if she noticed much difference from
when she left in 1969. She commented that it was now a much larger college - about two
thousand students compared to around four to five hundred before. Now it was not as much a
family as it used to be. Then the majority of the teachers lived on the campus but now only
two or three lived there.
Khushalia Haver asked: “Now that you are so far away from Abbottabad and Lahore where
you grew up and worked what do you cherish most about your life at Kinnaird? Miss Mangat
Rai replied: “There are over a hundred old students in the U.K. I have just been sending my
annual letter to them. Thirty to forty former teachers live here. For the last twenty years we
have had an annual reunion so we are still a part of the college from that point of view.”
Achievements, Problems and Solutions
Staff
One of the most crushing burdens that Miss Mangat Rai as Principal carried was the
responsibility of finding adequate staff for the college. In 1954 she wrote: “Kinnaird College
is fortunate in having a strong missionary staff. Their deep sense of vocation has done much to
build up the college and to enable it to recover from the blow that it suffered at partition. The
weakness of the staff is that we have very few Christian women nationals on it.” Six years later
686Mangat Rai:Memories of Fragrance, Ameera Saeed in The News International Midweek Magazine
YOU Volume 2 No.41.
787 Documentary Film Makers Sohas Borker.

she wrote: “Towards the end of every college year when the time draws near for certain
teachers to retire and others to finish their contracts, I feel burdened with care when I think of
the coming year, and wonder who will teach the big classes which are always on our hands,
but every year teachers have been found, and sometimes from the most unexpected quarters.
Perhaps this is a lesson to teach us all that if the college is within the purpose of God its needs
will somehow be met.” The 31st March 1955 enrolment was 314 including fifty-one Christian
students, more than ever before in the history of the college. When Miss Porter left to get
married the Board of Directors recorded their grateful appreciation of her long and devoted
service to the college. She joined the English Department in 1919, served as Vice-Principal for
many years, and officiated as Principal at various periods, always ready to step in whenever
need arose. In 1963 Miss Mangat Rai wrote that it was still a matter of grave concern to all
interested in the aim and purpose of a Christian college that a larger number of Pakistani
Christians had not yet come to serve.
Miss Mary Cooper joined the Geography Department in the autumn of 1957. The Geography
classes had greatly increased in size and with the teaching of the Geography Honours Course
there was more than enough work for two Geography teachers. Dr. Kazi, the Head of the
Geography Department in the University, requested Miss Cooper’s help for the M.A. classes in
the University.
In August 1958 the husband of Mrs. Najmuddin, Mr. Luther Najmuddin, the College Bursar
from April 1947, died unexpectedly. The Executive Committee of the Board noted: “During
this period Mr. Najmuddin served the college with great unselfishness and devotion, and gave
his time unstintingly to the college both during term time and during the vacations. His
absolute integrity and honesty were like a rock on which the college finance and business
transactions were firmly anchored.” Mr. E. Jivanandham, father of Mrs. Mira Phailbus, who
was then teaching Geography, promised to be Bursar from May 1st 1959 when he was due to
retire from Government service.
He and many others served the college faithfully for long periods, including Mr. E. Jacob who
became Bursar for the hostels.
Science
Opening a Science Department had long been a dream of the previous principals. In 1946
serious planning for a Science Department started with the preparation of a complete scheme,
an approach to churches and missions in India and overseas for finance and an approach to the
Government for non-recurring and recurring grants. The Department was finally opened in
1950. In the summer one of the classrooms was equipped as a Biology Laboratory, and
teaching of this subject started, enabling some students to take one of the Science groups
consisting of Biology, Geography and Mathematics for the Intermediate examinations. Others
took Biology as an Arts subject. At first Miss Prem Madan, M.Sc. (Botany) taught Biology,
but she was not able to continue after March 1951. Mr. March of Forman Christian College
very kindly took her place in April and May, and in June the College was fortunate in securing
Miss Kanwal Thakur Das, M.Sc., the daughter of Rev’d Andrew Thakur Das of Naulakha
Church. The demand was for the pre-medical course consisting of Biology, Physics and
Chemistry. Therefore arrangements were made to teach Physics and Chemistry in October.
$5,000 of Science apparatus was purchased. Forman Christian College helped in collecting
other apparatus available in Pakistan. Two more classrooms were fitted out as Physics and
Chemistry Laboratories. Miss Boswell taught Chemistry, and Forman Christian College
provided a teacher for Physics during the winter. In 1952 there was a large number of
Christian students in the college. This was partly due to the Science Department. The Christian
students in Kinnaird High School who had done science came to Kinnaird instead of going
elsewhere to continue science.88
During the next few years the main preoccupation of the college was with the development of
the new Science Department. This was the direction in which the college grew and expanded.
On 23rd November 1953 the building of a new Science Block began. The Principal, Miss
Mangat Rai, reported: “This year we were able to admit less than a third of the students who
applied for admission. Until the last five years science was taught only in one or two of the
girls high schools in the Punjab, but now it is taught in several of the girls schools. We hope
that this expensive new venture will prove of real service to the women of Pakistan. It is our
belief that science taught by those who feel a deep sense of Christian responsibility will
influence the students to a responsible use of their new knowledge, and also give them a new
devotion to truth and deeper reverence for the wonderful creation around them, which we
trust will lead them on to ponder afresh on the Creator.” The formal opening of the new
Science building took place on 6th November 1954. It was named “The McNair Building”. 89
In 1956 B.Sc. Botany and Zoology were introduced and in 1960 B.Sc. Chemistry.
Finance
Like her predecessors Miss Mangat Rai had to face financial problems. In 1964 she
commented: “The aspect of our finance which gives us most satisfaction is that at last the
college debt is completely paid off. It seems that the college had been struggling with debt
since 1925.” Those debts mainly arose from moves to new campuses but national crises also
always had their financial repercussions for the college. At its 16th October 1965 Executive
Committee meeting the financial implications of the closure of the college due to the
Emergency (17 day war) were considered. The Government had warned that it might not be
able to give money grants to the private colleges for that year. In the previous year the
Government had given Rs. 35,312 so this would be a very serious financial loss to the college.
Closures due to student unrest also resulted in loss of income from fees. Adequate finance had
always been a persistent concern.
No purdah, please
An oft-repeated protest of Miss Mangat Rai was: “I will never allow Kinnaird to be a purdah
College”. Her sensitive approach to the subject of purdah is illustrated by the following tribute
by Safia Saeed, President of the Golden OAKS, who at the Lahore Thanksgiving Service in
1992 related how she had come to Kinnaird just before partition. In those nascent days of
higher education for girls, Safia’s father had laid down strict regulations about her wearing the
chaddar90. He provided an old male servant for a chaperon as a second condition upon her
enrolling at Kinnaird. Miss Mangat Rai quietly acquiesced, assuring Safia: “One day, your
father will come to trust in your confidence and dignity, so let him have his way”. And so it
was.
A few years after becoming Principal Miss Mangat Rai recalled how she was present at a
88Annual Report Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1951-52.
090Large shawl covering head, shoulders and most of the body except for the legs.
conversation between the Principal of the Lahore College for Women and a well-known
Muslim woman who had for many years been a leader in politics and public life. The Principal
wanted to invite certain men who had helped the college to the forthcoming college
convocation, but the political leader advised against it. Miss Mangat Rai said that Kinnaird had
always invited men to its college convocation and other functions and that neither parents nor
students had ever raised any objections to this. The leader turned to her and said: “We want
Kinnaird to continue to do this and to lead the way in these matters, but the Lahore College
for Women must conform to the more conservative Muslim traditions and restrict these
functions to women.”
In 1966 the West Pakistan Government issued a directive aimed at enforcing a more
puritanical way of life among students. Music and dancing classes were banned. Women’s
colleges were not to produce plays for mixed audiences. Coeducational colleges were not to
have mixed castes for their plays. The aim of these directives was to impose a conservative
Muslim tradition upon the students. Kinnaird with its excellent reputation for drama was
especially affected. Staff and students were glad when the next year the rules about mixed
audiences were relaxed and the college play could be attended by former students and their
husbands and by the parents of the present students.
Mrs. Najmuddin91 wrote that Kinnaird had had ‘mixed’ audiences for its plays since 1940, with
the break of a few years from 1947-1954 after which fathers and guardians of the actors were
again invited. In recent years men relatives of the students, guests of the staff, and many of the
foreign communities living in Lahore had been invited - always a ‘select’ audience, not
throwing the doors open to all and sundry. Never had there been any criticism, or any
untoward incident, detrimental to the students or to the college, or offending any religious
scruples. In fact Kinnaird had always been commended for its contribution to good drama in
the country. In 1967 the college again attempted Shakespeare - one of his lesser known plays
- The Winter’s Tale. It was an encouragement that in the end the men who have been regular
and most appreciative ‘play-comers’ were able to see it. In March 1968 Mrs. Najmuddin
produced Twelfth Night, with one performance to which men were invited. Mixed audiences
continue to attend by invitation.
For Independence Day 1996 the Dramatics Society created an original script for an Urdu play
entitled Tum Azaad Ho. It included lighting effects and mime. In December 1997 I attended an
excellent performance of Martin the Shoemaker by the Russian dramatist Leo Tolstoy which
was recorded by the B.B.C. and dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Mother Teresa
who both visited the College in 1991.
Chapel
The Chapel never materialized and one may ask how grave an error that was in a Christian
institution. A multi-purpose hall was built instead. Miss Mangat Rai’s 1954-55 Report
emphasized the need to build a college hall or auditorium. So far the college had used the
library as a hall. It was used for morning Assembly when all the students met together, and
also for evening chapel for the resident students. It was the meeting place for the Dramatics
and Debating Societies and for nearly every other college group. All college functions were
held in it. Thus its use as a place of study was relegated to a very subordinate position.
Fortunately a substantial sum towards the cost of a hall was in hand and only a little more
money was required. The Hladia Hall, beautifully designed by well-known architects, John
19116th January 1967 letter to Old Students, former members of Staff and friends.
Terry and Graham Black, was completed in 1958 and the library set free for study.
Christian Religious Education
It was hoped that the liberal policy that the Government of Pakistan had followed so far and
the religious freedom that Christian institutions had been allowed to exercise would be
continued. At the 1958 Board meeting Miss Mary Cowan reported on the religious activities
of the college. A Sunday School for about thirty-five children of servants was taken by
students under the supervision of Miss Robinson. Forty-four resident students were members
of the Student Christian Movement which met weekly in the afternoon and in Bible Study
groups and in occasional joint meetings with other colleges. The S.C.M. planned to participate
later in the year in a Work Camp, Annual Camp and Leadership Training Camp. Bible classes
at the college were well attended and a wide variety of courses offered. Morning and evening
chapel and religious instruction classes were attended by practically all the students of the
college in 1961. The Annual Report for 1962-63 stated that daily morning chapel had
continued to be well attended, with very few students absenting themselves. The general
atmosphere during prayers was one of quiet attention, with a sense of participation. Every
Friday a special prayer was said for all former students. At evening chapel, which was held
only for resident students and staff, the attendance was not so good; it varied from day to day.
Considering that it was not compulsory, there was no cause for concern.
With the introduction of compulsory Islamic teaching for Muslims in schools and colleges by
qualified personnel a similar opportunity was granted to Christians where their numbers
warranted it. For this more trained teachers were required. So in 1963 Miss Joyce Harris of
the Cathedral School was requested to lead a special effort to train students in Scripture
teaching.
Enrolments
In 1951, four years after partition had so drastically reduced numbers of students, there was a
great improvement in enrolment. One hundred and seventy students were on the rolls, of
whom sixty-six were in the first year class. This was exactly double the number of the previous
year. In March 1952 there were 210 on the rolls. The enrolment on 31st March 1953 was 253
of whom 196 were Arts students and fifty-seven Science students; ninety were refugee
students and a great many of them needed financial aid. Many students found life difficult but
the staff were troubled by a lack of seriousness on the part of a great many students. It seemed
that few came to college with a love of learning for its own sake. Perhaps if the families had
been more concerned and had not kept students at home for so many reasons concerning the
family itself and its social affairs, better work would have been done. Weddings took a lot of
time. Health was also a problem and many more days were lost because of minor illnesses and
complaints. This irregularity and the tendency of day students to slip away too early, tended to
create a restlessness not at all conducive to study. The staff tried to combat some difficulties
by providing times and places for supervised study, but it was often hard to provide for large
numbers not in the classroom at a given time. The examination results reflected the state of
affairs. Previously there was rarely a failure but many of the present students had had very
sketchy schooling after the partition of the country in 1947. Schools found it hard to get
teachers and there was little continuity in their programme.
Appeared Passed
Intermediate 49 28
B.A. 30 23
Honours 5 3
M.A. (Geography) 3 2
In some ways it was a difficult year. The country had been threatened with famine, food prices
had soared, political parties had changed. With so much agitation, discontent and active rioting
the student body could not remain unaffected; but there was a great deal for which to be
thankful.
In spite of the problems old students returning to the college spoke of what they had learned
while they were a part of the student body, ideals that they had hardly put into words before, a
greater concern for other people, for what is needed in society and in the nation, an
appreciation of what they rather vaguely called “atmosphere”, “family feeling”,
“friendliness”, “a sense of unity and cooperation”, and later other words crept into their letters
and greetings like “discipline”, “orderliness”, “a place where study seems important”,
“tidiness”, and even “cleanliness” and a great many of them mentioned the space and beauty of
the grounds.92
The staff could adequately teach about 250-300 students. In 1953 a larger than usual number
of students enrolled who had done the Senior Cambridge examination. Seventeen of them
joined College between December and April of whom quite a number were from Karachi.”93
Again the next year the Principal stressed that it was increasingly difficult to keep the total
number in the college within three hundred. The two other women’s colleges in Lahore faced
the same situation. The number in the Lahore College for Women had risen to nearly eight
hundred and in the Islamia College to over a thousand. Kinnaird College helped to meet an
urgent need arising from the very great desire on the part of Muslim women for college
education.
Problems in Higher Education
By 1950 with numbers again increasing, conditions were returning to what was normal in the
pre-partition life in the college. However, changes were imminent in the educational system of
the country. A special Commission was appointed in 1951 by the University to enquire into the
existing conditions of Higher Education and to recommend reforms. A change clearly
perceptible after three years of independence was the decline in the standard of English
among the students. The same emphasis was no longer laid on the teaching of English in the
schools, consequently students found it increasingly difficult to pursue their college studies in
the medium of English. From 1952 the University granted candidates for the Intermediate
examination the option of answering their papers in Urdu. These changes were likely to affect
the standard and type of education imparted in the future in Pakistan. 94 On the whole the
University results were better in 1954 than they had been during the past few years. The great
range in the knowledge of English among the students proved a problem. Some students
came to college with an excellent mastery of the language, while others having done their
Matriculation in Urdu had had only two years of English as a language with no opportunity to
use it as a medium of study. All college work was in English. Some students could do it easily
and happily, while others followed very little of what was happening and found college work
strange, frustrating and baffling. They needed a great deal of help, which was difficult to give

when classes were large.
Appreciation of Board Members
In 1952 the Board minuted its appreciation of the Rev’d Ross Wilson’s and Mr. B. L. Ram’s
long connection with the college. Mr Wilson first became a member of the Board of Directors
in 1920 and Mr. B. L. Ram in 1921. Both men served the College continuously over thirty
years, and gave much time and effort to its welfare and growth, and contributed greatly to the
stability and continuity of its policy.
Miss Mangat Rai’s overview of women’s education
Miss Mangat Rai’s Annual Report for 1955-56 gives such an interesting overview and
comment on women’s education that I quote most of it. “Perhaps one of the most
revolutionary social changes, that is taking place in Pakistan is passing unnoticed - the great
growth of education among Muslim women. In the thirties of this century there was a great
growth of education among Hindu girls. Before 1930 there were only two colleges for women
in the Punjab, and each had about thirty students, but after 1930 many new schools and
colleges came into existence. These were largely attended by Hindu girls and most of them
disappeared at the time of partition. But after partition there has been a corresponding growth
in the education of Muslim women. New colleges have been opened by the Government in
Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Multan and Montgomery.95 The pre-partition college
in Lyallpur has grown. The women’s colleges in Lahore have doubled their numbers, the
Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women, the Home Economics College, and the opening of
college classes by Queen Mary School are new enterprises. Besides these Government
institutions, several private institutions have come into existence. One of the most interesting
is the women’s college at Rabwah. Rabwah is the new Ahmadi settlement which is struggling
to establish itself in an arid desert-like area. The college is four years old and has a hundred
students. I was asked to give the convocation address at the women’s college at Rabwah and
found my visit there a very interesting experience. An interesting aspect of this new movement
in education is the desire to learn science. Until recently hardly any women’s institutions
taught science, now most girls’ schools and colleges are trying to establish science
departments, often under very discouraging conditions. I suppose it will be long before we can
assess the social impact of this growth. I sometimes think that this new desire for education
among women is the most hopeful feature in Pakistan. Not only are girls asking for education,
but there is a desire to exercise their capacities in every direction. There is enthusiasm for
games, for taking part in debates, dramatics and anything else that is available. I am constantly
being asked to start art classes, music classes and dancing classes.”96
Proposed changes in the system of education
In 1958 the Punjab University appointed a committee to enquire into education. One of the
recommendations of the committee was that a new type of secondary educational institution
should be organized. The Intermediate section of college and the last two years of school
should be removed to it. After going through the secondary institutions students would go to
college for a three-year, instead of a two-year B.A. course.
595Montgomery is now Sahiwal while Lyallpur is now called Faisalabad.

The new three-year B.A. course was introduced in September 1960. Contrary to all
prognostications there was a larger third year class than usual. Practically all the members of
the class were Kinnaird students who had just passed the Intermediate. Chemistry had to be
introduced into the B.Sc. course because from then on the students were required to take
three Science subjects instead of two. Another innovation was the introduction of ‘Functional
and Remedial English’, compulsory for all students. The new Intermediate courses were
introduced in September, 1961. This continued to be a two-year course even though the
degree course had been increased to three years. This also entailed a great deal of
reorganization. The Intermediate students had to have an external examination at the end of
each year. Urdu became a compulsory language for all students including science students
who so far had been exempted from a second language. ‘Functional and Remedial English’
became compulsory in the Intermediate classes. A new method of teaching English required a
certain amount of adjustment from teachers used to the old method.
The Commission on National Education
The Government in 1960 pressed for complete separation of the Intermediate classes from
the B.A. classes. This would involve a great deal of expenditure and additional personnel, for
it would be tantamount to running two institutions instead of one. Such a plan did not suit a
small college like Kinnaird. It was more feasible for the mens’ colleges which were large and
would probably improve by division. The Central Government made a grant to the college of
a hundred thousand rupees, and the West Pakistan Government gave the college Rs.50,000 to
help carry out these changes. But this money was not nearly enough as the cost of carrying out
the changes required would be between seven and eight hundred thousand rupees, moreover
it would be impossible for the college to carry out these changes on the present site. It was
suggested that the college try to acquire a strip of land from the Mental Hospital just across
the road from the college. A request for this land was sent to the Government, to be given to
the college either as a gift or on long lease. The Principal went to many different authorities
and offices in pursuit of this land, but although the Government was sympathetic no definite
promise was made with regard to it.
Two principals?
At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the College held on 20th February 1961 it
was decided that there should be a separate principal for this new institution. The Directors set
about making a serious effort to find a suitable principal - a forceful personality with vision
and drive, and above all influence with the cooperating missions. All these changes posed very
difficult problems for the college. The Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of
the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. appointed a committee to visit the three colleges in
West Pakistan connected with the American Presbyterian Mission, to advise them on making
plans to carry out these changes. Dr. Frank Wilson, the Educational Secretary of the American
Presbyterian Mission, was the Chairman. The Commission gave a good deal of thought to the
affairs of Kinnaird College and their report had many helpful suggestions with regard to the
Library, the Science Department and other internal arrangements of the college.
Bifurcation?
In the academic year 1961-62 all efforts were directed towards introducing the changes
recommended by the Commission on National Education. 1963 would see the completion of
the new system with regard to the new syllabus and curriculum, but the recommendation with
regard to the physical separation of the B.A. and B.Sc. classes from the Intermediate classes
would remain to be carried out, as it required land, money, buildings and additional staff. Two
new subjects, Nursing and Physics, were introduced into the Intermediate to give students a
reasonable amount of choice. Logic and Psychology became separate subjects whereas in the
past they formed one subject, Philosophy. The second year of the new three-year B.A. and
B.Sc. course was introduced. Honours courses began in B.A.Pt 11. All students who wanted
to go on to the M.A. wished to do Honours because it would exempt them from doing the
first year of the M.A., but offering Honours in any subject involved the college in a very heavy
teaching programme, and would inevitably require additional staff. At the annual Board
meeting it was decided to offer Honours in English, Geography and History.
Dilemma
Dr. Ewing described the dilemma that faced the colleges in this way: “It is the absolute
requirement of the Honours course as a prerequisite to the Master’s degree that has placed
colleges like this in an almost impossible position. There are many facets to the problems, but
the essential dilemma is that we must offer the Honours courses if we expect to get the best
remaining students (after the Medical and Engineering Colleges have creamed off the pick of
the scientists!), but that if we do offer them, we will be faced with a mounting incubus of
expense. If we do not offer Honours courses, we slip very quickly into a second or third-rate
place among Lahore institutions; if we do offer them, we go bankrupt. I believe it is almost as
unequivocal as that.”
A Higher Secondary Institution?
The chief recommendation of the Wilson Report that concerned Kinnaird was that the college
should join forces with the four Protestant Mission Girls’ Schools in Lahore and try to make a
Higher Secondary Institution consisting of the 9th and 10th classes of the schools and the
Intermediate classes of the college. Such “Bifurcation” needed the land across the road. The
other recommendation of the Wilson Report was the setting up of an “Association of Christian
Colleges of West Pakistan”. This Association would unite the five Christian Colleges of West
Pakistan, and consist of four representatives of each of the colleges elected by their respective
Board of Directors, and five representatives of the West Pakistan Christian Council. The
purpose of the joint Board would be to enable the five colleges to plan their future
cooperatively, and prevent duplication if possible, and to go forward and develop with
reference to the total resources available to the Christian colleges. Mr. James Gittings was
authorized to appeal for personnel and funds.
In 1961 Kinnaird students were prepared for the new B.A.1 and B.Sc.1 examinations with the
following results:
No. appeared No. passed
B.A.1 60 58
B.Sc. 1 8 7
Nursing as a subject in the Intermediate classes started in response to a Government request.

It was thought that such a course would help to raise the status and standards of nursing. Few
well-educated girls entered nursing, primarily because the low status was likely to affect
adversely proposed marriage arrangements. The two-year course started with twenty-three
students who did their second year supervised practical work at the United Christian
Hospital. The course proved popular and the success rate was high with no failures in the first
ten years.97 Miss Evelyn Smith was well-qualified to be their teacher with her B.Sc. from
Bedford College, London and nursing training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London,
followed by both teaching and nursing experience.
Government suspension of the new education scheme
The newly elected National Assembly attacked almost every aspect of the work of the Military
Government. This critical attitude included violent attacks on the Christian minority and
Christian institutions both in the Press and the National Assembly. This was very alarming as
previously the policy of the Government had been most liberal towards the Christian minority
and to the contribution of its schools and colleges to education. Its educational institutions had
been given recognition and generous help. From the time Martial Law was lifted in June 1962
disturbing news began to come in from all over the country of student disturbances and
demonstrations, much of which unrest was sponsored and exploited by unscrupulous
politicians. Never before had students been known to take matters into their own hands to
such an extent. Soon the authorities were giving in; and then came concessions, one after
another. The educational reforms were the main target of the student agitation.
Suddenly, in October 1962, the Government announced that the new education scheme was
suspended, and the third year of the B.A. and B.Sc. courses was cancelled; students were
awarded their B.A. degrees on the results of their second year examination, taken the previous
June. To make matters more confused, these results had not yet been declared, and the poor
bewildered students did not even know whether they had passed. Besides this, having planned
to spend one more year in college, they could not imagine what to do next. The college could
not advise them, as the University itself had not decided what to do. There began a series of
feverish University meetings to reorganize the courses and curricula, in order to revert to a
two-year B.A. course. The University had for many years enjoyed a tradition of autonomy, and
did not relish the reforms imposed upon it by the Martial Law Government. Although it was
happy to be given a more or less free hand again, systems could not be easily made and
remade overnight.
Another change, introduced in November 1962, was the reduction of the B.A. 1 subjects from
four to three, with the result that after almost two months of study, students were told they
must drop one of their subjects. It was remarkable how quiet and orderly Kinnaird students
remained during all these weeks of anxious excitement and uncertainty. The Students’
Executive Committee, elected by the whole student body, continued to function very
efficiently forming a vital link between staff and students. A good deal of self-government was
exercised by the students through the Executive, but the staff kept a wise supervision over
their activities, guiding by tactful suggestion, and at times, when necessary, a stern warning.
The College Jubilee 1913-1963
The college celebrated its Jubilee in 1963 with an Annual Convocation on Friday 8th March
followed by a dinner for the whole college. The next day there was an Old Students’ Reunion
and Tea followed by the first performance of the fifty-year Pageant. On Sunday 10th March a
Thanksgiving Service was held in the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection, Lahore. The
Cathedral was packed with present and past students of varying creeds. The Bishop of Lahore,
Rt. Rev’d L. H. Woolmer, gave a most inspiring sermon. Then on Monday 11th a Garden
Party was held for college friends, preceded by a Science exhibition and followed by the
797Based on a report written by Miss E.R.D. Smith, Lecturer in Nursing 1961-71.

Pageant.
Kinnaird continued to maintain its foremost position among women’s institutions for higher
education, in spite of the anti-Christian propaganda and criticism so rife in the country all the
previous year. The March 1963 enrolment totalled four hundred and fifteen, comprised of
three hundred and fourteen Muslims, ninety-eight Christians and three Parsis. Parents
positively asserted their faith and confidence in an institution like Kinnaird, which, they said,
offered much more to their daughters than mere academic learning, in building their character,
and making them fit for life. Even the Government considered Kinnaird the best place to send
foreign students coming to Pakistan for their education.98
Bachelor of Education course
In 1962, when the three-year B.A. course was abandoned by the Government, it seemed that
it might be possible to use the additional resources that the college had accumulated in
anticipation of having an additional class, for starting a Teachers’ Training class for graduates -
a B.Ed. The many Christian High Schools for Girls in West Pakistan had more than once
expressed the need for a Christian training college to provide teachers for them. The West
Pakistan Christian Council had also discussed the need for this on many occasions. The Board,
therefore, decided to invite Miss Margaret Robinson to return to Kinnaird College to
introduce and run the B.Ed. course. She had taught Philosophy at Kinnaird from 1954-58, and
after returning to England had been teaching at Homerton Training College, Cambridge. Her
experience both in Pakistan and in England made her the ideal person to launch the enterprise.
A class of eighteen was admitted and the work begun, when Mrs. Najmuddin, who was
Acting Principal during Miss Mangat Rai’s absence in Britain and the United States, received a
second letter from the Government, telling her that the first letter had been sent by mistake,
and that it was contrary to Government policy to permit a private college like Kinnaird to give
professional training. This was naturally very upsetting, as the class was already in session.
Mrs. Najmuddin wrote a long and vigorous letter to the Government explaining the situation,
and the Vice-Chancellor of the University supported her contention. Finally the Government
permitted the college to continue for one year only, and complete the training of the existing
class.99 The B.Ed. examination results in 1964 were very gratifying: sixteen appeared, fifteen
passed and one was ‘in compartment’. However, in the end the Government did not allow the
college to continue the course even though Miss Mangat Rai on her return from abroad made
a further effort for its continuance.
Tasnim Raza Shujauddin, from a Christian family in Sialkot and a graduate from an Urdu
medium high school, was one of the B.Ed. students. After leaving Kinnaird she joined the
teaching staff of Aitcheson College, Lahore. She married and now lives in the U.S.A. with her
husband, daughter and son. Reminiscing, she recalled Maula Bakhsh a much respected
Kinnaird employee who ran errands for the students to the tailors, to Rollo the photographer
and to the Chinese shoeshop. Then there was Aziz who ran errands round the campus and the
driver Gulzar who kept an eye on the B.Ed. students while they were out doing teaching
practice at Kinnaird High School, asking “Where are you going, Missahiba?”, if he caught

anyone near the gate. The Tuck Shop Chaudry Sahib was also ready to extend credit at any
time of the month!
Changes in college between 1950 and 1964
1950 1964
Enrolment 131 470
Christian students 31 100
Resident students 66 167
Staff 17 47
Budget Rs. 65,660 Rs. 2,44743
Overseas staff Rs. 8,818 Rs. 38,683
The National Emergency
The prolonged 1965 closure of the college had very serious consequences. Many of the
resident students joined colleges in their home towns. The Indian army was entrenched along
a canal seven miles outside Lahore and violations of the cease-fire were frequent. Parents were
unwilling to send their daughters to an area so near the front. The tragic events of 1947 when
so many women were abducted were not yet forgotten. 100 The men’s colleges were allowed to
open on 15th October but it was not until November 1st that the women’s colleges and
schools were given permission to open because the cease-fire was considered to be very
precarious. Once the college started, the work proceeded normally until January when the
Government ordered a month’s closure. This time the closure was due to the violent student
demonstrations against the Tashkent Agreement, the terms of which the students considered
were a disadvantage to Pakistan. Kinnaird College students and many others took no part in
the demonstrations.
The National Emergency, as the war and its aftermath were described, drew the college into a
number of new activities. Resident teachers collected clothes for displaced persons from along
the border and money was collected for a hospital trolley and contributions were made to the
National Defence Fund. Classes were organized for the numerous children of servants and
their relations on the compound. When the students returned to college the work for the
emergency increased. Dr.Riffat Rashid, the Head of the Social Welfare Department of the
University, gave a list of a hundred refugee families living in the vicinity. Miss G. Cashmore
divided the whole college into groups of about twenty students, with a member of staff in
charge. Each group was responsible for four families for whom they collected quilts, bedding,
household pots and pans, food and other necessities. The whole project was undertaken with
great enthusiasm. A wave of patriotism, a desire to help the country in this emergency, and an
emotional feeling for the refugees seemed to sweep through the students. Everyone was
surprised by the quantities of stuff collected and distributed every week. Besides this work,
lectures in First Aid and Civil Defence were arranged for the students in the autumn term.
The President’s Commission on Student Problems
During the period 1963-65 colleges had been frequently closed by Government orders because
of lawlessness and unrest among the students. Women students did not generally join in
student demonstrations but nevertheless women’s colleges were closed along with the rest.

The closures were very disruptive and they always seemed to come on the eve of house
examinations. When the examinations took place after long delay the students did badly and
found it difficult to settle down to work. Steady work needs a stable background. Early in
1965 the President appointed a commission to examine student problems, and recommend
measures for their welfare. The Commission published its report in the spring of 1966 after
visiting all the universities and many colleges. The report makes interesting reading. The
Commission was very critical of the conditions that prevailed in many private institutions. The
institutions were run as commercial and money making concerns that took advantage of the
sudden demand for education that could not be met by Government institutions and other
established institutions of repute. These institutions seemed to be the centre of student
lawlessness and unrest.
In the report Christian institutions were commended in several places, but in the sweeping
recommendations of the report regarding private institutions, they and other private
institutions of repute and long standing were included. Some of the recommendations that
gave the Christian colleges much anxiety were that there should be a majority of Government
nominees on their Board of Directors; that the principals should be appointed by a
Government committee; and that there should be a prayer room in every hostel. The
distinction between a prayer room and a mosque was uncertain. A mosque would belong to
the Muslim community and would be no longer the property of the college. If these
recommendations were implemented the Christian colleges would lose all their freedom and
have no controls over policy.
The Association of Christian Colleges in Pakistan, an organ of the West Pakistan Christian
Council, met to discuss the report and drew up a statement giving their opinion about it and
sent it to the educational authorities. Another effort to control students was to shorten the
summer vacation. In the past colleges had closed for twelve weeks. A directive was issued by
the Government to close for only sixty-six days.
The academic year 1966-67 was remarkable in that it was uninterrupted by long periods of
closure. In 1963, 1964,1965, and 1966 all colleges had been closed by Government orders for
several weeks at a time because of student unrest and lawlessness. It was a disturbing state of
affairs that Government and educational authorities seemed to be afraid of student
demonstrations. As a result almost any concession that students demanded was granted. Year
after year the time of examinations was postponed, supplementary examinations were held for
failed students, and fees were not increased for fear of student opposition. Political parties
used student unrest for their own purposes. Some of the causes of this unrest and indiscipline
were not difficult to analyze. The number of students and the demand for University education
had greatly increased, and although new institutions were opened they were unable to meet the
demand. Class rooms and hostels were overcrowded, increase of staff had not kept pace with
the increase of numbers, and adequate instruction for great masses of students became more
and more difficult. Standards were becoming perilously low. 101
Appraisal of Christian Higher Education in Asia
The primary purpose of this Appraisal by a team representing the American Presbyterian
Church of the U.S.A was to enquire into the future of Forman Christian College - but it also
examined the other Christian colleges to obtain background and perspective. The group spent
one evening at Kinnaird College. Miss Boswell, Mrs. Najmuddin and Miss Mangat Rai had a

fruitful discussion with them before dinner, and they met the staff at dinner and after dinner.
They also had a meeting with the Association of Christian Colleges in West Pakistan at which
the general situation was discussed. In their report they said: “Kinnaird College is committed
to a quality programme as a women’s college. Its drawing power is strong, its educational
policy is sound, its administration and teaching staff are highly competent and its position in
the field of higher education is well established. With improvement in the stability of staff and
increased assistance from cooperating bodies overseas Kinnaird has a unique role to perform
for at least another decade.”
Kazi Anwar ul Haque, the Minister of Education, Health, Labour and Social Welfare for the
Central Government, gave some illuminating figures in his report on Education during the
period covered by the Second Five Year Plan.102 He wrote: “one of the most notable features
of recent educational development has been the expansion in female education”.
1958-1965
1. The enrolment of women at the postgraduate level has increased by 400%.
The enrolment of men has increased by 236%.
2. At the undergraduate level the enrolment of women has increased by 220%.
The enrolment of men has increased by 150%.
3. At the secondary stage of education the enrolment of girls has increased by 156%.
The enrolment of boys has increased by 53%.
4. At the primary stage the enrolment of girls has increased by 345%.
The enrolment of boys has increased by 52%.
The number of women undergoing college education in West Pakistan in 1956 was 6,842.
In 1966 it had increased to 24,619.
The Lahore College for Women, and the Islamia College for Women, Lahore, had three
thousand students each. Kinnaird College numbers continued to creep up in spite of all efforts
to keep them under control and not allow the college to become unmanageable. The teacher-
student ratio in 1968 was 1:12. Hostel and office staff were not included in this number.
Miss Mangat Rai’s retirement
1968-69 will long be remembered in Pakistan as a year of demonstrations, riots, closure of

colleges and universities, and the introduction of Martial Law once again. It was also the year
of Miss Mangat Rai’s retirement after a long association with college which began in 1928. In
1960 she had written: “We believe that this community life is of great importance and that we
all learn a great deal through it. The contact between staff and students in the life of the hostel,
in the dining room, on the games field, and in the many college committees is a vital means of
influencing the students, and of imparting to them the values of honesty, responsibility and
conscientiousness. It is the arena in which the art of living together and cooperating for a
common goal is learned.”103 Miss Mangat Rai lived “on the job” throughout her long service
at Kinnaird College both as lecturer and Principal. Her life was open for all to see and by her
example she made a tremendous contribution to the community life of the college which she
saw as so important. She was very concerned for the last three or four years before she
retired about who would succeed her as principal of Kinnaird College. “The Executive
Committee asked Miss Margaret Robinson who consented for a limited period of five or six
years (as she had elderly parents who might need her help in the U.K.).” Her chosen
2102Quoted in the Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1967-68.

successor, Miss Margaret Robinson, wrote of Miss Mangat Rai: “She has a gentleness which
was yet based on a strong character, which in turn was founded on a deep faith in a personal
God who was concerned for people and loved them. Miss Mangat Rai followed her Master in
her love and concern for people. As one student said, ‘Everything she did and said had about it
an air of dignity’”.104
Chapter 7

MISS MARGARET ROBINSON (Principal 1969 - 1972)
Miss Margaret Robinson joined the staff of Kinnaird College in September 1954 as a
representative of the Asia Christian Colleges Association. She was a most successful teacher of
Philosophy - rather an abstract subject and not easy to teach to students with a limited
knowledge of English. Her faithful work in the college Sunday School was built on the good
foundations laid by her predecessors. Her sincere and steady goodwill and genuine kindness of
disposition made her a most acceptable colleague, and enabled her to make an outstanding
contribution towards uniting a staff drawn from many different countries and with many
different points of view. “We all hope that some day circumstances will permit her to return to
College.” So wrote Miss Mangat Rai in 1967 in paying tribute to Miss Robinson after her
second period at Kinnaird as lecturer. The hopes were realized.
Miss Robinson eventually worked at Kinnaird College for a total of fourteen years between
1954 and 1996 in three different capacities - as lecturer in Philosophy (1954-58 and 1963-67),
Principal (1969-72) and as administrator of the hostels (1993-96). She shared in the life of
the college and observed it from far and near for over forty years. She was born in
Wolverhampton in the U.K. of Irish parents. She returned to Ireland to enrol in Trinity
College, Dublin, and studied Mathematics for two years and then another two years later she
qualified with an M.A. in Mental and Moral Science. After a year at Oxford University
securing a Diploma in Education she gained teaching experience in the U.K. and lecturing
experience at Kinnaird. After leaving Kinnaird in 1958 she studied for a Diploma in
Psychology of Childhood at Birmingham University. Then she lectured at Homerton College,
Cambridge. She returned to Kinnaird in 1963 to introduce a B.Ed. Course. She also initiated
the course in Applied Psychology. She returned to the U.K. for a brief period (1967/68) as
senior lecturer in Education at the College of Education, Ripon. Then she came back to
Kinnaird as Deputy Principal and Principal-designate from January to August 1969. She was
from the summer of 1969 until 28th June 1972 when she handed over to the eminently suitable
Mrs. Mira Phailbus. When she was appointed Miss Robinson had emphasized to the Board
that her term of office should be for a limited period only, until a Pakistani principal was ready
to take over.
On returning to the U.K. Miss Robinson became senior lecturer in Education at Edge Hill
College of Higher Education, Ormskirk, Lancs., for thirteen years. She spent the following
three years looking after her mother. Finally she returned to Kinnaird from 1993-96 as
administrator of hostels. After that she returned to the U.K. to live in retirement in Southport
where she was busy working for Compass Braille and other church and charitable pursuits.
She continued to enjoy bird-watching. I remember her and Dorothy Boswell and one or two
other intrepid hikers and bird-watchers on holiday in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. When I
got tired of walking I would point out an imaginary bird and they would all stop for a few
minutes and look through their binoculars while I had a rest. One of Miss Robinson’s
hilarious moments at Kinnaird was when one of the servants reported a young man over the
wall talking into a black box, and a girl’s voice coming out of it! She had been gated and Miss
Robinson had mistakenly handed her this walkie-talkie, not looking at it and thinking it was a
transistor.
During her brief period as Principal Miss Robinson took part in the appointment of Mrs.
Mira Phailbus as Deputy Principal and then as Principal-designate. When I asked her what she
considered was her main contribution to Kinnaird as Principal she said: “Finding Mira”. Many
of the staff felt that her other main contribution was that salaries were raised considerably, to
bring them more in line with Government salaries. To accomplish this took much hard work
and persuasion on her part. Also during her time in office Social Work, Commercial Practice
and German were introduced as subjects for the Intermediate examinations.
In the 1960s various changes took place on the Church scene. The representatives of the
Pakistani churches appropriately took more and more responsibility on the Governing Body
of Kinnaird College while the missionary societies took less and less. This was a logical
follow up by the Board105, which in discussing its Constitution noted the shift in emphasis in
the whole country from mission organizations to national churches and therefore affirmed the
use of the new names for affiliating groups, for example the American Presbyterian Mission
had become the Lahore Church Council. In 1969 the founder mission, the Bible and Medical
Missionary Fellowship, which had no Pakistani counterpart in the country, relinquished its role
as a member body entirely, as did the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.
Radical changes took place during Miss Robinson’s time as Principal which culminated with
the nationalization of Kinnaird College by the Government on 1st September 1972, just
weeks after she had handed over the principalship to Mrs. Mira Phailbus. Miss Robinson and
Mrs. Phailbus had worked hand in hand in the run-up to this nationalization. The minutes of
the Board and its Executive Committee show how much the possibility of nationalization had
been a matter for constant consultation and heart-searching through the preceding few years.
An Appraisal of the Protestant Christian Effort in Higher Education in Asia106 in 1968 gave a
clear description of the background situation of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, at the
time just before Miss Robinson became Principal. It was a team report intended for study and
not to be interpreted as a statement of policy. The salient points dealt with the Governing
Board, Administration and Staff. The Board appeared to be too exclusively representative of
supporting churches with no opportunity for the non-Christian public to be represented, or for
the alumnae as such. The team felt that the Board, having no clear understanding of the
workings of the college, leaned too heavily upon the Principal, giving her a free hand to
administer the college as she saw fit. The Board seemed more church-minded than college-
minded. It was rightly seen as a weakness that out of a residential staff of twenty-six only five
were Pakistani. In the crisis of partition in 1947 such a ratio was a strength but in a different
kind of emergency when foreigners might have to leave it would be weakness. The lack of
younger Pakistani teachers at Kinnaird seemed to be related to the low salaries and lack of
provisions for future security on a long-term basis. It is interesting that all these matters
mentioned by the Appraisal Team were soon to be dealt with. However, many other issues had
to be faced as the Government introduced a New Education Policy and Nationalization
loomed on the horizon.
The Executive Committee of 21st February 1969 discussed the question of more autonomy
for the college in the matter of academic standards and examinations. The Principal reported
that in January the Secretary for Education had made a report on the Intermediate examination
of the Lahore Board and had described it as “ineffective and unreliable” and that “corrupt
practices...have touched an all time high and the faith of the public, the parents, the educators
and the students in the public examinations stands completely shattered”. A little later the
5105Annual Statutory meeting of the Board of Directors of the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore,
24th October 1964.
6106United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, 475 Riverside Drive, New York.
Academic Council of the University passed a series of resolutions lowering the standard and
requirements of the University examinations. These concessions, in the words of the Vice-
Chancellor, were made “at the point of the bayonet” to fulfil the demands of the students. In
the light of these events it seemed imperative that the Christian colleges should try to get a
certain amount of autonomy from the public system of education. The Association of Christian
Colleges of West Pakistan (A.C.C.W.P.) had written a letter to the Government Secretary of
Education, and the University and the Board of Intermediate Studies asking for permission to
hold their own examinations and for greater freedom to set their own courses and standards.
This suggestion ran contrary to the extreme centralization and uniformity that had been
imposed on all education during the previous four years. An alternative would have been for
the Christian colleges to disaffiliate from the University and the Board and grant their own
degrees and certificates. This could only succeed if the Government and the public gave
recognition to these degrees.
The A.C.C.W.P. had also proposed to set up a consortium of private colleges which would
form a university centre within the University of the Punjab proposed by the Hamid ur-
Rahman Commission. It was agreed that the Colleges should press for a certain amount of
autonomy before considering disaffiliation.
Nationalization
The New Education Policy for Pakistan was announced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on 15th March
1972. In furtherance of this Policy the President and Chief Martial Law Administrator had
promulgated the Educational Institutions Take-over Regulation (MLR 118 of 29th March
1972). On behalf of the Board of Kinnaird College a letter was written to the Central Minister
of Education about the financial implications of this Regulation to the college.107
The Annual Statutory Board of Kinnaird College for Women on 14th November 1970 again
discussed the Government’s Education Policy. Dr. R. Tebbe gave a summary of the West
Pakistan Private Colleges (Management and Control) Ordinance promulgated on 25th June
1970. The Principal reported on the extent to which this had already affected Kinnaird
College. The point immediately before the Board was whether or not it should comply with
the Competent Authority’s (Parent Body) direction that three nominees of the Parent Body be
supplied for the proposed Governing Body to be formed under the Ordinance. Finally the
following resolution was submitted to the Competent Authority, and copies sent to the
President, the Governor of the Punjab; the Education Secretary, Ministry of Education,
Government of Pakistan; and the Education Secretary of the Government of the Punjab.
1. The Board feels strongly, and puts on record, that the implementation of the Ordinance is
bound to create serious complications of a practical nature and will alter the Christian
character of the college and will affect the well-known high academic standards maintained so
far.
2. The Board fears that the implementation of this Ordinance will adversely affect the financial
situation of the College.
3. The following nominations are presented provisionally, under strong protest pending
consideration of the application for exemption by the Tribunal as and when constituted:-
1. The Rt. Rev’d Inayat Masih, Bishop of Lahore
2. Mr. T. Phailbus, P. S. E. I. (Director General, Purchases, W.A.P.D.A.)
3. Dr. E. J. Sinclair, Principal Emeritus, Forman Christian College, Lahore.
7107Executive Committee of the Board, 11th June 1972.

The Executive Committee on 14th January 1971 discussed the Punjab Amendment108 of 31st
December 1970 to the original Private Colleges Ordinance after the Principal outlined the
amendments.
a. One extra nominee to be allowed from the Parent Body, making a total of four.
b. The nominee of the Syndicate of the University could not also be a nominee for any other
college Governing Body.
c. Many of the duties formerly in the hands of the Competent Authority were now transferred
to the Governing Body. Under the Punjab Ordinance the present Board of Directors of the
College ceases to exist as the Governing Board of the College from 30th January 1971 and
the elected members of the Governing Body would form the new Governing Body. The
Principal, as Secretary, would have to call the first meeting of this Governing Body. It was
understood that grants from the Government would probably be withdrawn from colleges
which did not implement the Ordinance.
It was pointed out that the former Board of Directors and the Association would still have the
right to protest if the new Governing Body carried out any policy contrary to the nature of the
College. The membership of the Association of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, would
need to be clarified under the conditions of Church Union109 and it was agreed to ask the first
Synod of the Church of Pakistan, to be held in April, to give consideration to its representation
on the Association, who, with delegates from the United Presbyterian Church and the Lahore
Church Council would form the Association in future.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Governing Body of Kinnaird College for Women was held on
22nd February 1971.
Present: Rt. Rev’d Inayat Masih, Bishop of Lahore (Parent Body)
Mr. T. Phailbus (Parent Body)
Miss Zeb Zaman (Parent Body)
Dr. Rifat Rashid (Competent Authority)
Dr. F. S. Khair Ullah (Competent Authority)
Mrs. L. R. Najmuddin (Registered Benefactor)
Mrs. Mira Phailbus (Staff Representative)
Mrs. Subeda Ahmed (Staff Representative)
Miss M.P. Robinson, (Principal, ex-officio)
At the half-yearly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird College
for Women on 8th May 1971 the Principal reported that all those who had been elected to the
new Governing Body appeared sympathetic to the aims and ideals of the College. Rt. Rev’d
Inayat Masih had been unanimously elected as chairman. She also pointed out that changes in
the Rules of Procedure for the Governing Body must be sent to the Parent Body and their
opinion invited, and that no rule, regulation or amendment could be made which is repugnant
to the basic character of the institution as laid down in the Memorandum and Articles of
Association of the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore.110
At the Annual Statutory Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird
College for Women on 30th October 1971 the membership was as follows:
8108The West Pakistan Private Colleges (Management and Control) (Punjab Amendment) Ordinance,
1970.
9109Inaugurated on 1st November 1970 as a union of Anglicans, Episcopal Methodists, some

Presbyterians and some Lutherans.
0110First drawn up and printed in 1931; revised and reprinted in 1969.

Representatives of the Churches:-
The Anglican Church in Pakistan Mrs. F. Inayat Masih; Mrs. Shirin Nasir
The United Presbyterian Church in Pakistan Miss M. Allison; Mr Lal Moti Lal
The Synod of the United Church in Pakistan Lahore Church Council Mrs. A.P. Gill
Sialkot Church Council Sister Vincent Dass
The United Methodist Church in Pakistan Bishop J.V. Samuel; Mrs. P. Peters
Principal, Forman Christian College Dr. Anwar Barkat
Principal, Kinnaird High School Miss Z. Zaman
Principal, Lucie Harrison School Mrs. P. Peters
Principal, Cathedral High School Mr. P. Wilson
Principal, Murray College, Sialkot Dr. F. S. Khair Ullah
Co-opted Members: Bishop of Lahore, Mr. T. Phailbus, Dr. E.J. Sinclair, Mr. R. E. Jeremy,
Rev’d E. Tak
Staff Representatives: Miss D. Boswell, Miss P. Cooper,
Ex-Officio: The Principal, the Vice-Principal
The Chairman emphasized that the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird College
for Women was in no way redundant because of the functioning of the new Governing Body,
but still had the responsibility of maintaining the Christian nature, basic values and principles
of the college. After the decisions of the meeting of the Governing Body of Kinnaird College
for Women on 12th May 1972 the Principal-elect Mrs. Phailbus requested the Government 111
to grant to Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, total exemption from the provisions of
Martial Law Regulation No.118 under Clause 12 of the Regulation on the grounds that
Kinnaird College is a non-commercial institution; a benevolent and philanthropic institution;
and holds several charitable funds and events. Efforts were being made by the Christian
community as a whole to ascertain what steps should be taken in the matter of seeking
exemption for Christian colleges. The West Pakistan Christian Council had been meeting often,
and acting as a representative body had sent delegations to Islamabad to meet the Central
Education Minister and other high officials. The following points were to be emphasized in
supporting the case for exemption.
1. Christian Colleges in West Pakistan meet totally the condition for exemption laid down by
ML Reg. No.118 and any laws imposed contrary to this Regulation are unconstitutional.
2. The Christian community has been granted constitutional rights and protections, under
sections 17-19 of the Interim Constitution, which must be respected.
3. The quality education of the type provided by private Christian institutions is necessary in
order to maintain a balance in education.
4. Christian institutions have traditions of service to the nation as a whole and should therefore
be considered as national institutions.
College life continues
While all these matters were being thrashed out in Boards and Committees and with the
Education authorities and the Government the day to day work of the college continued. In
the ordinary life of the college these changes were not felt.
Two factors dominated the year112, first, the New Education policy, and, secondly, the great
111In her letter of 1st June 1972 to Mr. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Minister of Education, Ministry of
Education & Scientific Research, Central Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.

demand for admissions. The majority of the provisions of the Private Colleges Ordinance, such
as the student-teacher council and staff representation on the governing body, had been the
practice at Kinnaird for a number of years. 1969-70 saw the introduction of a new group of
students into the college. The University requested the admission of fifteen Saudi Arabian
girls for a ‘crash’ course in English, Urdu and the Sciences, so that they could benefit from
their medical course on entry to the Fatima Jinnah College.
Numbers of students continued to rise. After the admission of the Senior Cambridge students
in January 1971 the enrolment was as follows:
Christian 49 46 95
Muslim 295 106 401
Parsi 1 1
Hindu 1 1
_________________________________________
Totals 345 153 498
Academic results for 1970 showed a high pass rate

Appeared Passed
Arts 81 75
Science 36 35
B.A. 84 82
B.Sc. 18 15
In the B.A. fifteen gained first division and in the B.Sc. four. During the next academic year
two new subjects were introduced into the curriculum, German as an elective subject in the
Intermediate, and as an optional subject in the B.A., and Social Work as an elective subject in
the B.A.
At the end of the summer term of 1969 Mrs. Agnes Dean retired after sixteen years of
valuable service to the college. She was born in Kabul of an Armenian mother and an
Abyssinian father and spent her early life in Afghanistan. She married Professor Dean, who
taught Geography at Forman Christian College. After her husband’s death she became college
nurse and staff house-keeper.
The events in East Pakistan naturally affected the college. The students made strenuous
efforts to respond to the needs caused through the floods and cyclone. Later there was war
which saddened all. The few students from East Pakistan were increased by several more. 113
In the running of the college and particularly in issues relating to the New Education Policy
and Nationalization Miss Robinson as Principal and Mrs. Phailbus as Principal-elect worked
hand in hand. In June 1972 Miss Robinson handed over to Mrs. Phailbus. Mrs. Phailbus

concluded her first Principal’s Report by acknowledging Miss Robinson’s tremendous
contribution as Principal during her short time in office.
Miss Robinson died at her home in Southport, U.K. on 24th December 1998.
Chapter 8
TWENTIETH CENTURY GRADUATES
A college exists for its students. Before continuing with a profile of the next Principal, Dr.
Mira Phailbus, we will look back on some representative students from the main chapters of
the history of the college. In the Annual Report of Kinnaird College for 1923-24 we read for
the first time of an “Old Students Weekend” when several old students came and stayed in the
college while others were present at one or more of the functions arranged for those days. The
programme included a picnic, a Chapel Service and a very interesting talk on Women in Indian
Industries by Dr. Curjel, of the Department of the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals,
Punjab.
In The Annual Report of Kinnaird College for 1927-28 we read of the “Old Girls’ Day”. The
reunion for former students of the college was held during the last week-end of February.
Miss Lois Tika from Delhi and many old students were welcomed back. There was a full
programme on the Saturday afternoon and evening, starting with tea and badminton, followed
by a business meeting at which further funds were raised for the scholarship which the
alumnae were providing for a student in the college. When it became dark enough, Mr. Gupta
of the Mayo School of Arts gave a lantern lecture on Indian Art. Evening prayer followed just
before dinner and then the present students escorted their visitors into the dining room in the
hostel which was decorated for the occasion. After dinner letters were read from many of the
old students and the evening ended with dramatic sketches presented by the students in the
hostel.
The Acting Principal, Miss W. H. Porter, recounted in The Annual Report of Kinnaird
College for 1928-29 under the section on former students that “A survey of students who have
been in this college from 1913-29 as far as can be gathered shows some interesting figures.
One hundred and ninety-nine students have attended the college, 105 Christians, 73 Hindus, 9
Muslims, 9 Sikhs and 3 Parsis. Of these, eighty have become teachers, and from these five are
teaching in other colleges. Two students went into medical schools and are now practising
physicians. Seven are now studying for the M.A. Quite a number of those who have married
and established homes in the Punjab, are also devoting part of their time to school work and
other social service.” She noted that it was a great pleasure to welcome the Hon’ble Emily
Kinnaird to the Old Girls’ Day .
An Old Students Association was started in 1936, and arranged to meet annually on Old Girls’
Day with the Principal of Kinnaird College as its President and with an old student as its Vice-
President. On 26th February 1937 about seventy were present for Old Girls’ Day. The annual
subscription included receiving one copy of the college magazine. On 25th February 1939
about sixty-two old students were present, and some staff. It was decided that a pamphlet
should be produced annually giving news of old students. A scheme was devised for helping
the college with the building debt for its new buildings on the canal bank. A special Jubilee
number of the magazine was available. One pamphlet recorded that about eight to nine
hundred students had passed through the college since its founding in 1913. About eighty
attended the 24th February 1940 meeting in the new building on Jail Road after the
Convocation. Miss Porter reported that a party for Old Students had been organized in June
1939 to say farewell to the old college on Lake Road.
The outbreak of World War II had affected the college situation. However, on 22nd February
1941 the O.S.A. met as usual after the convocation with an attendance of over a hundred.
There was no issue of the college magazine in 1941.
The first O.S.A. meeting after Independence was held on 28th February 1948 attended by
fifty and chaired by Miss McNair. There was a warm response to Miss Porter’s plea for funds
for the Refugee Students Fund.
At the 26th February 1949 thirty-four attended. With wistfulness, affection, joy and nostalgia
letters from former students now living in India were read, including some from Saneh
Varma, Kishna Balkishan, Raj Pahwa, Rati Batha, Danity Sarka, Bimla Gyan Singh and Prabha
Bajab). News and pictures were requested of the “happiest college in the world”. On 25th
February 1956 eighty attended including four from India for the first time since the partition.
Graduates from before Partition
In Chapter 2 we have already read the names and some details about the first students of
Kinnaird College. One of them, Hemlata Ghose, a pupil at Kinnaird High School, later served
on the staff of the school. The Executive of the Board of Directors of the Association of
K.C.W. on 29th January, 1983 agreed that the Board make a donation of Rs. 2, 000 towards
the gravestone of the late Miss Hemlata Ghose, the oldest former student of K.C., one of the
first batch of six who had joined the College in 1913, who had passed away on January 24th
1983. She was born towards the end of the nineteenth century. The donation was given in
recognition of her long service to education by which she upheld the good name of the
college. The first old student to join the college staff was Miss Sushila Harkishen Lal, B.A.,
who taught Philosophy temporarily and in an honorary capacity in 1922. The second, Miss
Lilavati Fazal, an old student of both Kinnaird High School and the college, first joined the
college staff in January 1925 after her marriage the previous year to a government servant Mr.
Luther Najmuddin. Miss Jamila Siraj-ud-Din, also an old pupil of Kinnaird High School, was
another early graduate of Kinnaird College to join its staff. The first Punjab Government
Scholarship for an Indian woman student to study in England was awarded to her after she
was declared successful in the M.A. examination in Economics in the Punjab University in
May 1924.
“Kinnaird” Families
Miss Man Mohini Sahgal (later Mrs. Zutshi), who attended Kinnaird College from 1924-28
wrote in the Jubilee Edition of The Last Word: “Kinnaird was in a way our family college. We
four sisters (I am No.3) all joined Kinnaird after passing our Matriculation examinations.
Besides us there were three of my cousins (all from Amritsar) Kamla Dar who later was a
Senior Student, Kamini and Rup Kumari Razadan. Later on a number of our relations joined
the college.”
In her Annual Report of Kinnaird College for 1963/64 Miss Mangat Rai wrote:
“now every year there are more and more daughters of old students, and sisters, who apply.
They certainly have a claim, and help to maintain tradition and continuity”. Khawar Kazi, the
first grandmother to get an M.A. - in English - is now on the staff. We find that sometimes
three or four generations of the same family have studied at Kinnaird. As early as 1974 a
great-granddaughter was enrolled. An example of three generations is the family of Sabiha
Mansoor114 (née Amjad), whose mother and aunts studied at Kinnaird College, graduating in
1937, 1938 and 1941. She in turn studied at Kinnaird College from 1967-69 before doing her
M.A. in English at the Punjab University in 1970-72. She became a member of the teaching
staff of Kinnaird College in 1973 and now heads the English Language Teaching Department.
In due time her daughter Sonia joined the college in 1993 and completed her B.A. in 1997.
Sabiha’s mother, Mahmuda, who graduated from Kinnaird in 1938, recalled that in those days
there were no more than forty in an entire class with less than sixteen in each subject. She
well remembered the introductory talk by the Principal, Miss McNair, at the beginning of the
first term. She said that now that they were women and not girls, they were not expected to
stand up when they saw a member of staff. Respect for their teachers should be shown by
their general behaviour and concentration on their work. Their Urdu and Persian teachers
were men. When their father saw their Urdu teacher he asked: “Do you have male teachers?”
“Yes”, his daughters replied. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. “You didn’t ask us,” was
their response.
The three sisters, Masuda, Mahmuda and Surriya used to refer to the friendships they had
with Hindu and Sikh students. In a year group of forty they estimated that six to eight were
Christians and also the same number were Muslims, the rest were Hindu or Sikh - but religion
made no difference to friendship. Sabiha’s mother recalled that she enjoyed Miss McNair’s
Bible Class. Sabiha’s mother and aunts and Sahiba herself appreciated the quality of the
English teaching at Kinnaird. Sabiha felt that standards had been maintained despite
nationalization as so many of the staff of the English department were former students. Both
generations spoke of the methods of teaching and how students were made to think and not
learn by rote. Her aunts and mother went to school by tonga115, concealed behind curtains, but
the next generation was taken to college by car. One aunt, Masuda, became the President of
4114Based on an interview with Sabiha Mansoor in March 1995 conducted by Miss Mary Cooper, a
Lecturer in Geography at Kinnaird College from 1957-67.
the All Pakistan Women’s Association (A.P.W.A.), Punjab. Her mother, Mahmuda, taught in
the Islamia High School, and later became a prominent social worker and Surriya, the
youngest of the three sisters, took an M.A. in English from Lahore College for Women and
eventually became Head of the English Department at Islamia College.
Kamini Kaushal of the Indian screen was at Kinnaird College in 1944, as was Monica Misra
who went to Denver University later and specialized in drama and became a well-known
producer in India. Because of the partition she was not able to receive her B.A. until Dr. M.
Phailbus personally presented it to her in Bombay in 1989.
Mrs. Vimla Soni was born into a Hindu Khatri116 family in Sukkur and adopted by her maternal
uncle. She studied at the I. P.College, Delhi, and then at Kinnaird College from 1942-43,
gaining her B.A. in Economics, History and English. She married in Lahore in 1945. After her
marriage she secured first place for a B.Ed. and an M.Ed. in the University (in Kashmir) where
she was awarded gold medals. After pursuing her profession and raising three daughters she
retired in 1986 with her husband from Srinagar to Bangalore in South India. One of her
daughters is in Delhi and two are in the U.K. She regrets the partition of the subcontinent and
recalls how free Kinnaird College was from communal tension.
Mrs. Janak Nanda née Khosia and her husband Mr. B. R. Nanda from New Delhi attended the
sixty-second Convocation of Kinnaird College and the O.S.A. reunion on 21st March 1994.
The Chief Guest was Syed Babar Ali, founder of Lahore University of Management Sciences
(L.U.M.S.) and the husband of Parwin, a former student. This occasion was Janak Nanda’s
first return visit since 1946 when she kindly allowed me to interview her.
She came from a Hindu family and was a pupil at the Sacred Heart Convent up to
Intermediate F.A. in History and Economics. Then she became a residential student at
Kinnaird College from 1944-1946 to obtain her B.A. (1st division) in History and Economics.
From those days she particularly remembers Miss Porter and her fellow students - Phul
Kauslar; Vibha Bhagat, Mohini Chaudri. She left Kinnaird College in 1946 to marry. First, she
went to Delhi and then Multan and finally in July 1947 she returned to Delhi. She has two
sons. She did not take up a profession but helped her husband, author of more than ten books,
who was in Government service as Director of the Nehru Museum in Delhi. She helped in
research as she had studied History. She also enjoyed painting and music. Her first public
exhibition of paintings entitled Portraits of Gandhi was held in February 1995 in New Delhi. It
was well received by the critics and the general public and given wide coverage by the national
press and the television. Janak Nanda writes: “This collection of paintings arises from two
passions of mine. Since my youth (she was born in 1928), I have been fascinated by faces.
Young, childlike, old, of men, of women, happy, grieving, serene. Faces have always spoken to
me. And it has been a continuing and escalating passion. Long ago I would sketch in pencil
and charcoal, freezing the feelings from a face I saw. I have been strongly influenced by the
Impressionists and developed my style as I experimented and observed. I learnt as I went
along. For a brief while I had the opportunity of joining the art group at Triveni, but I have
had very little formal instruction in painting. This has been both an advantage in the learning
and creation of my own style and technique, but also a disadvantage in that I progressed the
long way. My other passion, Gandhi, has been shared with my husband. In fact Gandhi was his
5115A passenger vehicle drawn by one horse, driven by a tongawala.
6116 67% of the Hindu students at Kinnaird College from 1929-47 were Khatris. See Maskiell, Table
12, Kinnaird College Hindu Students by Caste, p.91.
passion before it became mine. Much of my husband’s writing and research have centred
around Gandhi. Gandhi has, therefore, been a living, deeply loved presence in our home.
Painting Gandhi over the last couple of years has helped me to move my painting out of my
private domain to a point where I wanted to share these portraits with a wider audience in my
first exhibition. Coming as this does in the 125th year of Gandhi’s birth, I believe this is a
happy coincidence to share a quest and a homage.”
Married students were not allowed in the early days. One of the first married students was
Tara James née Qurban Ihsan Ullah, granddaughter of Ihsan Ullah, Archdeacon of Delhi who
in 1911 helped in the crowning of King George V as Emperor of India. Archdeacon Barkat
Ullah, a noted church historian was Tara’s father’s cousin on the male side. Madame Roseleen
Nazir Ihsan Ullah, French by birth, was married to Tara’s younger brother. From 1931-34 she
taught French at Kinnaird College and was the first woman lecturer at Forman Christian
College where she also taught French. This couple went to India at partition to Delhi and later
to Outicamund where she died in 1994 aged ninety-nine. Tara was not allowed to live in the
college hostel even when her husband, Banner James, was posted outside Lahore. At first
there was no encouragement for married students by early missionaries but later there was
more flexibility on this matter. Parents were urged to let students finish courses before taking
them away for marriage. So now for some years, those who marry may continue at college.
Tara’s two sisters studied at Kinnaird before partition.
The chapter on Independence and Partition already records the testimony of several graduates
of that period so we will now turn to the era after the creation of Pakistan.
Graduates after Partition
One very well-known graduate is Bapsi Sidhwa, a Parsi from Lahore who wrote Ice Candy
Man. It is about the partition and is partly biographical. Bapsi Sidhwa was born in Karachi and
educated in Lahore. She had an unusual childhood. She contracted polio and so was
educated at home. She is widely read. Her father, a business man, became Speaker of the
Provincial Assembly, her brother was a Member of either the National Assembly or the
Provincial Assembly. The family lived on Warris Road. She started writing quite late in life,
about fifteen years ago. She is highly respected internationally and lectures all over the world,
and has taught courses on Creative Writing at Harvard University in the U.S.A. where she has
taught courses on Creative Writing. She lives in the U.S.A. and is in her mid-sixties. She
married twice - first in Bombay and later in Lahore - and has three children, Mohur, Koko and
Parizad. Mohur was a student at Kinnaird College. Bapsi Sidhwa is an active social worker
and represented Pakistan at the Asian Women’s Congress in 1975. The Crow Eaters, her first
novel is about her own community - the Parsis - and was published in 1980 by Jonathan Cape
Ltd. It was dedicated to her parents Tehmina and Peshotan Bhandara. Her second novel The
Bride, about the people of the Kailash valleys, followed in 1983. It deals with some of the
grim episodes of the partition period. A young girl, orphaned during the frontier massacres, is
adopted by a man from the Northern mountainous area of Pakistan who has lost his own
village family through smallpox. He makes his fortune and brings her up in Lahore but
nostalgia compels him to return to his roots and arrange her marriage among his own people.
She is unable to survive in this totally different community and miraculously escapes. It is
further excellent writing by the winner of the Booker Prize and the Readers Digest Book
Award. Bapsi Sidhwa and Sara Suleri, another graduate of Kinnaird, are now amongst the
recognized modern writers of South Asia.
There are many lawyers who are graduates of Kinnaird College, for example, Asthma Jehangir
and her sister, Hina Gilani, and Nasira Iqbal. Asthma Jehangir is a member of the Human
Rights Commission for Pakistan (an autonomous body) and, together with Hina, is well-
known especially for her part in a Blasphemy case against Salamat Masih, whom she
defended. Dr. Attiya Inayatullah née Hamid, a graduate of 1954, was the first Asian and
woman to be elected chairperson of the Board and Executive Committee of U.N.E.S.C.O. In
1974 she was awarded the Ceres Medal. This medal is presented by the United Nations each
year to outstanding women who have distinguished themselves in their particular field of
activity. Up to then seven women had received this medal, among them Mrs. Indira Gandhi,
Sophia Loren and Lady Baden Powell. Attiya was honoured for her outstanding work in
Family Planning. You may meet Kinnaird College graduates in varied roles - banker, mother,
teacher, journalist, social worker, commercial pilot or ambassador. There have been two
Rhodes scholars in the last ten years, and many win scholarships to study at foreign
universities.
A significant number of the staff of Kinnaird College have been former students. One such
long-serving staff member is Perin Boga. Mrs. Perin Boga née Cooper 117 was born in Bombay
in 1942. Her mother, now residing in Lahore and in her nineties, came from Bombay at the
time of her marriage and went back to Bombay to have Perin. One sister is now in India,
having gone there in 1958 to work in education. Perin, a Parsi, is a Managing Trustee of the
fire temple donated by her grandfather in memory of his wife, Avanbai. There are now eighty
Parsis in Lahore including children. At festivals they have a community dinner with games for
the children. Their community centre, flats and fire temple are in Gulberg. In July 1993 the
community celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the fire temple. High Priests came from
Bombay for special ceremonies. Parsis are loyal citizens. Perin and her mother visited Bombay
every year at first, and then every two or three years and the sister visited them in Lahore.
Perin was a student at Kinnaird College from 1959 until 1963. She did a B. A. Honours
degree in English, followed by one year in Lahore College for her M.A. She joined Kinnaird
College staff in 1965. She considers herself fortunate to have been educated at that time. She
did the Senior Cambridge course at school. Later she won a British Council Scholarship. She
studied Drama in Education at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a year. She has always been
interested in drama, as a student at Kinnaird College and afterwards when she became staff
advisor for the Dramatics Society and also worked outside the college directing plays at other
colleges, e.g. for L.U.M.S. 118, and other professional and amateur groups. Her fellow Parsi
students included Amy King who is a highly respected teacher of many years at the Convent
of Jesus and Mary in Lahore. She did the B. Ed. course after her B.A. This was the B. Ed.
course which unfortunately only ran for one year. Banu Vania was senior to Perin and studied
Political Science and later taught at Kinnaird College. Aban Hodiwalla from Quetta, now
married, was a B.A. contemporary of Perin. Perin commented that there was no minority
problem but a general family feeling at Kinnaird. Students participated in everything and there
was no sectarianism. Perin’s Parsi students included Parween Giara B.A., Nina Engineer B.A.,
Freny Engineer B.A. and one in the Science Department. Perin’s teachers at Kinnaird who
influenced her especially were Mrs. Najmuddin, who was so human, full of jokes, encouraging
and appreciative and Miss Mangat Rai, who always expected so much, and had confidence in
her students. Two other excellent teachers were former KC students, Ishrat Ghani, later to
marry a doctor in Lindblad and settle in Sweden, and Kathleen Dall from Scotland. Formerly
the hostel wardens also taught so there was more cohesion in the college community. Also
7117Notes from the author’s interview with Perin Boga née Cooper in December 1994.
8118Lahore University of Management and Sciences.

more staff were residential.
Lahore College and Government College had already received autonomy. In 1958 there were a
total of twelve foreign students from the following eight countries: East Africa 5, China 1,
U.S.A. 1, Germany 1, Iran 1, Turkey 1, India 1, U.K. 1. Among the foreign students who
attended Kinnaird was Salha Hasan from Zanzibar who wrote an article in The Last Word
59/60 issue about her country. By 1966 the number of foreign students had risen to twenty-
seven. Through the years the numbers of students of Pakistani origin, or whose parents lived
outside Pakistan involved in Government service or holding jobs in the new oil states of the
Gulf and Middle East increased very significantly. Parents felt that they could safely leave their
daughters at Kinnaird with a trusted relative to keep an eye on them; there were also
possibilities of coming home in the vacations.
Graduates of recent times
From the start former Kinnaird students who joined the staff have made contributions to
educational thinking especially in regard to women and girls. An example is the research done
by Dr. Surriyya Shaffi-Mir of the Department of English, Kinnaird College. In her article
entitled An Evaluation of Primary Level Urdu Textbooks from the Perspective of Women she
argues that textbooks are the most commonly used teaching aids in schools and therefore play
a crucial roll in shaping the aspirations, attitudes and values of school children.
The study investigated sexual bias against women in twenty-four prescribed Urdu textbooks
for Classes 1 to V. The findings showed an imbalance in the number of female characters
featured. Out of one hundred and eleven stories women figured in only fourteen. Out of
eighty-six biographies the women’s share was thirteen. There was also a bias in content with
men and boys central and women and girls on the fringes. Dr. Surriyya Shaffi-Mir gives an
example of two lessons about Pakistan in which the language used is exclusively for the male
gender. Lessons about my house and my village are written from a boy’s point of view and in a
visit to a cement factory the boy asks questions while the girl remains silent. Gender
stereotyping is reinforced by the depiction of traditional, subordinate roles and activities of
women. Men work outside and women in the home. There are no lessons on professions in
which both men and women share e.g. teaching, the medical profession or tailoring. The writer
makes six recommendations which include the points that textbook writers should be
sensitized to the issue of women in society and that more women should be involved in writing
textbooks.
Another example of the contribution of the graduates of Kinnaird is the Student Activity
Book B.A. English for paper B University of the Punjab entitled Skillworker119 written by Dr.
Surriya Shaffi-Mir, Professor Sabiha Mansoor and Professor Humaira Irfan. A book to be
proud of!
Dr. Surriya Shaffi-Mir’s family comes from a wave of emigrants from Kashmir at the turn of
the century probably first to Amritsar, later to Lahore. 120 All the children are well-educated but
she is the only unmarried one. She went to the Convent of Jesus and Mary and then to
Kinnaird College. Later she did an M.A. in T.E.F.L. from Leeds and a Ph.D. from the Institute
9119Caravan Book House, 1994.
0120Author’s notes from an interview with Dr. Surriya Shaffi Mir on 19th December 1994 at Kinnaird
College.
of Education, London University in 1991. Her thesis subject was Syllabus Design. She is now
engaged in the English Department in Kinnaird College and teaches in the morning but is also
involved in the evening in teaching students for the Diploma in English Language Teaching
(E.L.T.) Which she started.
In 1992 the English Language Teaching Diploma was approved by Punjab University and
affiliated with the University. The Diploma course lasts nine months. There is an evening
programme on three days a week, two hours a day for in-service teachers and recent
graduates. The latter are asked to join a school in order to get teaching practice. In 1992
nineteen and in 1993 twenty-two took the examination. In 1994 there were thirty-eight
students with no drop-outs.
The E.L.T. Diploma minimum requirement for enrolment is a B.A. The University requires
an M.A. for its Diploma. The background history is that the British Council started a
programme for a diploma in Teaching English as an International Language (T.E.I.L.) to train
people to train others. It took four months in addition to research in school-based English
Language Teaching. Graduates were sent to the U.K. for further studies for a year at the
London Institute of Education.
In her general comments about Kinnaird College Surriya Shaffi-Mir mentioned the problems
as numbers increased, including lack of space, furniture and facilities especially in the
Economics and Statistics Department. The fashion is to study for an M.B.A. There is a
population explosion in this field. She noted that the usual fifty-five in her English class had
become a hundred. The present generation is not a reading generation. It is social rather than
academic. Many young men think “Why not marry a Kinnaird girl? Courses have not changed
over the last twenty to thirty years. The University sets the courses. The staff do not read
enough and there is not enough time for reading and research.
The contribution of former students to the subcontinent and the world is remarkable. An
article in the Supplement to The News mentions the first three women Pakistani P.I.A. pilots,
one of whom is a Kinnaird College graduate.
Friday Review in The Nation ran a series written by Nabila Zar entitled Profile of a Working
Woman. On 28th January 1994 A Role Model featured Mrs. Shahnaz Arshed, Executive
Director of the Punjab Council of Arts. She obtained her Master’s Degree in Sociology from
the University of the Punjab but before that she studied at Queen Mary High School, Lahore,
and Kinnaird College which she claimed were the best institutions for girls. In the interview for
the Friday Review she highlights the fact that the Civil Service was not open to women until
1976. She points out there is continuing discrimination for, according to the existing rules, if a
woman government servant dies, her pension is not transferred to her children, whereas if a
man dies his family gets his pension. Secondly, the wife of a high-ranking government servant
gets a certain status and protocol, but the husband of a high-ranking woman government
servant is not treated similarly. No doubt, Mrs. Arshed and others like her will continue to
serve, qualify, deserve and eventually attain equality of status.
On 4th February 1994 Brave New Woman featured Shaista Sirajuddin, an Associate Professor
in the English Department of the University of the Punjab. Greatly influenced by her literary
parents, Professor and Mrs. Sirajuddin, she was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary
and at Kinnaird College. She describes this as a happy period in her life during which she made
some life-long friends and had the privilege of being taught by Misses Mangat Rai, Kathleen
Dall and Susannah Harris. “They were fine teachers and fine human beings, and I owe them an
enormous debt”. At nineteen she went to Cambridge University. On returning to Pakistan she
taught at Kinnaird College for a year before moving on to the University of the Punjab. In
1976 she went to Oxford University for seven years to study and research on modern political
drama. Back now in Pakistan she admits to enduring some harassment as a single woman but
not at the University.
On 18th February 1994 A Woman of Principles featured Mrs. Sajida Vandal, Principal of the
National College of Arts. She received her early schooling at the Sacred Heart School before
doing her F.Sc. at Kinnaird College and then pursuing a degree in Architecture at the
University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. She worked in private consultancies and
then in 1977 joined the National College of Arts as a teacher.
On 25th February 1994 Shaping Young Minds featured Ferhana Sher who started a
Montessori School in Lahore. The daughter of an army officer she often moved around the
country with her parents. Her early schooling was in Quetta at St. Joseph Convent and the
Azam Garrison School. In 1972 she enrolled in Kinnaird College but married before
graduating. She had a son but the marriage broke up and so she did Montessori training in
Karachi. Besides her educational work she is an active social worker.
Today former graduates form a world-wide network. Some are working or accompanying
their husbands in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf oil countries. Many have emigrated
to Canada, the U.S.A. and to the U.K. Jean Lawrence was born in 1930 to Christian parents.
Both her grandfathers were Hindus but adopted the Christian faith. One became a pastor and
the other a church leprosy worker. Jean was educated in Delhi. She came to Karachi to finish
her college education. She enrolled in Kinnaird College in 1951-53 starting with third-year
Arts and passed B.A. and M.A. She then worked as a junior lecturer at Kinnaird for one year.
She emigrated to the U.K. where she joined her sister and worked as a librarian. She died a
few years ago.
Shirin Khair Ullah, daughter of the Rev’d Dr. and Mrs. Frank Khair Ullah is another such
example. Her father had been a Board member, elected Secretary of the Board, and an
advisor to Kinnaird College for many years so it was not surprising that she became a student
there and later a hostel warden. After her marriage to Paul Pakyam she moved with him to
Jiddah in Saudi Arabia for ten years, looking after the home and their three children. Finally
the family settled in Canada near Toronto.
Maybe the OAKS, as the old students’ association is called, will decide to make a directory of
old students of Kinnaird College. I hope so.
Chapter 9
THE LAST WORD
College magazines often give unexpected insights into college life. They also contain
eyewitness accounts of the activities of students. I hope these extracts will stir memories for
some and help other readers to see more deeply into life at Kinnaird.
The first edition of The Last Word (1957/58) was edited by Raihana Ali Shah. Miss Mangat
Rai wrote in the Foreword: “More than once the college has published a magazine, some
times in print and some times in manuscript. The Firefly, The Green Book and Star-Dust have
all appeared for brief periods. They all filled a need and made a contribution to college life. My
hope is that The Last Word will be the first word of a long series.” So it has proved to be. (The
Green Book was first published in March 1942). The name was chosen because it “suits the
immature and youthful efforts of the writers” said Staff Advisor Akhtar Qambar.121
The second issue of The Last Word (1958/59) was edited by Zehra Husain. In that issue
Rehana Nurullah, the Debates President, gives us an idea of that flourishing side of college
life. “We have a number of individual prizes to our credit, in addition to two trophies. The
trophies were from Islamia College, won by Zehra Husain and Qamar Moin, and from Lahore
College - won by Niloufer Ali and Zareen Mehdi. Niloufer Ali and Zohreh Tawakuli won the
special prizes at the Law College and Forman Christian College Inter-collegiate Debates
respectively...The old tradition of winning the Krishen Grover Declamation at the University
was also kept up and the first place was won by Rehana Nurullah. We sent very few speakers
to Urdu debates - however we were fortunate when Edna Robson captured third prize in the
Inter-Collegiate Urdu debate held at the Lady Maclagan College.” This report gives us several
interesting insights - the restriction of mingling with the opposite sex did not hinder public
debating in colleges for the Kinnaird students. Kinnaird was more known for its excellence in
English than its prowess in Urdu; the successful Kinnaird College debater in Urdu came from
the Christian community which on the whole sent students to Kinnaird College more used to
Urdu than English.
The third 59/60 issue was edited by Naushaba Hasan. That year Dr. W. Zoerner, chairman of
the Board of Kinnaird College, as usual presided over the convocation and Dr. H. Holland, the
‘frontier doctor’ who worked in Quetta for most of his life, gave the address. A Kinnaird
College student Salha Hasan wrote an article on her country of Zanzibar. This issue of The
Last Word has an interesting piece by Shahida Saigol entitled Drama in Kinnaird.
The Dramatics Society.....Hark!

What is the noise out there? Shakespeare? What...
“Welcome, sirrah! Is there aught I can do for you?”
Shakespeare: “Commend me to Mrs. Najmuddin,
121The author has been unable to trace any copies of The Firefly, The Green Book and Star-Dust -
one of each is badly needed for the college archives.
Say unto her, ‘tis an old man come to apprehend her,
With a desire to thank her for the wonderful production
of Romeo and Juliet.”
‘Twas splendid done, ‘twas!

Did an old man’s soul good to witness it.”
“Look ye, even the twentieth century Philistine liked it”,

said he, pointing to the review in the paper.
We will all agree that the annual play, as usual, was a success.
The third issue 1959-60 also reported on the Debating Society, Le Cercle Francais and the
Social Service Society.
The fourth issue (1960/61), edited by Khawar Sheikh, contained a report by Niloufer Ali, the
Debates President, who adds an insightful comment: “The unfortunate habit of regarding
women as ornamental beings devoid of intellectual powers, has its origin in the deeply
ingrained tradition of relegating women into the background, and allotting the home to her as
the sole sphere of her activity. Women, however, are step by step disproving this tradition.
Debating is but one field in which girls prove that they are intellectually as able and in many
cases abler than many of the male sex. The impressive array of trophies and prizes won by
Kinnaird College adequately supports this.” It is interesting that this issue is dedicated to a
departing staff member, Miss Sheila McDonough, who has become a well known scholar in
her field. C. A. Qadir, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Government College, Lahore,
wrote in the Dedication in The Last Word: “I know very little about her as a teacher, though
my daughter, Shakila, was ever full of praise for her. But I know enough of her as a research
scholar, writer and speaker, to testify to her zest for knowledge, sincerity of purpose and
breadth of outlook... Miss McDonough ...had submitted a thesis on Islam and Christianity at
the McGill Institute of Islamics. That thesis I read with great interest and pleasure”. She
returned to Canada to work on her Ph.D. at McGill Institute of Islamics in Montreal and later
became a leading Islamicist. So it can be argued that women of high intellectual calibre became
part of Kinnaird College both as students and staff. Anjum Ahmad, the senior student, gave
‘the Last Word’. She wrote: “When we leave we do not want to say a last word of advice...we
only want to say that the three or four years that we have spent at Kinnaird have given to all of
us a new outlook, and a broader view of life. I wonder if day-girls realize what they miss by
not being resident here - the residents truly live ‘in’ Kinnaird - they can much more easily take
part in the extracurricular activities, and they, I feel, learn the real lesson Kinnaird College
teaches - of sharing and living together happily.”
The 1961/62 issue was edited by Rafaat Hamid Ghani and dedicated to “the spirit of
Kinnaird”. This issue contained a number of very good short stories as well as articles relating
to literary criticism and philosophy by students and staff. The 1962/63 The Last Word , edited
by Neelam Shah, was a Jubilee issue marking fifty years of the college’s existence (1913-63).
Mrs. L. R. Najmuddin wrote a charming article on Memories Old and New about her intimate
association with the college for forty-seven out of its fifty years existence. The 1963/64 The
Last Word was edited by Atiqa Saleem. The Last Word for 1963/64 reported the opening of the
B.Ed. Department in 1963 with nineteen students. Sports mentioned included volleyball,
tennis, badminton, softball, netball, table tennis and deck tennis. Also mentioned in subsequent
issues are cycling, javelin throwing, hockey and swimming. Kinnaird’s range of extracurricular
activities was phenomenal. Humour was never lacking in the Kinnaird College Year Books as
this limerick by Talat Abbasi illustrates.
“There was a young girl of Multan

Who wanted to marry a Sultan
But waiting she found such a bore
That she married the cobbler next door.
That hasty young girl of Multan!”
Shehwar Ahmed the editor of the 1964/65 issue of The Last Word commented on 1964: “It
began with strikes and agitations and colleges being closed for indefinite periods, though there
were no signs of disturbances on our campus and we managed to carry on despite all the
confusion”. Like all the issues of The Last Word it has an Urdu section in this case compiled by
Shahnaz Shah. It includes poetry. Each issue of The Last Word included reports of the various
student societies. The 1965/66 issue of The Last Word edited by Samina Hosain (English) and
Victoria Paul (Urdu) is dedicated to the Armed Forces of Pakistan. That year the college was
closed for two and a half extra months and the examinations postponed because of the
seventeen day war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The issue has the usual number
of illustrations, portraits with humorous captions and cartoons. In the 1966/67 issue the Social
Welfare Committee reported on its work in visiting the Mental Hospital and the Sunrise
School for the Blind. Six girls visited the Mental Hospital weekly. At both institutions students
worked with children only.
Ira Jeremy edited the 1967/68 issue of The Last Word. Later she joined the staff to teach
English. She married and is known today as Mrs. Ira Hasan. In her editorial traditionally
called ‘The First Word’ she writes: “I think I can quite honestly say that through my term of
editorship my horizons have widened. I had never been ad-hunting before. I had no idea
exactly what a ‘block’ was, or a ‘release order’, and above all, I had no idea that getting
articles out of Kinnaird College-ites is like getting water from a stone!”
Due to some financial difficulties there was no issue of The Last Word for 1974/75. The Last
Word 1975/76 issue was dedicated to the International Women’s Year. It also contained some
material intended for the 1974/5 issue. It is interesting to note the variety of dedications for
various issues of magazine. The Last Word 1977/78 was dedicated to the Living Memory of
Allama Iqbal. Naturally there were more articles about Iqbal in the Urdu section. The Last
Word 1985 was dedicated to the Youth of the World and to Miss I. T. McNair, a former
Principal, who died that year.
The 1989 issue reported more fully on the seventy-fifth Anniversary of the previous year, as
well as including poems, articles and reports of various clubs and societies. Shameela Saadiya
wrote of the new Career Counselling Club which aims to help girls to make the right career
decisions. The club works in affiliation with the Pakistan Women’s Institute (formed in 1975)
and receives encouragement from the Honorary Director Dr. Mrs. Phailbus and supervision
from Mrs. Santosh Singha, Project Administrator. “We started off by allocating one month
each to a particular career which included M.B.A., M.P.A., Advertising, Law, Design,
Journalism, Civil Services and conducting evaluation and aptitude tests.” The Institute is run
on a voluntary basis under the guidance of its Advisory Committee, consisting of eminent
women from many walks of life. Its aims and objectives include promoting the welfare of
Pakistani women and enabling them to serve their communities.
The Last Word 1989/90 introduced coloured photographs for the first time. It also included
the principal’s Convocation Address reporting on the year. “The 1989 University examination
results for Kinnaird were excellent. In the B.A. 34.5% was the average percentage in the
University but the Kinnaird pass percentage was 89.30%. For the B.Sc. the University
percentage was 36.01% and Kinnaird’s 79.31%. The Principal praised the tremendous efforts
made by the OAKS, who over the years organized several fund-raising programmes to raise
money towards the postgraduate classes, and for the proposed hostel.
The Principal said, “We have proved to be a dependable institution capable of carrying an
extra load and as such the Government deserves to consider Kinnaird for the autonomous
status working through a competent capable Board of Management, made up of like-minded
well-known educators, who would keep the interest of the college and students foremost in
their minds and move towards greater and more glorious heights.
“Despite our pride in the achievements of our graduates, there is a certain restlessness within
us. We are aware that the world is moving ‘fast-forward’. As we prepare for the twenty-first
century, we remind ourselves that a meaningful education for the youth of today would be
the key to a brighter future for our country. A good education system is not worth much if it
only teaches young people to make a living but does not teach them to make a life.”
The Last Word of 1991/92 was entitled ‘a Celebration of Creativity’. The Editor of the Urdu
Magazine was Nadia Afaqi. This section of The Last Word included an article on Computer, a
photo of the class of 1992 and an account of an outing to Khewra Salt Mines and some
poems. Frida Khan was the Editor of The English Magazine i.e. the English section. The visit
to Kinnaird College of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, on 25th September 1991, received
ample coverage in both the English and Urdu sections together with excellent coloured
photographs of the visiting dignitaries with Mrs. Phailbus. A twenty-minute cultural reception
programme by students included Pakistani costumes, dances, a mehndi, scenes from a
wedding celebration, and singing. Princess Diana was presented with bangles and ludoo122.
The theme of The Last Word for 1994/95, edited by Zainab Qayoom, was “seriously
thinking”: a consideration of burning issues of today. Its production using recycled paper is in
line with Kinnaird’s commitment to keep the environment ‘clean and green’.
The Last Word for 1995-96, edited by Ayesha Habib Khan with Sadaf Hussain as co-editor, is
dedicated to the search for the higher things of life – Peace, Beauty and Perfection. Both
the English and Urdu sections are well illustrated by coloured photographs and cartoons.
Saima Aftab edited the Urdu section. The identical cover designs are particularly striking,
and the variety of articles, interviews, poems, jokes, reminiscences are incredible. I hope
the contributors are still developing their talents.
The Last Word for 98-99 was edited by Zara Javaid who dedicated it to all the daughters of
‘Eve’ in Pakistan. The charming photographs of the presidents of the many college clubs and
societies remind us how time changes everyone. Sherlock Holmes looking at The Headgirl’s
Diary might establish that this is the missing 1997-98 edition of The Last Word. Dr. Watson
would probably just read and enjoy all the English contributions and have a chat with the Urdu
editor Nitasha Zahid.
The Millennium Issue of The Last Word (1998-99) was edited by Khuzaima Fatima Haq with
Saadia Ikram and Amina Kamal Khan as co-editors, and Shamaila Nasr Pirzada as the Urdu
editor. The abundance of literary and artistic efforts made me ask what percentage of Kinnaird
2122A sweetmeat made of sugar and rice.

students contributed to this special issue of the magazine. There seems to be no lack of
originality or variety at Kinnaird.
The Last Word for 1999-’00 edited by Nazish Bukhari, with Mustaneera Kaleem as the Urdu
editor, has a very pleasing new size and a cover design worthy of the new millennium. The
Last Word seems to be a well-established magazine. I wish it well and hope that someone will
take the best of the English and Urdu poetry found in various issues and publish it in book
form. We may have a book of Kinnaird cartoons and jokes and who knows what else.
CHAPTER 10
Dr. MIRA PHAILBUS (Principal 1972 - )
Mira Ruth Jivanandham was born in Lahore in 1937, two years before the outbreak of World
War II and ten years before the granting of independence to Pakistan and India. She was the
third of four children.
Her paternal grandfather, Edward Jivanandham (1871-1941), was a Christian from Tamil
Nadu, South India, who joined the Salvation Army when he was twenty. He became Criminal
Tribes Officer in the Indian princely state of Gwalior, helping to settle and rehabilitate
prisoners and drawing up a bill of rights for them. Her father Ernest Jivanandham (1903-1969)
studied at Lucknow Christian College and received his B.Com. from Lucknow University
before entering Government service and moving to the Punjab in 1928. He served in other
parts of the subcontinent but settled in Pakistan after partition.
Mira’s forebears on the maternal side were educators from Calcutta in Bengal. Her
grandmother’s sister founded the Model School for Boys in Delhi in 1944. Her Hindu great-
grandfather, Mathura Nath Bose (1843-1901) studied Mathematics and Law at Calcutta
University. He was baptized into the Christian faith in 1865. After some years of educational
work he practised Law briefly before undertaking mission work and being ordained. God
used him especially in the ministry of healing and he became known as the ‘the miracle
worker’. During a devastating flood he sat on the bank with the people and prayed that the
river would not alter its course and wash away the land and homes. The river receded and was
never a problem for the church. People considered this a miracle. Later when he was accused
by jealous Hindus of forcing and bribing people to become Christians the judge asked his
accuser to sign his statement. He took up a pen to do so but due to an attack of paralysis was
unable to sign. He broke down and wept, confessing that it was he who had made false
accusations. People saw this as another of God’s miracles. Mira’s mother, Irene Mitter (1903-
1995) daughter of Chuni Lal Mitter and Priscilla née Nath Bose, married Mr. Ernest
Jivanandham in 1928. Her mother represented The Mothers’ Union at the 1958 Lambeth
Conference123 where she was to have presented a bouquet to Queen Elizabeth II. Her
Majesty was unwell so Mrs. Jivanandham went to Buckingham Palace to present it. Dr. Niva
Thakur Das, Mira’s older sister, now lives in New Zealand. Brigadier Sukumar Jivanandham,
her older brother, is retired and lives in Lahore. Her younger sister, Roma Samuel and her
husband live in Maryland, U.S.A., and are elders in the Presbyterian Church.
3123The Lambeth Conference is a world-wide gathering of Anglican Bishops and other Episcopalians
held every ten years in the U.K.
Mira took her Senior Cambridge examinations from the Cathedral School, Lahore and
enrolled in Kinnaird College in 1955. Mira was a year junior to Tara James, who became
Principal of Trinity Methodist Girls High School, Karachi. Zeb Zaman, who became Principal
of Government Kinnaird High School, though younger, was in the same year, but studied
science. Mira studied under Miss Mary Cooper, and graduated with B.A. Honours in
Geography. Mira obtained her M.A. at the University of the Punjab. “I liked Economic and
Political Geography because of the wide general knowledge that you gain. But now it is a
much more complex discipline.” During her student days she took a keen interest in
dramatics. She has a very strong church background and is a member of the Church of
Pakistan.
In 1963 Mira Jivanandham married Mr. Theodore Phailbus, a W.A.P.D.A. engineer who
became a very well-known Lahore citizen. She joined the staff of Kinnaird College part-time
as a lecturer in Geography the same year, also bringing up their young family. Theo and Mira
Phailbus had four children. The two older girls, Eila and Shiuli are married and live in the
U.S.A. and New Zealand respectively. The third daughter Onjali, now a banker in Singapore,
is single while the youngest, a son named Anil, married recently and is a banker in Lahore.
There are four granddaughters.124
Mrs. Phailbus became Vice-Principal and Deputy Principal in 1969 and Principal in June 1972.
In September 1976 she became Assistant Professor of Geography and Professor in 1991. She
proved to be very innovative and succeeded in implementing many new programmes for the
college despite coping with all the demand of nationalization and campaigning for autonomy.
For her the strength of Kinnaird College has been the student life and staff support. Mira is a
fighter neither intimidated nor aggressive but firm and respectful in dealings with others. She
is a very dynamic and gracious person. She says she could not have done all she did without a
supportive husband.
Mr. Theodore Phailbus
Theodore Phailbus was born in Lahore where he was brought up by Christian parents who
lived on Warris Road. His father was City Magistrate of Lahore and became Deputy
Commissioner of Kulu. His mother was a doctor and social work pioneer with Lady Abdul
Qadir, Begum Imtiaz Ali Taj and Lady Zulfiqar Ali. The four of them were all associated with
Kinnaird and worked together. He was a Kinnaird College Board member from 1954-71. He
took over from Mr. P.N. Joshua125 as Secretary of the Board in 1968 until 1971 but
discontinued both offices prior to Mira’s becoming Principal. He was a Mechanical Engineer
with the Irrigation Department of the Government of the Punjab. He served in W.A.P.D.A. as
Chief Engineer and was also Managing Director of several engineering corporations of the
Federal Government. He later became Director General, Ombudsman’s Secretariate, Lahore
Region. In his retirement he pursued his various interests including the cinema. A few years
ago his collection of cinema posters going back to the 1930s was exhibited at the American
Center in Lahore and featured in the newspapers. He was a member of the Board of Film
Censors and Advisor to the Federal Government on Philately. He served on many Boards and
helped the Bishop of Lahore and the Church of Pakistan in various honorary roles. He was a
4124Based on the author’s interview with Dr. Mira Phailbus on 10th January 1997.
5125A Judge with the Punjab Provincial Services; Secretary of the Pakistan Bible Society (1957-67)
and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Kinnaird College for Women (1952-68).
man of many parts. Mr. Theodore Phailbus died in Lahore on 2nd May 2000.
Some personal highlights of the last twenty-five years (1972-97)
Asian Women’s Institute and Pakistan Women’s Institute
Mira was enriched by the International connections in the Asian Women’s Institute and by
working with scholars. She got new ideas from Begum Nusrat Bhutto who in 1975 opened the
Pakistan Women’s Institute (P.W.I.), the first women’s resource centre in Pakistan.
Some distinguished appointments
In 1972 she became a member of the Provincial Education Council of the Punjab (the highest
policy-making body of the Government). In 1974 she became a member of the Committee for
Women’s Vocational Education of the Provincial Council. In 1975, International Women’s
Year, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appointed her to the Pakistan Women’s Rights
Commission. In 1977 she became a member of the University Grants Commission. In the
early 1980s she accepted a three-year assignment as a World Council of Churches Education
Committee member. In 1995 she was one of a group of delegates attending the United Nations
4th World Women’s Conference in Beijing. She was representing education and minorities.
Doctorate and other awards
In 1982 Davidson College, North Carolina, U.S.A., conferred on Mrs. Mira Phailbus the
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws for achievements in Education in Pakistan and Asian
Colleges. The citation mentioned her work as an officer of the international Y.W.C.A., as a
frequent advisor of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., of the World Council of
Churches, and of many other ecumenical organizations.
In the summer of 1991 she was honoured by the 203rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A., with the fourth annual award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education.
In November 1993 Dr. Mira Phailbus received the Government of Pakistan’s Aizaz-e-fazilat
Award with distinction. On Pakistan Day, 23rd March 1994, she was awarded the President’s
Pride of Performance Award at a very impressive and dignified ceremony held at the
Presidency in Islamabad. It is usually given for entertainment; she was the first educationalist
to receive it. Later she modestly declared that it was truly a recognition of the college and its
team work.
Appreciation by the Parent Body of Kinnaird College
The Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird College
for Women on 29th October 1979 included a minute of appreciation for the good work done
by Mrs. M. Phailbus as Principal: “It gives us great pleasure to put on record our sincere
appreciation of Mrs. Mira Phailbus’ untiring and devoted service to the work of the
Association. She took up her duties at a difficult period of change, and very wisely and
tactfully carried on her task of administration efficiently. The Association is thankful to God
for providing them at the right time, a suitable young leader, who has maintained, in spite of all
the difficulties, the Christian character and image of Kinnaird College, and has maintained the
high academic standards and has achieved much in other fields as well. We greatly appreciate
the sacrifice she made, not forgetting the financial one, without ever complaining about it.
May the Lord give her strength to continue to carry on this ministry for us for a long time to
come.”
Appreciation by students of Kinnaird College

The Last Word of 1988 was a special issue celebrating Kinnaird’s seventy-five years of
women’s education. The Editor’s Diary has some graphic entries:
Tuesday, October 6th:

A day to remember. It started, early in the morning, when a sudden Executive meeting was
called. At the Council meeting, a few minutes later, we were told that Mrs. Phailbus (Principal)
and Mrs. Fakhar Ahmed (Vice-Principal) had both been transferred the previous night. After a
discussion, the Council decided to ask the students to boycott classes, and to call a press
conference. Accordingly, the college was assembled in the hall, naturally bemused as to why
this gathering had been called. They were informed of the situation by the Council, and a letter
addressed by the students to the Education Minister was read out by them. Volunteers
willingly came forward to help contact pressmen, and amid hectic activity this was done. The
letter was signed by all the students, and, miraculously, placards and posters appeared all over
the college within fifteen minutes. Black arm bands were worn not only by the staff and
students, but also by the servants, office staff and the college trees. The press conference,
which took place in the hall was addressed by the Council (apart from an emotional speech
delivered by an ex-student), while, outside, photographers snapped the girls collected on the
front lawn, holding up their placards. The cooperation and discipline shown by everyone was
truly amazing.
Wednesday, October 7th:

Early in the morning, the college heard of the reinstatement of both Mrs. Phailbus and Mrs.
Ahmed, and some of them brought flowers and posters to decorate the hall for the occasion.
Everyone was, naturally thrilled, although we were a trifle disappointed at not having had a
chance to carry out some of the other steps we had planned.
These accounts from the Executive of the Board of Directors in 1979 and the Editor of The
Last Word of 1988 are but two examples of the high esteem in which Dr. Phailbus is held by
the college authorities and by the student body.
It is now time to turn to the long saga of nationalization which engaged much of Dr. Phailbus’
time over almost the whole of her principalship. However, as we shall see, it did not prevent
her from leading the college forward in preparation for a new century. She is still Principal.
Having retired from Government service on 28th September 1997, she was immediately re-
employed by the Board of Governors on a contract basis for a period of three years on the
same terms and conditions as previously.
CHAPTER 11
ERA of NATIONALIZATION 1972-96
The nationalization of Kinnaird College for Women occurred on 1st September 1972 just a
few months after Mrs. M. Phailbus became Principal. One of the benefits of nationalization
was an increased dependency on Pakistani staff. Previously the college had benefited greatly
from the services of well-educated foreigners but there was no longer need to search so far
away so often. The academic staff became Government servants and special permission was
needed for foreigners to continue on the academic staff. The result was fewer foreigners as
permission and salary were not easily given. Locals stayed longer than foreigners but this
benefit was counterbalanced by frequent transfers by the authorities after nationalization.
A new era did not result in much needed changes in regard to curricula. There had hardly
been any change in the University curricula for English and Psychology in the period since
independence. In History there had been slightly more change. Statistics, a newer subject, had
a very good modern curriculum and kept up with modern developments offering a series of
seminars to help people apply statistical knowledge. Needed overall changes in the curriculum
of most subjects did not occur under nationalization as the curriculum was tied to the
overloaded examination system and the existing text books. Although there was some
discussion and effort in these areas it was difficult to initiate change with such a massive
bureaucracy and with inadequate funds. Those who had established private colleges had
generally run them on a shoestring. The effects of this were seen in the lack of apparatus,
maintenance, library upgrading, and outside speakers to give series of lectures and talks, and
much waste of time in pursuing funds. It remained to be seen whether nationalization would
improve the situation. It certainly officially guaranteed the salaries of academic staff according
to set pay-scales. Sometimes delay in making nationalization effective held up the awarding of
the proper scales. The Principal of Kinnaird College had to wait several years to receive her
correct grade with its appropriate salary.
In meetings held with the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan on 23rd August
1972 and with the President of Pakistan on 12th September 1972, the Government of
Pakistan gave categorical assurances that the Christian character of nationalized colleges and
schools would not be changed; no church property would be taken over; and the Government
would in no way interfere in the religious, cultural, and social sectors of the church.
Assurances were also given that Christian heads would be appointed in the nationalized
Christian schools and colleges. Things worked reasonably well until 1978, but with the
passage of time, matters started taking an adverse turn with no regard to the assurances given
by the Government in 1972.
One of the issues that surfaced from time to time during the period of nationalization was the
ownership of the property and land of the nationalized institutions. The Federal Government
had given assurances that it had no intention of taking over the property on which Kinnaird
College and other Christian institutions were situated in the case of their nationalization.
Since ownership of the property of Kinnaird College would remain with the Association of
Kinnaird College and the cause of education would thus continue to be served in the national
interest, the Association decided that as a goodwill gesture no rent would be charged but there
would be a review of this policy should circumstances change. At the Annual Statutory
meeting of the Board of Directors on 28th October 1972 the Chairman, the Bishop of
Lahore, reminded those present that, while a great deal of the administrative functions had
been taken over by the Government, the Board of Directors was still the custodian of the aims
and objects for which the college was set up.
At the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Kinnaird College on 27th

January 1973 the Chairman reminded the members that the status of the Board was still
unclear vis-à-vis nationalization. It had the responsibility to the greatest possible extent to
carry on the heritage of the trust handed on by its predecessors. Various members reported on
correspondence, conversations and representations to Government officials regarding the
properties of the Christian colleges and it was acknowledged that the position had never been
fully clarified by the Government. At the Executive Committee of the Board on 8th June 1973
it was stated that the question of property of nationalized colleges must be dealt with by the
Federal Government and not at the provincial level. At the Annual Statutory Meeting of the
Board of Directors on 12th April 1975 it was resolved that in view of the nationalization of
the college, the Association of Kinnaird College should henceforth act as the Board of
Directors of Kinnaird College for all purposes. Meanwhile they would continue to try to
obtain exemption from nationalization.
The Executive Committee of the Board held on 11th June 1975 once more discussed the
college property. The Principal presented a report on the latest situation about Kinnaird
College property and referred to her correspondence with the Directorate of Education with
special reference to a letter of 3rd June 1975 signed by the Assistant Director (Schools) for
the Director of Education, Lahore Division, Lahore, stating that: “The building in question
can’t be repaired out of Government Funds, as the building is church property. Please contact
the mission concerned for the purpose.” The Kinnaird Board understood from the contents of
this letter that the claim of the Association of Kinnaird College and Church bodies in general
regarding the ownership of the property had now been conceded.
In 1977 the Principal wrote to the Governor of the Punjab asking for the implementation of
assurances given by the Government to the Christian community in respect of their educational
institutions. However, some years later, at the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors
of the Association of Kinnaird College on 29th January 1983, Mrs. Phailbus reported that as
Principal of the college she had been directed by the office of the Director of Education
(Colleges) Lahore126 to refer the college building and attached land to the Revenue
Department in connection with mutation. The secretary, Dr. F. S. Khair Ullah, was authorized
to seek legal advice immediately and if advisable the matter should be taken to court. The
Executive Committee also took serious note of the fact that the Government was trying to
tamper with the recognized registered name of Kinnaird College for Women by changing it to
Government Kinnaird College for Women. It was agreed that the matter be taken up with the
Advisor to the President on Minority Affairs and other concerned authorities at a convenient
time.
The continuing challenge of the future included maintaining the Christian character of the
college and its contribution to the nation. A question was asked in the National Assembly as
to why the Bible was read at Convocation and an order was given for this not to continue. The
Muslim staff drafted a reply about the traditions of Kinnaird College and how they took part in
making the Convocation programmes.
Through the various uncertainties and upheavals of the period following nationalization
6126Vide memo 1014/B & P/1 dated 19th January 1983.

Kinnaird maintained its high standards due to the dedicated service of its Principal and staff. In
1972 Kinnaird College gained excellent results in the Intermediate and B.A. examinations.
Two F.Sc. students gained places of honour. Shahida Perveen Qureshi stood first among the
girls in the pre-Medical group and Naheed Altaf Ahmad stood first among the girls in the pre-
Engineering group. In the B.A. and B.Sc. results Nuzha Hanif topped the girls in the
University.127 The next year in the Intermediate examinations Kinnaird had an overall pass
percentage of 98.5% while the Lahore Board result was only 25.41%. This was despite so
many staff transfers since nationalization.
Other activities of the college continued. In 1973 Charity Week outdid any other year by
raising Rs.19,383. The students’ very special project for which the major part of the money
was used was the building of a primary school in one of the Lahore district villages destroyed
by the recent floods. The Charity Week Committee received a generous donation towards the
school project from Raja Tridiv Roy, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs and Tourism, at
the 1974 Convocation at which he was the Chief Guest. 128 The college bade farewell to Miss
Dorothy Boswell who was due to retire in June 1975. She had made a sterling contribution to
the college since 1951 when she arrived to become head of the newly started Science
Department. She lectured in Chemistry and was Vice-Principal at times and the senior resident
staff member.
At the Executive Committee of the Board in February 1974 the Principal reported her
concern at the number of Christian staff planning to leave Pakistan in the near future. It was
unlikely that these staff members would be replaced with Christians. It was agreed that in
future staff members who went abroad on scholarships given by Christian agencies for higher
studies should be required to give a minimum of two years’ service to the college on their
return. The Government was approached about the implementation of its assurances to
Christian colleges that a certain percentage of the staff be Christians. The Christian staff of
twenty-four was decreasing rapidly.
Women’s International Year in 1975 saw the founding of the Pakistan Women’s Institute,
based at Kinnaird College with Mrs. Mira Phailbus as its Honorary Director. It is part of a
chain within the Asian Women’s Institute comprising originally eight major universities and
colleges in the Lebanon, India, Japan and Korea. Three colleges in the Philippines and one
more in Japan have since joined. According to Mrs. Phailbus the Institute arose out of the need
for interdependency. “The women of Asia are groping for something more than mere
education. They are searching for a life of co-responsibility with men, and for identity. But
they are bound by traditions and centuries-old barriers between men and women that are
tougher to pull down than concrete walls. A.W.I. represents a movement in international vision
and is recognized by U.N.E.S.C.O. as a non-governmental organization. Each of the member
colleges works independently, placing the priorities of its own country first. The Pakistan
Women’s Institute puts its stress on training women for gainful employment, offering courses
in typing, business and secretarial programmes, foreign languages, household repairs, airline
ticketing and research methods.
In 1976 the Pakistan Women’s Institute organized a Seminar at which a panel of speakers of
repute from different vocational fields spoke to the students about the need for their
involvement in the future economic development of the country and in law, banking,
7127Principal’s Report, 1973.

commerce and industry. Mrs. Santosh Singha was appointed Project Administrator from
September 1976 by the Board of Directors of Kinnaird College. 129 Over the years many
students entering college required guidance and career counselling to discover their talents and
capabilities. So with this in mind the Pakistan Women’s Institute, with support from old
students, and with the sponsorship of the Parent Body began coordinating programmes for
the betterment of women on a long range basis. Mrs. Khawar Kazi, a former graduate of
Kinnaird, undertook a mammoth research project to survey the various fields and disciplines
where opportunities were open to young women. This resulted in the publication of a book
entitled A General Guideline to Job Opportunities for Qualified Women in Lahore. It was
hoped that this publication, the first of its kind, would encourage many young students
entering college to choose subjects according to each one’s attitude and interest, so that later
they would not end up frustrated and disheartened and return home to become ‘cabbages’. In
1980 a Career Counselling Club was started in the college and took its place as one of the
twenty or so student societies. Its plans included collecting relevant information and building a
careers library, gathering information about postgraduate studies and inviting speakers in
various fields to speak of their jobs.
Miss Mangat Rai, visiting from the U.K., was the speaker at the 1976 Convocation. The last
Convocation had been held in 1974. Disruptions due to closures and delay in examinations
upset the academic programmes of the University and colleges. Not all the staff were suitable
and Kinnaird sought more autonomy in recruiting staff and in the dispersal of salaries.
Frustration over lack of funds and lengthy procedures in using the moneys which were
available affected the Library and Science Department especially.130 The college continued to
maintain high academic standards despite the problems of nationalization. Other highlights of
the year included the production of successful plays - The Ivory Door, The Chinese Wall, and
The House of Bernada Alba. A famous journalist, Mr. Safdar Mir, popularly known by his pen
name Zeno, wrote in his columns of Kinnaird’s Dramatics Society as being the Noah’s ark of
serious theatre in Lahore.
At the November 1976 Convocation the Principal expressed gratitude to the Chairman of the
Board of Secondary Education and other members in authority, who made enquiries into the
unfair marking of the English papers of Kinnaird Science students. It had never happened in
the history of the Secondary Board; but because of their integrity, they took the bold step of
getting the students’ English papers rechecked, and corrected the injustice meted out to them.
Some of the girls eventually received up to forty-four further marks, which they merited. Very
seldom does one find people willing to risk a great deal of criticism for the sake of a moral
obligation. They earned the gratitude and respect of the college for this morally courageous
act. The Principal also recorded with gratitude the Government’s cooperation in understanding
Kinnaird’s unique position in the international field of education, as a college that had been
and was a credit to the nation. She mentioned especially Professor M. Rashid, Secretary of
Education, Punjab, who had always gone out of his way to provide staff who were a credit
to the college. During the Women’s Week held throughout Pakistan, Kinnaird students were
very much involved in several programmes, held at the college as well as at various functions
held elsewhere. A number of Kinnaird students were studying on scholarships at Bryn Mawr,
Radcliffe, Harvard, Wellesley and several other prestigious colleges as well as the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy at Harvard. Tehseen Saeed, one of those graduating, had been
admitted to the Fletcher School of Law directly into the Masters class.
9129Executive Committee meeting on 5th November 1977.
0130Principal’s Report at Convocation February 1976.

There was a long closure of colleges in 1979 and many extracurricular activities, such as
Sport’s Day, the annual play, Convocation and O.S.A. day, were cancelled. The Faculty of fifty
members including twenty-one former students often felt limited by the specified curriculum.
Mrs Phailbus pointed out that the demand for responsible staff was a growing one as in
Kinnaird education went far beyond the necessity of just achieving good examination results.
During the process a new woman should emerge - well informed, confident and capable of
shouldering responsibilities in a changing world. Like several other institutions of higher
learning Kinnaird sought to impart to students the urge to learn and to discover, to search and
ascertain, to develop the power to distinguish the essential from the incidental, the certain
from the probable. Students were steered to think scientifically, positively, and creatively for
their future careers. It was important to pay as much attention to dimensions of personality as
to knowledge and professional technique. In the entire field of development nothing is more
difficult than the changing of attitudes, so it was essential to have staff who were willing to
devote much of their time to such matters.
In 1981 The Principal welcomed Justice Dr. Javed Iqbal who gave the 51st Convocation
Address to the Graduates of 1979 and 1980. He is married to a Kinnaird graduate. 131 Dr.
Phailbus noted that judging by the Board and University results there had been a steady
decline in the standards of education of institutions which once attained required standards.
In the past six years Kinnaird’s pass percentage had been far higher than that of any other
institution - male or female. The majority of Kinnaird girls were invariably placed in the first
and second divisions securing top positions in both the Board and University examinations.
At the Annual Statutory Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird
College on 25th November 1981 all members stood for a minute of silence in memory of
the late Rt. Rev’d Inayat Masih, Chairman and Bishop of Lahore. The members recognized his
leadership and devoted service particularly at the time of nationalization. He had guided the
Association and the college through periods of crisis. His quiet wisdom and dedicated service
to high standards of education in the country were widely recognized. Kinnaird has long been
indebted to the wise counsels of the Bishops of Lahore. Bishop Inayat was succeeded as
Bishop by the Rt. Rev’d Alexander John Malik, who on joining the Board, was elected
Chairman.
In 1983 the college celebrated seventy years of service in the field of education. The Principal
while reviewing the Intermediate and University results over the past ten years pointed out
that Kinnaird students had been obtaining an overall pass percentage of over 80%. She denied
the correctness of the general impression that Kinnaird only admitted the cream of the
intelligentsia thus making it fairly easy to achieve good results. Not all students were born
brilliant. Many came with very simple educational backgrounds. Extracurricular activities
provided a way for the further development of character. Kinnaird had always had students of
different religious faiths. Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Parsis and Buddhists were all present in
that particular year, giving each an opportunity to learn to respect the other. Although
Kinnaird continued to achieve excellent academic grades there was still room for greater
improvement. The staff were often faced with questions about what should be taught.
Relevance to modern-day needs, the improvement of teaching methods and how Kinnaird
stood in relation to international standards were major concerns. Not all Kinnaird students
could avail themselves of the opportunity of pursuing their studies abroad, but those who
returned reported on exciting research and innovative study programmes which they
131Dr. Javed Iqbal is the son of Muhammad Iqbal the poet-philosopher of the subcontinent.
undertook at undergraduate level. If funds and facilities were made available Kinnaird could
certainly do likewise. Mrs. Phailbus that it would benefit education in Pakistan if principals of
premier institutions were authorized to appoint staff capable of shouldering such
responsibilities.
At the 53rd Convocation on 7th March 1984 the Principal welcomed the Chief Guest, Mr.
Justice Sardar Mohammad Iqbal, the Federal Ombudsman, and father of Neelam Iqbal, now
Mrs. Ismail Qureshi, a Green OAK of 1974. She reported: “Today the college has come to be
recognized as the premier institution for women in Pakistan. The trend for women students
seeking higher education is constantly on the increase. Parents from all walks of life now
desire to have their daughters educated at the prestigious Kinnaird. The pressure, therefore,
for admissions is tremendous. Each year only about 25% of the total applicants can be
admitted. The high academic standards and the excellent reputation of the college - nationally
and internationally - attracts a large number of foreign students as well. In fact, the highest
number of this category are at Kinnaird, compared to other women’s colleges in Pakistan.
Kinnaird has foreign students, daughters of Pakistanis settled or working overseas or of
Pakistani diplomats posted abroad, from many countries such as Nigeria, Libya, South Africa,
Australia, the U.K., Canada, Iran and, of course, large numbers from the Arabian Gulf
countries and the Middle East. The increase in foreign students over the years has been
phenomenal. The college academic buildings had been constructed to accommodate about
three hundred and seventy-five students with a maximum capacity of five hundred. Today, the
number exceeds nine hundred. The immediate problem is accommodation. Science laboratory
facilities are limited, therefore there is a ‘shift system for laboratories’. Some storage spaces
have been converted into classrooms. Several classes are now conducted under the trees. The
college is probing the idea of opening a few postgraduate courses in sciences, professional and
applied computer science; genetic engineering; biochemistry and micro-biology and nutrition.”
In 1984 the Sixth Five Year Plan of the Government referred to education and the possibility
of granting some colleges autonomy. After this the Board had decided to give this matter top
priority.
Kinnaird College celebrated the launching of its M.A. English Literature classes in the autumn
of 1985. Pressure from parents and a good English faculty led to this move although the
Principal wanted to introduce M.A. classes in new fields and not duplicate what was already
offered in other colleges. She felt strongly about the need to train teachers for English
Language Teaching (E. T. L.). Other career-orientated Masters Programmes such as M.Com.,
M.Sc. Chemistry and further specializations would lead women into professions. B.Sc. in
computers and B.Com. should also be offered to keep abreast of changing social conditions.
Mrs. Phailbus observed that teachers, especially women, were stagnating because research was
not recognized or encouraged.132
The college enrolment totalled eleven hundred of whom sixty-five were Christians including
three nuns. The Students’ Council had been formed in the college under the presidency of the
senior student. A large measure of responsibility for general internal discipline and for the
extracurricular activities of the college were been transferred to the Council.
The Principal in her 1988 Report expressed appreciation for the financial support which the
Parent Body continued to give towards repairs and maintenance, despite nationalization. In
2132Article by Miriam Habib, Focus on Women, Magazine Section, The Pakistan Times, 20th
December 1985.
1977 the Parent Body facilitated the installation of Sui Gas in all the hostels. Without the help
of the Parent Body many of the office and hostel supporting staff would not have been around
to contribute to the smooth and efficient running of the college. 133 They include hostel
wardens, a personal/confidential secretary to the principal, accountants, staff house personnel
and campus pastoral attendants. Some assistance for financing these personnel and for
scholarships for needy Christian students and for the maintenance of property was also
received from the Christian Educational Endowment Trust. The Trust was set up in 1969 as a
separate legal entity for promoting the educational purposes of the Church through financial
assistance to various colleges, schools, hospitals and social welfare organizations.
Mrs. Phailbus had the responsibility for the hostels in addition to being Principal of the college.
She was authorized to appoint full-time Christian wardens and pay them from the funds of the
Association of Kinnaird College. One of the duties of any hostel warden so appointed was to
instruct Christian students in the Christian faith. The Government had directed that where
there were more than twenty Christian students in a class instruction in the Christian faith was
to be given. The Government was requested to make a lecturer available for this. The Principal
was authorized to request the supporting agencies for a foreign Bible teacher if a Pakistani
could not be found. A course in basic English started for eleven Christian students who would
not have been able to cope with regular college courses held in English.
In 1987 almost thirteen hundred students were enrolled. Several OAKS, grandmothers and
mothers of the present generation, had kept up a constant interest in Kinnaird College, and on
all occasions and platforms had voiced a deep concern that Kinnaird should be drawn out of
the mainstream of education and given the status of a ‘Centre of Excellence’, with an
autonomous Board of Management.
When the Government made a move to offer autonomy, however, it approached the Principal.
This led to Dr. Khair Ullah presenting a paper on April 1990 on Some Reflections on the
Autonomy offered to Kinnaird College.134 It was pointed out that the Government in directly
approaching the Principal, who was their own officer, was bypassing the Parent Body, (the
owners known as the Kinnaird College Association), and thereby violating the decision of the
Supreme Court which had upheld the ruling that the properties of nationalized institutions
owned before nationalization still belonged to the said owners. The Government had no
authority to give autonomy to the college, over the head of the Parent Body. It was decided to
protest by letter to Government first before taking legal action. It was pointed out that
awarding autonomous status to the college was a way of nationalizing the property which did
not belong to the Government.
At the 60th Convocation in 1991 the Principal thanked the Education Department and
particularly Mr. Amin Ullah Chaudhry, the Secretary of Education, Dr. Imtiaz Cheema,
Director Public Instruction (Colleges), Punjab and the Director of Education (Colleges) for
their cooperation and consideration of requests for quality teachers. She recognized that they
also worked under pressure so it was not always feasible for them to cater to all needs of the
vast government educational structures. Lack of such teachers naturally gave rise to problems
and obstacles in providing the best education for students. The alternatives were either finally
to lose heart and allow the system to deteriorate and eventually collapse, or to continue to
4134Presented to the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Association of Kinnaird
College for Women, 23rd April 1990.
struggle to maintain Kinnaird as a centre of excellence with its traditions of high academic
standards. Each institution of worth must be encouraged to develop and maintain its individual
character. This could only be accomplished by granting autonomous status. Thus the private
sector would be participating fully in sharing the responsibility and expenses of education -
relieving the Government Exchequer of financial burdens. Kinnaird was recognized
internationally and its graduates were welcomed to institutions of higher education in the
U.S.A. and the U.K. Kinnaird had produced a number of Rhodes Scholars and an increasing
number of graduates were joining the work force and exploring new and varied fields. This
prestigious position merited autonomous status so that there might be no complications in
maintaining high standards. With this aim, new disciplines such as a B.A. in Journalism
leading to an M.A. in Mass Communication, Computer Sciences and Systems Analysis, in
addition to a diploma leading to a Masters in the Teaching of English as a Second Language
were planned. Plans were under way to introduce M.Sc. In Biochemistry, Microbiology,
Botany, Zoology and Biology.
The college authorities outlined their concept of Autonomy - its purpose, shape and working,
and Dr. Phailbus reported that she had a meeting with the Prime Minister in August 1991
urging him to give Kinnaird College an independent status.
At the 1993 Convocation the Principal welcomed Mr. Wasim Sajjad, Chairman of the Senate
of the University of the Punjab as the Chief Guest. She pointed out that the acquisition of
fifteen kanals of land adjacent to the college, donated and owned by the Government, would
enable plans for the postgraduate programme to be put in action after being on hold for many
years for lack of space. Some of the subjects to be introduced included Mathematical
Statistics, Computer Systems Analysis, Fine Arts, Business Studies that include Banking,
Finance Management and Marketing, International Relations and Mass Communication. Most
of the courses selected were career orientated, but there was an awareness that an educational
system was not worth a great deal if it taught young people only how to make a living but not
how to make a life.135
At the 1994 Convocation Dr. Phailbus reported that it has been the goal for some time past to
make Kinnaird once again an independent college to be free of a labyrinth of red tape and
obstacles that prevent an educational establishment from forging ahead with expansion plans
and meeting the needs of the future. She expressed her full confidence in the staff that together
as a team they could do this for future generations. She expected that Kinnaird would have
many more postgraduate disciplines in the college besides the present Masters in English
Literature. She wished the college to prepare its own curricula and not to be tied to courses
that were outdated and archaic; to conduct its own examinations and award its own degrees.
The teacher could best evaluate the students and save the candidate from being subjected to
examiners who could only use guide books to judge the students’ answers. The new English
Language Teaching Diploma programme had been successfully conducted and thirty well-
trained teachers were ready to join the education system to play a forceful role. The Principal
expressed her belief that autonomy should be granted to several well-established colleges in
order to relieve the University of the Punjab from the burden of having to examine such an
enormous number of candidates. The recent B.A. and B.Sc. Examinations conducted by the
University of the Punjab proved just how impossible the situation had become. After eight
long months of waiting, some of the students of the class of ’93 had not received their results,
and thus could not receive their degrees at the 1994 Convocation through no fault of their
own. Long delays in receiving results created problems and frustrations to students wanting to

join universities and colleges both in Pakistan and overseas. Often a year or more of precious
time was wasted. There had been a three-year delay due to red tape over the introduction of a
course in Journalism at B.A. level. The Government delayed releasing five lakhs of rupees for
essentially required science equipment promised in 1992. Most officials at a personal level
were extremely helpful, but the system was a monstrous web in which colleges were trapped.
The only solution lay in granting autonomy to creditable institutions, giving them the freedom
to act independently and responsibly. Many private colleges were able to forge ahead and offer
exciting courses which for Kinnaird were still a dream. For example, the Lahore University of
Management and Sciences (L.U.M.S.), the brainchild and long time vision of the Chief Guest,
Syed Babar Ali, and other private colleges were developing so effectively in line with
international standards because they had the Charter and independence to do so. No doubt the
fees were much higher but then all the facilities were available for the benefit of the student.
The majority of Kinnaird students came from two feeder schools where the fees were anything
from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 4,000 per month. Yet for a whole month’s education at Kinnaird they
paid less than the price of a kilo of tomatoes! Many parents did not grudge funding their
brilliant daughters abroad for higher education. For those students who genuinely deserved
financial aid, scholarships could always be provided.136
Mrs. Fakhar Ahmed, the former Vice-Principal, after thirty-seven years of dedicated teaching
and administrative work at Kinnaird retired in September 1995. Mrs. Fakhar Ahmed was born
in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Because of her father’s businesses in Bombay, Agra, Pune and Bihar
the family kept moving between India and Sri Lanka. She came to Pakistan in 1950 and
completed her M. A. in Philosophy and later in Political Science from Government College,
Lahore. In 1959, while she was a B.Ed. student, she was offered a job at Kinnaird and she
stayed on.137 Mrs. Jamila Nasir Butt, Head of the Science Department is now Vice-Principal.
The untiring efforts of the Kinnaird authorities, and especially the perseverance and wisdom
of the Principal, Dr. Phailbus, eventually bore fruit. The Government, recognizing the
outstanding contributions of some colleges, put forward a proposal for denationalization
allowing exemption under the ML 118 Ordinance of 1972 whereby management could be
returned to the parent bodies of benevolent, philanthropic and non-commercial institutions. As
a test case certain educational institutions were chosen, including Kinnaird College.
Autonomy was finally granted to Kinnaird College on 16th September 1996.

Chapter 12
AUTONOMY and the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
“Of the six top positions in the B.A., B.Sc. groups, four go to girls, two of them belonging to
Kinnaird, but then Kinnaird is not a college; it is a centre of excellence and if I were
somebody, I would turn it into a university.”
23rd November 1986 Dawn,
Karachi
In a 1994 interview for The Last Word Mrs. Fakhar Ahmed, the retiring Vice-Principal of
Kinnaird College, said : “I am all for denationalization as it is virtually impossible to maintain
any semblance of standards under the present pressures. Also, we need to raise the fees if we
want to bring about any positive changes.” In the same year Mrs Perin Boga, commenting on
autonomy, said: “Among other things autonomy will affect curriculum, examinations,
admissions, numbers of students and choice of staff.”
In early January 1996 when I asked Dr. Mira Phailbus about the future of Kinnaird College
and autonomy she said: “Kinnaird is at a crossroads. Autonomy could be granted in three
areas: administrative, financial, and academic. It would take about three years to work with
the educational authorities to complete the arrangements for administrative and financial
autonomy. The college will need massive funding in order to take over the existing
responsibilities and then to make major strides to implement future plans. Academic autonomy
is essential as it will empower Kinnaird to create its own curriculum, set and mark its own
examinations and grant its own degrees.”
Louis D. Hayes , a visiting Professor at the Quaid-e-Azam University in the late 1980s,
noted138 that since nationalization in 1972 there had been some important private involvement
in new independent colleges. The Ismaili community headed by the Aga Khan financed the
Medical University in Karachi. The University of Management Sciences in Lahore (L.U.M.S.)
received some of its funding from private sources in addition to very high tuition fees. A
Pakistani educationalist, Ijaz Ilahi Malik, was more pessimistic about the state of college
education. In the conclusion of his article on Pakistan’s Education Policies in Retrospect139 he
wrote that despite expansion in education and efforts made by various regimes since
independence the characteristic features of the educational system remained more or less the
same. He noted that the majority of students failed to qualify in the Matriculation,
Intermediate and Degree examinations. As the educational sector operated independently of
the job market requirements the marginally competent graduates and postgraduates who
formed the bulk of university products fail to find employment. An imbalance was created as
most students opted for Humanities (32,448 B.A.s, 4,839 B.Sc.s, 3,840 B.Ed.s, 9,850 M.A.s
and 2,399 M.Sc.s graduated in 1985-86). The examination oriented system provided no
motivation for students to read outside the prescribed texts while the teachers, with eyes
primarily on pass percentages, resorted to dictating notes which students were expected to
reproduce during the examinations. Education was thus reduced to a boring mechanical
activity, devoid of interest and a spirit of wonder. He underlined that although the need and
value of research is universally recognized, the spirit of enquiry appears to have died among
the academics and wilted to a point that universities have become mere institutions for turning
out degrees. Since the flow of creative ideas from them has stopped there are very few books,
periodicals, or even magazine articles issuing from them. This calls for a fresh analysis, a re-
evaluation of the entire educational spectrum in relation to economic conditions and modern
day requirements.
In such a scene dialogue continued on and off through the years between Kinnaird and the
Federal and Provincial Governments regarding denationalization or privatization and
autonomy. In April 1990 a draft outline was drawn up of Kinnaird’s concept of Autonomy - its
purpose, its shape and its working.140
Purpose: Our concept of autonomy is that the Board will have complete control of the whole
educational set up. The Board will be free to translate into reality the philosophy it holds
regarding education, namely, the holistic approach to the full development of the personality of
the students, which eventually will benefit, liberate and uplift the people. This will be done by
means of the curriculum prescribed and by other activities.
Shape: This can only be possible if the Board can appoint and dismiss teachers, alter, modify,
and freely experiment with the curriculum, organize its own examination system and method
of awarding marks, and do everything else possible to improve the quality of education, and
have the freedom to set fee structures.
Working: This will only be viable if the Board is constituted in such a way that gives it the
required freedom to act. It must be constituted by gathering together people who have
somewhat the same vision for the task ahead of them. The present method of selecting and
8138The Crisis of Education in Pakistan, Vanguard, Lahore, 1987.
9139Pakistan Education Journal, Vol. III No.1 July - October 1989, pp.27-28.
0140Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of K.C.W. Subcommittee Report, 23rd April
1990.
nominating members will not help this.
Note: The formation of the Board should not be under the West Pakistan Government
Educational and Training Institutions Ordinance, 1960141, an Ordinance to establish Boards of
Governors for Government Educational and Training Institutions in West Pakistan, but under
the West Pakistan Private Colleges (Management and Control) Ordinance, 1970, an Ordinance
to provide control over and management of private colleges in West Pakistan.142
By 1995 autonomy seemed close when the Principal, Dr. Mira Phailbus, welcomed the
President of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari to the 63rd Convocation. In her
Report she described the hopes for the Kinnaird of the future: “While we are still struggling
with manual typewriters, the universities of the world have moved onto the internet system.
We too need to be a part of the great river of modern technology which is flowing through the
developed world. We sorely need a well-equipped library, to build a computer base and adopt
other technological aids but which may easily cost upwards of Rs. 75 lakhs. For several years
now we have dreamed of making Kinnaird once again, an independent college, free from the
inhibiting red tape that prevents an educational institution from forging ahead to meet the
needs of the future. Kinnaird is ready to shoulder the burdens of autonomy and independence
with the capacity and vision to become a role model for other colleges of the Punjab, indeed
the country. It is true that higher education in Pakistan is in an unsatisfactory state, requiring
major and dramatic reforms. Allow me to outline some reforms which we, as a result of our
work, regard worth considering:
1. Entrust the management of a few select degree colleges to a Board of Directors - made up
of senior educationalists and in the case of nationalized institutions with the Parent Body at the
central core.
2. Establish an independent provincial Council for Academic Accreditation and Validation with
the authority to accredit and validate courses, and monitor and evaluate the performance of
institutions according to recognized criteria. It may be possible to entrust this responsibility to
the University Grants Commission.
3. Each accredited degree college should be allowed to function independently or as an
autonomous institution. This would also encourage other institutions to work towards
recognition and to seek accreditation.
4. The system of higher education operating in these institutions would be in accordance with
the recognized national policy. The performance of the students as well as the institution
would be in accordance with internationally agreed criteria.
5. The faculty already working in these institutions may be given security and continue to
receive a salary plus benefits such as house allowance, pensions etc. from the Government. In
other words they would be seconded to the institutions. New replacements (for vacancies)
would be made by the Board of Directors and additional incentives of attractive pay scales and
benefits would be given to attract highly qualified and competent staff, particularly those
returning with degrees from recognized universities abroad. Monetary incentives for improved
efficiency and performance would be introduced.
6. These selected institutions may gradually raise and retain tuition and other fees in order to
be less dependent on the Government. They may be allowed to explore endowment grants and
donations of equipment and material for student use. Scholarships may be given to talented
but less privileged students.
7. Such private institutions could collaborate with international institutions of repute for the
141Gazette of West Pakistan, Extraordinary, 6th April 1960.
2142Government of West Pakistan, Law Department Notification, Lahore, 25th June 1970.
purpose of achieving required standards. Faculty and student exchange with international
institutions would be beneficial particularly in the case of science and technology transfer.
8. These select institutions should be allowed to improve national and curriculum design, and
design courses with particular emphasis on science, technology and research.
9. These select institutions should be de-linked from the universities and allowed to conduct
their own examinations and evaluation, thereby relieving the university of the burden of
examinations and constant criticism for the use of unfair means and mismanagement.
“We at Kinnaird would fail in the quality of our outreach if we remain with the status quo. We
enjoy maximum cooperation extended by the Education Department and Government
authorities, but as part of a bureaucracy, we are bound by many constraints. Mr. President,
education and research need to blend together to be able to forge ahead. To set the pace,
maximize our efforts and create the right impact, we need the freedom of autonomy. It is
imperative that this vital fact is acknowledged. If it is implemented, institutions would become
models of excellence, assisting each other and cooperating together, and in the process
becoming valuable centres for the growth of the human spirit.
“Mr. President, Kinnaird truly deserves to be granted full autonomy and the freedom to act
with independence and responsibility.”
Autonomy was granted to Kinnaird College on 16th September 1996. Six days later the
Board of Governors met for the first time. In an opening statement the Chairman, Rt. Rev.
Alexander John Malik, Bishop of Lahore, welcomed the Board members on behalf of the
Parent Church Body and recapitulated the pioneering role of Kinnaird in Women’s education
during the last eighty years. He highlighted the laudable decision of the Federal and Provincial
Governments in giving administrative, financial and the promise of academic autonomy to the
college in the larger national interest and allowing Kinnaird to play its deserved and full role in
the field of education, effectively meeting the impending challenges of the twenty-first century.
He especially recognized the major contribution and extremely helpful role of Mr. Tasneem
Noorani, Secretary of Education, Punjab, for his bold policy decisions all along. He also
acknowledged with thanks the untiring efforts of Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Advisor to the
Prime Minister for Education and Social Action Programme.
Clarifying the legal position of the ownership of the college property, the Chairman stated that
in terms of the Supreme Court decision of 1987, the property of Kinnaird, and for that matter,
the properties of other similar educational institutions nationalized in 1972 under this category,
is not vested in the Government but in the parent church body i.e. the Association of Kinnaird
College for Women. Answering a query regarding the powers of the Board, the Secretary for
Education, Punjab, explained that although the autonomy granted to Kinnaird is on the pattern
of the Government College, Lahore and the Lahore College for Women, yet the difference in
the case of Kinnaird is that a Board of Governors with the majority of members of non-
Government nominees has been approved by the Government.
Some of the parameters and guidelines along which future policy for Kinnaird could be
framed were suggested.
A. To improve and consolidate the present standards of education at Kinnaird and
gradually introduce new ideas, new avenues of higher education at Kinnaird so as
to make education more meaningful and job-orientated in the context of the future
needs of Pakistan.
B. To evolve Kinnaird’s own role model of excellence within the overall
educational policy of the Government.
C. To initiate the process of the affiliation of Kinnaird with some Ivy League
colleges or universities in the U.S.A., the U.K. or elsewhere. Also to prepare a
feasibility study for making Kinnaird a University.
D. To introduce short evening courses for women.
E. Whereas the process of merit and accountability will be the guiding principle,
the present staff will have adequate security of service. They will have the option
of remaining on deputation to the college for two to three years and may
ultimately choose to join the new management on terms and conditions likely to
be better and incentive-oriented.
F. The Provincial Government will continue providing the annual budget of the
college for a period of three years during the transition period, which amount may
be reduced gradually on a pro rata basis.
G. There will be no increase in tuition fees for one year after which the position
will be reviewed in order to make the college financially viable.
H. The management of the college will be conducted through various committees.
An Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Planning Committee, and
Academic Committee will be set up.
The Convenor of the Finance Committee reported that various ways and means were being
examined, including the setting up of some Endowment Funds for mobilizing financial
resources as a step towards achieving ‘financial autonomy’ under a planned programme.
Different parameters for drawing up a futuristic blue print for financial, administrative and
academic autonomy were identified on the basis of which a comprehensive plan of action
would be evolved.143
At the same meeting the Principal reported an offer from McGill University, Montreal,
Canada, for ‘Twinning’ with Kinnaird College as part of a ‘Faculty Exchange Program’. The
University would send staff for Linguistic and Environmental Studies, possibly through the
Canadian International Development Agency (C.I.D.A.), provided Kinnaird could supply
board and lodging facilities. They would also send experts on a short-term basis to help
Kinnaird set up new departments. In her report to the Board of Directors of Kinnaird College
on 21st September 1996 just after the granting of autonomy the Principal noted that there
were approximately nineteen hundred students, ninety-three staff members of whom two were
Professors, twenty-one Associate Professors, twenty-four Assistant Professors, forty-three
Lecturers, two Directors of Physical Education and one Librarian, seven office staff and
sixty-six non-gazetted staff. Twenty-one disciplines were offered at Intermediate and B.A. and
B.Sc. levels. M.A. in English Literature and an English Language Diploma Course were
offered for in-service teachers.
At the 64th Convocation of Kinnaird College on 11th March 1997 the Principal underlined
that Kinnaird was ready to shoulder the burden of autonomy and become independent. She
hoped that the college could be separated from the Punjab University and work as an
independent institution, designing its syllabus and granting degrees. Her vision was that
Kinnaird would collaborate with other international institutions of repute and achieve
international standards. Such collaboration could include staff and student exchange, a sharing
of personnel and resources, transfer of technology, and curriculum development.
3143Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of Kinnaird College for Women, 14th December
1996.
In September 1997 a year after the granting of autonomy the Centre for Applied Language
Studies was set up offering M.A. courses in English Language Teaching (E.L.T.) and Applied
Linguistics and linked with the University of Reading in the U.K. An M.A. course in Mass
Communications, a Bachelors in Computer Science and in Business Administration were
planned. In November 1997 the French Government arranged Dr. Phailbus’ visit to France
where she met with several professors at French universities. The M.A. progamme in French
at Kinnaird was received with enthusiasm and supported by the Université de France Comté
at Besançon and the Ministry of Culture and Education in Paris.
With full autonomy the possibilities for Kinnaird in the future are immense. The college began
as a pioneer institution and it has always had the pioneering spirit. The 1995 Commemorative
postage stamp issued by the Government to honour eighty years of women’s education
through Kinnaird signified its contribution to the nation. It may be that, as Robert Browning
wrote, albeit in a different context: “the best is yet to be”. Autonomy can give Kinnaird the
creative freedom to pioneer in a second century for a vastly different world from that in which
it started. For such a future the influence of Christian example and inspiration is still required.
To eliminate this would be to forget the heritage and traditions of Kinnaird and to secularize
it. Fresh input through Christian principals and staff are needed together with links with the
universal church. As we pray “Give us this day our daily bread” 144 we are asking God for
bread for today - for fresh bread for a new time. As the same teacher said: “Man does not live
by bread alone”145. The nurturing of the whole person is the concern of the true educationalist.
May Kinnaird College for Women never be cut off from its roots but flourish like a tree
planted by streams of water.146
4144From the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, generally known as the Lord’s prayer. The Gospel
according to Matthew 6:11.
5145The Gospel according to Matthew 4:4.
6146Psalm 1:3.
Chapter 13
REMINISCENCES
Before the Principal’s Afterword it seems appropriate for students and staff to reflect and
reminisce. Kinnaird College for Women exists for its students and so I have chosen one to
speak for many. A graduate who attended Kinnaird from 1943-47, Jamila Mihrunnisa Verghese
(née Barkat Ullah), has written two excellent articles which take us through half a century. I
am grateful for permission to include these in this history of the college.
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED BORDERS
by Jamila Verghese
January 17, 1989
The handsome Peshawari tonga drew to a halt by Queen Victoria’s marble canopy which now
houses the Qur’an Sharif. The elderly tongawallah beamed. ‘Give my personal salaams to
our friends in India’, he said as he drove away.
It was the spring of 1988 in Lahore. My alma mater, the Kinnaird College for Women, had
invited its Indian alumnae to its seventy-fifth Jubilee. Ours was the second group to visit the
college from India since partition, and the P.I.A. crew smiled indulgently as fifty elderly
respectable matrons turned into a chattering bunch of college girls before their eyes. The red
carpet stayed under our feet until we touched Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport ten
days later. It was a journey packed with emotion, nostalgia, questions and hope.
Now, a year later, around fifty Pakistanis including college teachers will visit India for the first
time after partition, arriving in Delhi on February 7, on invitation from the old students in
India. These are all eminent women in fields as diverse as media, law, education, social work,
medicine, travel, sport and fashion. For guests and hosts alike the ten day period holds
exciting promise of mutual re-discovery for the subcontinent family.
What could be more disagreeable than being described as an Old Girl. Kinnaird has found a
happy solution. Connecting its old students with the dependability, strength and serenity of
the oak, the imaginative acronym OAKS (Old Associates of Kinnaird Society) is now applied
to them. Green OAKS (1970s - 1990s), Silver OAKS (1950s - 1960s), and Golden OAKS
(1913 - 1947). Of these India has a veritable forest! Man Mohini Sehgal a social worker of
1913 vintage and Mohini Borker, Honorary President and Secretary of the Indian Golden
OAKS will be meeting their Pakistani counterparts, Nasira Iqbal an eminent lawyer and Fauzia
Aftab.
What is so special about Kinnaird College that grandmothers return to pick up the threads
again, while the chowkidar147 keeps agitated suppliants for admission at bay? On October 13,
1913, young Joan McDonald, the energetic Principal of Kinnaird High School, Lahore,
christened the college based in the school premises, the Kinnaird College for Women, after
Emily Kinnaird, a pioneer in women’s education.148 It started with seven students. Three
changes of site and two principals later, Kinnaird became one of the premier women’s
residential colleges of pre-partition India, supplying some of the country’s best known colleges
with their first principals.
Isabella T. McNair was Kinnaird’s best remembered Principal. Hers was a fine blend of
graciousness, severity and Scottish humour. Of her well-knit team of dedicated colleagues,
Priobala Mangat Rai, who stood by her through the troubled times of Partition, became
Principal after her. ‘Aunty Naj’ (Mrs. Najmuddin) raised the college’s annual play to
professional standards, making it a must on every serious theatre-goer’s list. These and other
selfless women inculcated qualities of head and heart in their students, aiming at gifting the
world outside the college on both sides of the border women who would be repositories of all
that is worth striving for. Isabella McNair fought for gender justice at a time when the phrase
had not even been coined. She taught her ‘young ladies’ to face the ballot box and the home
front with equal equanimity. It was entirely due to her stand that 1933 saw men and women’s
colleges following the same procedure in granting degrees for the first time.
This glint of righteous battle resurfaced in October 1987, when the college, now nationalised,
faced the threat of the transfer of their well loved and effective young Principal Mira Phailbus
and the Vice-Principal. The students’ orderly protest and dignified press conference is now the
stuff of legend in Pakistan. In less than twenty-four hours the offending orders were
withdrawn and the college back on an even keel. Mrs. Phailbus is expected in Delhi with the
visitors.
My three visits to Kinnaird College over the years since 1947 on Old Students’ Day have made
me observe the growth of an entirely new generation of young Pakistani women. Partition
was still too close in the late fifties, and an undercurrent of personal involvement intertwined
with strong nostalgia determined most reactions. Those were the days when the hearty Sikh
joke was appreciated on both sides of the border while the countries stood eyeball to eyeball.
In 1970, the 1965 war was palpably present in every heart. There were few families
unaffected by it: yet a friend whose only brother had died on the battlefield the day he joined
the forces, embraced me warmly and invited me to stay with her family. ‘Our sister has come
from Delhi, you son of an owl,’ shouted the owner of a wayside shoe shop in Raja Bazar,
Rawalpindi. His little gaping helper jumped. ‘Go and get some gulab jamuns149 and a good
cup of tea!’ Within seconds the rickety structure was bursting with reminiscing, laughing,
7147Watchman.
8148The author of this History of Kinnaird College for Women has found no documentary evidence
that the College was specifically named after Emily Kinnaird. It seems rather to have been named after the
Kinnaird family. The College was first called the Kinnaird Christian College (see the College Report of 1919-
20) and then Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore ( see the Annual Report of the Kinnaird College for
Women, Lahore 1920-21).
9149Popular sweetmeats.
warm, questioning people.
The young ones have come into their own now. The trauma of partition had finally been
consigned to history and to the will of Allah. Discussion on the subject is now the concern of
the rulers and the intellectuals, and nostalgia only affects the over sixties. These young
Pakistanis are proud of their identity, conscious of their privileged education. Many are
involved in understanding problems and in working to bring human dignity into the lives
around them. A fresh breeze is stirring in Pakistan. We are just a heart beat and a hand clasp
away from each other.
THANKYOU, KINNAIRD!
by Jamila Verghese
March 29, 1995
‘Young ladies,’ said Miss McNair.
We looked up at the dignified Scotswoman as she stood before us at Assembly, her dark hair
outlined with silver. Here was a face we could trust - a fine blend of graciousness and serenity
with a hint of humour in her eyes.
‘Young ladies’ - we could never be sure what those two words portended - commendation or
reprimand. We only knew that they governed our lives and attitudes throughout our years at
the Kinnaird College for Women. From college activities to our image in the outside world,
everything we did had to have that evanescent touch of class. We learnt that being ladies
entailed battling if necessary, but without abuse, and holding our own in the world while
fulfilling our roles as repositories of all that is worth striving for in life.
My sister Leela Raushan Ara Barkat Ullah (later Shukla): 1920-86, was at Kinnaird from
1937- 41. She was one of the more popular and admired Senior Students. Later in Delhi, she
laid the foundation of tourist activity in 1950 with her ‘Tourist Escorts’ comprised of
university and professional men and women who, together with student guides provided a
much needed personalised tourist service. She also started and ran for ten years a pocket-
sized weekly What’s-on-in-Delhi? which she called Delhi Diary. Many of the now world
famous artistes were first introduced to the capital by Delhi Diary. She later gave it over to
another lady who now runs it.
I joined Kinnaird College in 1943. ‘Ragging’ at that time was good fun, as it was never
allowed to degenerate into a tool for humiliation. I remember my classmates and myself
dyeing the entire college’s duppatas150 yellow for the Basant Panchami festival in spring,
walking about for days with embarrassingly yellow arms. Next came the shining abrak into
which duppatas were dipped, and the starching. Last of all the chunnat with our first year
thumbs and toes producing the finest and shiniest rope-like duppatas for our exacting seniors.
Later, as seniors ourselves, we spread confusion in the ranks of the freshers by introducing
two of our most innocent looking classmates to them as fellow freshers: ‘Bakhshi’ (Gurbakhsh
0150A headscarf which completes the shirt and baggy trousers (shalwar qamiz) often worn by women
in the subcontinent.
Gurbakh Singh) and ‘Nimmi’ (Nirmal Sethi) - both now in Delhi.
The college had a low, easily negotiable wall that ran the length of its Jail Road boundary. The
rest of the college was bounded by a vague assortment of hedges and bushes. Popular city
jokes included our college in a progression of disasters, situated as it was opposite the Central
Jail; the sequence being - the infectious diseases Hospital, the race course, the lunatic asylum,
the jail, Kinnaird College and the natural culmination - the canal. “Paghal Khana chalna”151,
we would murmur apologetically to understanding tongawalas who invariably brought us
direct to Kinnaird.
The peach and almond blossom on the college campus, some of which survive, I hope, were a
gift from my French Aunt Mme. Madeleine Ihsan Ullah who passed away last year on April 3,
1994 at Kodaikanal in her beautiful cottage by the lovely lake in the lovely hills of Tamil Nadu.
Mme. Ihsan Ullah (‘Rosette’ to her close friends) was a good friend of Miss Hladia Porter as
they shared a love for painting and gardening. My aunt was a French teacher who started life
at the Forman Christian College while Dr. Lucas was Principal there, and worked actively to
save and rehabilitate abducted girls on both sides of the border during 1947.
In the early forties parents supplied a list of gentlemen who could visit their darling daughters
at college. My sister Leela and I were among the privileged few who were allowed to decide
whom we would like to meet. In the evenings we walked around the campus with our
elaborate hairdos intricately interwoven with gajras of mogra152. The old but spry chowkidar
would come to one of us with a visitor’s name on the slate, countersigned by the lecturer on
duty. The person concerned would move off to be visited in full view of everyone, in the front
lawn by the office. This ‘visitation’ was always an ordeal for both the visiting gentleman and
the visited. The circumambulating jury of friends walked round and round the lawn as throats
were cleared and meaningful glances cast in the direction of the embarrassed couple, while the
heady aroma of mogras assailed the embattled visitor’s senses. Those not made of strong
stuff usually beat a hasty retreat.
If I remember aright, we had about two hundred and fifty boarders at college while I was
there. Life was pleasantly regulated, and college activity most absorbing and mentally
stimulating. Boredom never entered our consciousness. I was most involved in theatre,
debates, sports and music. The sports field did not attract everyone, however. Many a time I
was asked by my friend Charmain Lazarus (now Mukarji), a charmer, if there was ever one, to
lock her into her room so that she could escape the games period! She is now a respectable
retired school teacher with two grown sons.
Mrs. Najmuddin was of course the doyen of English theatre in Lahore at that time. Among
the many plays she directed for the college was Sheridan’s The Rivals in which I was Julia,
Renu Chatterji, my Shakespearean beloved, and Monica Misra, Fag. Renu is now wife of
Krishen Khanna one of our leading artists. One of her daughters is a dancer, and she herself is
a retired school teacher. Monica is married to one of our leading theatre personalities, Habib
Tanvir, and has one daughter Nageen. I would like to list all the names of my friends in all the
plays we did, but there just isn’t space enough. Mrs. ‘Naj’, our dear Aunty Dotty, produced
and directed (in those days the producer and director were one!) many other plays: J.M.
151Literally “Go to the Mad House”.
2152Bracelets of jasmine.
Barry’s Quality Street, D’Annunzio’s La Gioconda, The Barretts of Wimpole Street for which
I did the cover design, and a host of others. The late Meher Nigar Aziz, Jasinder Sher Gill
(our ever popular handsome stage ‘hero’), Sonnu Sondhi (now Abdul Rehman) another
handsome ‘hero’, Rati Batra (now Bartholomew) are still very involved in theatre and a host
of others come to mind.
Apart from these public performances in the Lahore Open Air Theatre, we produced a number
of one act plays for inter-class competitions and ‘fun’ skits. I remember a spoof I presented on
the highly dramatic poem ‘The Highwayman’. Iffat Shah made a marvellous Pathan
‘highwayman’ who trundled onto the stage in the college library upstairs on a tricycle ‘up to
the old inn door’ complete with a shalwar qamiz153, shrieking a good old Punjabi curse to the
‘skies’. Bess, the landlord’s black-eyed daughter (a sporting Zubaida Chadhury - now a
retired national award-winning head mistress) - stood on a table waiting for ‘him’ (at the
window), one eyed painted heavily black with collyrium. As Bess unpinned a thin plait of false
hair from her head, and hurled ‘the sweet cascade of perfume’ full in her beloved’s face, the
hall screamed with the kind of laughter you can only elicit from a friendly college audience.
Miss Akhtar Qambar (now rather unwell, but earlier translating Persian manuscripts at the
Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi), almost choked, alternately shaking her head and holding
her sides, whispering between gasps, ‘This is nor parody. It’s a travesty!’
There were few gentlemen on our staff. These were the indispensables - our Urdu and Persian
teacher - the one and only evergreen Mr. Wahid-ud-Din who seemed to marry once a year,
provided us with many moments of mirth at his expense. ‘Guruji’ taught us Hindi and
Sanskrit. My father being a far-sighted man had pushed me into learning Hindi as an optional
subject as early as 1943, insisting that Hindi would soon become a most important language.
Reluctantly I learnt the basics through an adult literacy pamphlet, and always tried to sit as
unobtrusively as I could on the last bench to avoid Guruji’s omniscient eye. There was a
shortage of music teachers, so Miss McNair had, perforce to make do with men, but her
practised eye screened every applicant, invariably choosing the least prepossessing for her
brood of impressionable young ladies. Of the two sitar154 instructors, the blind one fell to my
lot. Since I could not physically direct his hand to my instrument to explain my problem, my
career as a future sitarist received a terrible setback. Then, of course, there was our inimitable
Master Sardari Lal cycling regularly to his mathematics class in his all-white master’s
puggree155, narrow pyjamas and comfortable kurta156 and waskit.157 He was always a man of
exceedingly few words, the briefest of smiles and the tiniest of humour crinkles lining his grey
blue eyes. Next I saw him in Delhi some twenty-five years ago, retired at last, but with the
same quick smile and fun crinkled eyes in a sphinx-like face.
Since my father, a Christian clergyman, came from ancient Muslim traditions, there was no
way I could inveigle him into allowing me to learn Bharatanatyam, even though the great Udai
Shankar’s famous danseuse Zohra Sehgal taught dancing at the Kinnaird. In later life Zohra
3153Outfit worn in the subcontinent completed with a headscarf (duppata).
4154Stringed musical instrument.
5155Turban.
6156Shirt.
7157Waist coat.
acted as my mother-in-law and I was Grusha in the first stage production in Delhi of The
Caucasian Chalk Circle in the early fifties. Zohra is now a renowned stage and screen
personage.
Then came the watershed year - 1947. The college’s annual plays had become an integral part
of Lahore’s cultural calendar as Mrs. Najmuddin had set high standards for the city’s actors to
emulate. This was the first year we were not to be allowed a public performance; our first
taste of purdah! It seemed unbelievable. Miss McNair, always protective of her young ladies,
decreed that The Barretts of Wimpole Street would be enacted in the college open air theatre
for an all women audience! There were some anxious moments when an enterprising press
photographer or two exposed a hairy leg or bristling mustachio under a swirling burqa, but
everything soon came under control, and men were banished from the college portals as far as
we could see, forever.
Suddenly we were in the midst of our long delayed final examinations. Outside events rushed
into college life. Every day brought tales of murder and mayhem. A centre was burnt one
night, so there was a sudden change of venue. Mr. M. Singh, a wonderful young man, spoke
to us all to help us concentrate on our examinations and to take our minds off other things if
we could. The next morning he was dead.
But we found this time, bitter heart wrench though it was, also had its amusing moments. My
examination centre for most of my subjects was the Forman Christian College. We arrived
there, ink pots and minds at the ready, only to find ourselves subject to an extraordinary form
of makeshift purdah. The girls were all made to sit facing one way, and the F.C. College boys
another! Back at college after this weird experience, tension gripped us as we heard that there
had been nine stabbing cases in the Lawrence Gardens (now Bagh-i-Jinnah). We were gated
for three days. Finally it turned out that a milk man trying to get his nine buffaloes home
before curfew was the innocent cause of our troubles. Driving his herd through the gardens,
he had been overheard roundly cursing each animal individually by name, promising all nine a
dreadful death. The rumour mill churned this juicy material into nine stabbing cases.
One night we heard hair-raising cries from across the canal. The reaction among the girls was
like an activated current of electricity. Some ran across to ask dear, gentle Miss Mangat Rai
whether they could sleep on her terrace for protection. Others rushed to even less warlike
teachers. Pulling on my tennis shoes for a quick getaway, I grabbed my lethal badminton
racquet, and decided to take a walk around the hostels to watch reactions. One of the girls, a
well known squirreller of ‘tuck’ was busy swallowing as much as she could with her door tight
shut. Another had tied her tiny store of fake jewellery into a handkerchief and was praying
over it. Yet another with a more positive attitude, was painting her face and powdering her
neck, taking immense pains over her eyelashes. Asked the obvious question, her answer was,
‘If I don’t do this now, will I ever get another chance? I want to look good while I can!’
The morning brought a damp squib. It seemed two cleaning women in the Canal Colony had
been fighting over a certain gentleman of the broom, and had spent the entire night
belabouring each other and pulling each other’s hair to the encouragement of the entire
neighbourhood.
Kinnaird College has been for me a college with a heart large enough to give, and to give
again individually to all its students. I left Lahore on the 5th of June, 1947 right after my
geography practicals were over, with an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and a strong desire
to repay this debt of love as a personal obligation to society wherever I might find myself in
life.
Chapter 14
A STAFF PERSPECTIVE 1972 - 2000

1971 was a disrupted year, not just for Kinnaird College but for the whole country It was the
year Pakistan and India were again at loggerheads, fighting a war in which Pakistan lost over
half of the country, with hundreds of families either bereaved or anxiously awaiting the return
of prisoners of war.
Kinnaird as always was an oasis of peace in the midst of turmoil. Educational institutions
were closed for many months. There was no annual play that March but the college played its
part instead in the war effort. Relief work went on even with the college closed - students and
staff met to collect food, clothing, money for war-ravaged areas, parties went out to distribute
packages; some went to work with the Red Cross. When institutions opened again many
students and staff returned having fathers, brothers and husbands martyred or prisoners of war.
Kinnaird as always nursed these anxious victims with its special quiet concern, giving the
support needed to carry on in spite of all odds.
There was a grave foreshadowing in these events; foreshadowing for Kinnaird of a battle
which was to be long and weary, not for the few days of the 1965 war or the months of the
1971 war. The Kinnaird struggle began in September, 1972, and dragged on for twenty-four
years of continuous efforts to maintain standards, a character, an identity, in the face of
damaging bombardment in the wake of Nationalization.
Drastic upheaval occurred almost overnight. Margaret Robinson, the British Principal who
had dedicated a lifetime of service to the college, was asked to leave. Indeed all the foreigners
who in most cases, worked in the dual roles of teachers and hostel wardens were asked to
leave.
These missionaries, having no family ties in Pakistan to lay distracting pressures on them, gave
unstintingly of themselves to the service of the college and their faith. Over the years they had
shaped the tone and character of the institution, setting examples and traditions for other staff
and students to follow - traditions of the higher values, concern for the deprived, equality,
fair-play, honesty, the importance of making an effort, of high standards and dedication;
traditions of the love of learning for its own sake, of attention to detail, of a close community
atmosphere in the midst of diversity of race, colour and creed. In the midst of these serious
concerns there was also a lot of healthy fun, enjoyment and creativity. These qualities were the
solid foundation of Kinnaird and these were to keep it going through the years of struggle
ahead after the missionaries left.
There was one other crucial factor, which was to shape Kinnaird’s destiny through the
ongoing struggle of Nationalization. The new Principal.
Mira Phailbus was a young woman teaching Geography part-time when she was thrown in at
the deep end as the new Principal with no experience of administration and even less of the
devious intricacies of Government administration. To the casual observer her only
qualifications appeared to be that she was a Pakistani, a Christian and had a stable married
background. But again God had looked kindly on Kinnaird in making this seemingly unlikely
choice. It was Mira Phailbus who was to devote a lifetime, at the cost of personal family life,
to steer the college through its most difficult, most taxing years.
For Mira it was a battle on two fronts - the first was the Front of Survival and the other was
the Front of Progress and Development. There had to be survival in the face of the unending
odds of Government administrative bottlenecks. To obtain a pencil or ream of paper for the
office was a major hurdle until you learnt the ropes. Mira, however, soon set to work to learn
the ropes. In the early days there was a small albeit affectionate joke that the college was run
by ‘the principal-in-law’. Mira’s husband, Theo Phailbus, had the fortune or misfortune of
having been a Government servant for many years and thus knew the ropes. But this little
joke did not circulate for long.
Slowly, no doubt stumbling at every step, Mira took command and, what is more, steadily
gained ground. Recruiting the right kind of staff was a battle - refusing unsuitable people was
another and training the latter when they could not be refused was yet another kind of
struggle. This became the pattern on so many issues. Mira learned and practised the arts of
diplomacy, public relations and sheer efficiency. With what must by today be millions of
letters, telephone calls and meetings, she entered the Government camp and fought them on
their own ground, on their own terms and won, first their surprise, then their admiration and
finally their support. It was, however, no easy win. It was an unending struggle, drenched in
the blood and sweat of anxiety. It meant starting from scratch every time there was a change
in Government administration, struggling sometimes fruitlessly, to find a choking Government
rule thrust on the college. Finally finding the way to make the best of it and more than the
best within the Government framework.
At one stage there could be no dance or music. Plays, skits and programmes were cleverly
designed to keep within the frame-work of the rule, but soon became the talk of cultural
circles for their finesse, their beauty and their depth of meaning.
The Government admission policy was complicated and curbed the college from admitting
students it might have wanted to admit. Again, through meetings, letters and suggestions Mira
Phailbus lobbied for the rules to be modified so that keeping within their framework there was
the leeway to make independent decisions; to admit a cross-section of students with both
academic and extracurricular talents, to admit students who were from the far flung provinces
in Pakistan and from the four corners of the world; to admit students who were the daughters
and granddaughters of former students and others from a host of backgrounds. Thus the
Kinnaird tradition of a mixed community working together in harmony in the midst of outside
turmoil and upheaval and against heavy odds was maintained.
The academic system of the country was riddled with corruption, choked by rote -learning
methods and stultified by limited courses. At Kinnaird there was a galaxy of extracurricular
activities, which helped to supplement the narrow courses with outside speakers, seminars and
workshops. Teachers were expected to work on projects with students and to encourage
research and reading. The results of the Board and University levels did credit both to the
Principal and her team of staff who were encouraged to stretch the students’ capabilities to the
full. Many of the top positions in Arts and Science, among boys and girls, went consistently to
Kinnaird students over the years.
Running side by side with this visible movement of progress and development was another
quieter, but equally determined, movement; a Resistance movement, so to speak, to preserve
the identity and ownership of the college as a Christian institution belonging to the Parent
Church Body. It was the Principal again and representatives of the Parent Body, people like
Bishop Alexander John Malik and Mr. Eric Massey, the late Bishop Inayat Masih, Dr. E. J.
Sinclair, Dr. Frank Khair Ullah and other well known educationalists who quietly fought this
underground battle. There are thick files of correspondence, notifications and memos, which
record the history of this struggle. There were appointments made and meetings held with the
highest in the land, with promises, assurances and then having to start the whole procedure
over again when the Government changed. This movement, with two steps forward and one
step backwards, so to speak, went on for twenty-four years of Nationalization until Kinnaird
could prove herself and convince the authorities that she deserved Independence.
The struggle was largely Mira Phailbus’ effort on two planes - keeping the college colours
flying high in all areas - whether in academics or in extracurricular activities, Kinnaird was
always at the forefront. The second plane was that of building a strong rapport with those who
mattered in high places so that they might support her struggle for freedom, for the right to
progress, to get ahead, to go beyond the narrow limits of a conventional institution. Had Mira
Phailbus not been at the helm at Kinnaird, the college may well have slipped into being a
run-of-the-mill Government institution; or, as in the unfortunate case of Forman Christian
College, it may have sunk to the level of a problem-ridden institution at the mercy of political
exploitation. It was thanks to Mira’s tireless efforts that the college maintained some
semblance of its Christian identity. There was always a core of Christian staff; the residential
side was saved to be entirely private and, therefore, continued to have hostel wardens from
mission agencies abroad.
Mira’s efforts and the efforts of the representatives of the Parent Body bore fruit eventually,
and on September 16th 1996, the college was granted Administrative and Financial Autonomy,
with the promise of Academic Autonomy in due course. The college is now forging ahead with
new programmes, and ambitious plans for the future. A wonderful new hostel named the Mira
Phailbus Centre, including the Perin Cooper Boga Amphitheatre, has been built. Plans for a
Postgraduate Block and a modern multi-purpose Auditorium are on the anvil.
Kinnaird will ultimately wear a new face, the face of a vibrant, forward-looking woman, facing
the future with traditional grace and deep-rooted confidence and courage. For the
quintessence of Kinnaird is that she is Kinnaird of the past, the present and the future: an
institution for all time with roots in a rich and solid past.
AFTERWORD
Vivienne Stacey has written an account of Kinnaird which will be a record of the college for all
time. It is important not only as a history which records events and dates but also for the
account it gives of the unfolding Christian community spirit and service. It records the
development of academic traditions - of quality education, of the need for hard work and
simplicity of concern for others, of integrity and courage to break new ground against great
odds. These are the solid foundations of Kinnaird and it is these qualities which have made
Kinnaird the institution she is. It is these traditions which will invariably carry her forward
from strength to strength and Ms. Stacey has captured the spirit of Kinnaird in all she has
written.
Through the never-ending struggles of my tenure at the college, I strongly felt the power of
the Holy Spirit working through people’s lives and through events, helping the college to
continue to maintain its character. If I had not dug in my heels and insisted upon maintaining
the traditions of Kinnaird the college may well have slipped into being a run-of-the-mill
Government institution; or, it may have sunk to the level of a problem-ridden institution at the
mercy of political exploitation. As it was the college always maintained some semblance of its
original identity for there was always a core of former students on the staff. The residential
side was saved to be entirely private and therefore, continued to have hostel wardens from
mission agencies abroad. There was a healthy mix of communities and activities. The
majority of students were Muslims but there were many of other faiths as well. Prayer
Assemblies, where both the Quran and Bible were read and hymns sung, continued to be a
tradition; there was a Christian Fellowship group which regularly initiated programmes such as
the Annual Christmas Play, discussions and lectures. The Islamic Society organized excellent
Milads158. Other Clubs and Societies explored various social and gender issues.
More important than the directly religious or community focus was the forward-looking
outlook and tone that was encouraged at the college. Rather than degenerating into a
mediocre, conventional institution as a result of radical upheaval, it progressed, developed and
emerged as one of the foremost institutions for Higher Education for women in the country,
known both nationally and internationally and sought after as a centre of excellence.
After completing their studies at Kinnaird, students went on to break new ground in all fields:
engineering, architecture, aviation, business, catering, fashion design, law, human rights,
medicine - the list was open-ended. Kinnaird has become a passport, which opens new
8158A milad is a feast of thanksgiving and praise.

avenues, and Kinnaird students are in demand wherever they go. The college has attained
tremendous prestige in educational circles, professional fields and society at large.
Our efforts over a period of twenty-four years of nationalization bore fruit eventually and on
16th September 1996, the college was granted Administrative and Financial Autonomy with
the promise of Academic Autonomy in due course. To make up for precious time lost when
under government constraints, the college now has an ambitious programme of expanding and
updating its existing curricula as well as starting new graduate and postgraduate programmes
pertinent to the 21st century. The existing courses have been strengthened and the
administration is in the process of being streamlined. All new programmes offer quality
education and have to be self-sustaining. Phase-I of the programme started in January 1998
with graduate/postgraduate classes in Mass Communication, Computer Science,
Environmental Sciences, English Literature, English Language Teaching, Applied Linguistics
and French.
The college has recently initiated joint programmes with foreign universities involving faculty
exchange, student exchange and linkages. In the last two years Kinnaird signed collaboration
programmes with Reading University, UK, and Universite de Franche-Comte, Besancon,
France. With Davidson College, North Carolina, and Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts,
USA, the college has had a long history of association. A three-year faculty exchange
programme with Southern Illinois University, USA, will conclude next year. Collaboration
between participating schools will mainly focus on curriculum development, faculty and
student exchange and research development.
The field is again open to pursue the precious Christian values and traditions of the past along
with the limitless opportunities for quality education available for all in the 21st century. Such
developments endorse the college as a living witness to Christ with his reminders to us all:
“Be not afraid...I am with you always”.
Mira Phailbus
Principal
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
UNPUBLISHED THESES
Maskiell, M. G. Women’s Higher Education and Family Networks in South Asia: Kinnaird
College, Lahore, 1913-60
University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. thesis, 1979
Potter, Sarah Caroline The Social Origins and Recruitment of English Protestant
Missionaries in the Nineteenth Century
University of London, Ph.D. thesis, 1974
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Report of the Commission on National Education, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of

Education, Karachi, 1959
Reform in the System of Examination, Malik Abdul Latif Khan, (Educational Publication
Series No.1), West Pakistan Education Extension Centre, Lahore, 1969
The West Pakistan Private Colleges (Management and Control) Ordinance,

The Punjab Gazette, June 25, 1970
The West Pakistan Private Colleges (Management and Control) (Punjab Amendment)
Ordinance, The Punjab Gazette, December 31,1970
The Educational Institutions Take-over Regulation, 1972 (Martial Law Regulation No.118)
with New Education Policy (1972), Lahore Law Times Publications, Lahore
The Education Policy 1972-80, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education, Islamabad,

1972
National Education Policy and Implementation Programme, Government of Pakistan,

Ministry of Education, Islamabad, 1979
The Sixth Five Year Plan, 1983-84, Government of Pakistan, Planning Commission, Islamabad
JOURNALS
Pakistan Education Journal Volume III No.1, July - October 1989, Central Bureau of
Education, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad
Pakistan Education Journal Volume V Nos.1 & II, 1991, Central Bureau of Education,
Government of Pakistan, Islamabad
The 15th Annual Report of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society 1867
London, Suter and Alexander. n.d.
Religious Policy of Ranjit Singh: its Background and Analysis S.K. Bajaj. Proceedings of
The Panjab History Society. Eleventh Session November 1976
Socio-religious societies and social change in the city of Amritsar under British rule Mrs.
Anand Gauba. Proceedings of The Panjab History Conference. Twelfth Session March 17 -
19, 1978, Panjab University, Patiala
British Residency and Agency System in North West India, V.S. Suri, The Panjab Past and
Present, Vol. II Part I. April 1968
Foreigners at the Court of Ranjit Singh Harbans Singh, The Panjab Past and Present, Vol.
XIV-11, October 1980
Digests, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G.) Records
The Folio, Magazine of Forman Christian College, Jubilee Number 1886-1936
The Pakistan Times Supplement for the Golden Jubilee of Kinnaird College
American Presbyterians in India/Pakistan 150 years

Journal of Presbyterian History Volume 62 - Number 3 Fall 1984
The Kinnairdite 1864 - 1989 Special Issue for the 125 years Jubilee of Kinnaird High School
The Kinnairdite 1970 - 1995 Govt. Kinnaird High School, Lahore

Special Issue honouring Miss Zeb Zaman’s 25 years of dedicated service as Principal
The Last Word The Annual Magazine of Kinnaird College, Lahore (most issues)
A Statement on the Kinnaird Christian College for Women, Lahore, Elizabeth Edwards, 1926
RECORDS
Memorandum and Articles of Association of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1931 &
1969
Report of Kinnaird High School and College under the Auspices of the Zenana Bible and
Medical Mission (Formerly the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society) 1917
Report Kinnaird High School and College 1918
Report Kinnaird Christian College 1919-1920
Report Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1920-1921

Annual Reports of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore from 1922 to 1996
Cathedral Jubilee service programme 1913-1963
Report of the Survey Evaluation of 3 Church-related Colleges and 8 Secondary Schools in

West Pakistan, F.T. Wilson, 1961 (known as the Wilson Report)
An Appraisal of the Protestant Christian Effort in Higher Education in Asia: Kinnaird College
for Women, Lahore, West Pakistan, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia ,
New York, N.Y., 1968
BOOKS
Barr, Pat The Memsahibs: The Women of Victorian India

London, Secker and Warburg, 1976
Batley, D. S. Devotees of Christ: Some Women Pioneers of the Indian Church

London, Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, 1937
Berridge, P.S.A. From Couplings to the Khyber

Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1969
Clark, Robert A. Brief Account of 30 Years of Missionary Work of the C.M.S. in the Punjab
and Sindh, 1852-1882
Lahore, The Albert Press, 1883
Ewing, J.C.R. A Prince of the Church in India

(Being a Record of the Life of the Rev’d Kali Charan Chatterjee, D.D., for
forty-eight years a Missionary of Hoshyarpur, Punjab, India)
Fleming H. Revell Company, London & Edinburgh, 1918
Hayes, Louis D. The Crisis of Education in Pakistan

Vanguard, 1987
Hewitt, Gordon The Problems of Success: A History of the Church Missionary Society 1910-
1942
Volume 2 Asia - Overseas Partners
SCM Press Ltd., 1977
Kazi, Khawar A General Guideline to Job Opportunities for Qualified Women in Lahore.
Lahore, 1977
Kinnaird, Emily Reminiscences: Emily Kinnaird

John Murray, London, 1925
Latif, Syed Muhammad Lahore: Its History, Architectural Remains and Antiquities
Lahore, 1892
Makower, Katharine Widening Horizons: The Story of Interserve

Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1993
Maskiell, M.G. Women between Cultures: The Lives of Kinnaird College Alumnae in British
India Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs., Syracuse University, 1984
Mirza, Sarfaraz Hussain Muslim Women’s Role in the Pakistan Movement

Lahore, Research Society of Pakistan, University of the Punjab, 1969
Murray, Jocelyn Proclaim the Good News. A short history of the Church Missionary Society
Nawaz, Jahan Ara Shah Father and Daughter: A Political Autobiography

Lahore, Nigarishat, 1971
Pollock, J. C. Shadows Fall Apart. The Story of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission
Shah Nawaz, Mumtaz The Heart Divided

Lahore, Mumtaz Publications, 1957
Sidhwa, Bapsi The Crow Eaters

Jonathan Cape Ltd. 1980
The Bride
Jonathan Cape Ltd. 1983
Stock, Eugene The History of the Church Missionary Society: Its Environment, Its Men and
Its Work
London, Church Missionary Society, 1899, Vol.1
Suleri, Sara Meatless Days
Tandon, Prakash Punjabi Century:1857-1947

Berkeley, University of California Press, 1968
Webster, John C. B. The Christian Community & Change in Nineteenth Century North India
The Macmillan Company of India Limited, Delhi, 1976
APPENDICES
Appendix 1
NOTES on the KINNAIRD FAMILY
Dictionary of National Biography XI c 1917 O.U.P.
The Scottish peerage was created in 1682. George Patrick Kinnaird, 1st Baron, was a Royalist
knighted by Charles II at the Restoration of the monarchy. His Scottish title was Baron
Kinnaird of Inchture. The barony of Kinnaird of Rossie in the peerage of the United Kingdom
was created in 1860.
8th Baron 1780 - 1806 married the daughter of a banker involved in politics as a Whig.
9th Baron 1807 - 1878.

Interests - improvement of agricultural methods
improvement of position of labourers
establishing evening schools, libraries, reading rooms throughout the estate
industrial schools
development of railway in East Scotland
drafted measures for closing public houses on Sundays
10th Baron 1814 - 1887

Became partner and later head of banking house.
In Commons spoke on Indian affairs - Mr. K. of Hansard.
Interested in all movements for the well being of working classes.
Also active in supporting refugees, homes and reformatories for women.
Interests included Church Missionary Society, Barnardos Homes, London City Mission.
His wife, Mary Jane, (1816 - 1888), philanthropist.

Interest in religions and educational works at home and missionary efforts abroad.
One of the founders of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission and others including Y.W.C.A.
Who was Who 1916 - 1928

11th Baron, 1849 - 1923, Director of Barclay’s Bank.
President of Y.M.C.A.
Who was Who 1941 - 1950

Hon. Emily Kinnaird, daughter of 10th Baron, b.1855, sister of Hon. Gertrude Kinnaird.
Educated at home under old fashioned system.
Involved in Y.W.C.A. and work among Indian students.
Vice-President of Scottish Branch of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission.
Frequently worked in India at establishing friendly Christian relations with its men and women,
and to help them attain their national aspirations.
Took part in work of Missionary Schools and Y.W.C.A. work throughout the century.
The barony became defunct with the death of the 13th Baron, Graham Charles Kinnaird, in
March 1997.
Quotation from:
Neill, Stephen A History of Christianity in India 1707-1858
Cambridge University Press, 1985
“Frustrated by the opposition of the government of Bengal, the missionaries turned to the
imperial parliament and presented a Petition of the Calcutta Missionaries for a Royal
Commission to Enquire into the Condition of the People of Bengal. On 11th June 1857 the
petition, together with a number of resolutions, was presented to the House of Commons by
Arthur Fitzgerald (later Baron) Kinnaird. After debate, Kinnaird was induced to withdraw his
motion by a promise of immediate and effective reform; but within a few weeks England was
caught up in the storm of the great uprising, and all thought of reform had to be for the time
being abandoned. The missionaries felt, however, that one great object had been attained: the
attention of the people of Great Britain and of the civilised world was directed in a way in
which it was never before to the deplorable social condition of the teeming myriads of Bengal.
This had been achieved in the face of intense opposition on the part of wealthy Hindus to the
policies of the missionaries, and therefore to the gospel which they preached.”
Appendix 2
ENGLISH as the MEDIUM of INSTRUCTION
Ms Shamim Anwar’s article on The Punjab University and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is published
in The Last Word of 1987 on pages 18-21.
“There was no mention of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in the centenary celebrations despite his
great contribution in the field of education especially in his decisive role in determining the
nature and character of the University. Punjab University was founded on 14 October 1882 -
fourth in the subcontinent, coming after Bombay, Madras and Calcutta founded in 1857. The
issue at stake was traditional education in the oriental languages versus modern Western
education in the English language. Sir Syed was well versed in both systems and with the
experience of The Translation Society behind him was a strong upholder of western modern
education and a severe critic of the traditional system. His stand was in contrast to those who
then and now consider everything alien wrong and everything national as right and good. His
preference was for the kind of education Muslim India needed. He saw behind the traditional
education an atrophied mind. He therefore criticized the revival of this kind of knowledge by
the Ulamas159 in cities like Kanpur, Saharanpur, Deoband, Delhi and Lahore. Since no original
work had been done for centuries, teaching of up-to-date knowledge in Urdu became a
controversial issue. “Unless the language is developed enough and enough research is being
continuously done in it, higher education cannot be acquired in it”, he warned. So he made a
frank confession before the Education Commission of 1882 that the Urdu language was a
failure as a medium of instruction for higher education...Acquaintance with books by...John
Stewart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Edmund Burke, Tom Paine, Rousseau, Voltaire...etc. could not
fail to fire the imagination of the students and they could not be kept enslaved for long. A
‘Professor’ writing in The Muslim of Islamabad (14 October 1982) has also grudgingly
admitted that “one positive aspect of the Punjab University education was the rise of national
consciousness which finally ended the colonial rule”.
“In 1869 a traditional oriental college had been established in Lahore, on popular demand,
called the Punjab University College. In 1881 the Viceroy, Lord Lytton, made speeches in the
9159Muslim theologians; plural of alim who is also called mulla, maulvi and maulana.
Punjab in favour of oriental studies as being more feasible in India. It was a clear indication
that the Punjab College would be an Oriental University imparting traditional knowledge,
with emphasis on oriental languages. This would then be a pattern for all future education
plans in the sub-continent...Sir Syed saw through this and wrote three articles entitled:
1. Higher learning and the Government of India
2. Our Education in our own Language
3. Our Language and Higher learning
“In his second article he made it clear that ‘western education’ has indeed created political
consciousness resulting in political agitation...Sir Syed added that the Government should
understand that “these very critics were also ones who truly value the good done by the
English Government. Indeed to give us B.A. and M.A. degrees and then to expect us to live
on the level of a child is not acceptable to us... The Punjab University College as a centre of
oriental studies had been an obstacle to progress... to raise it to the level of a University would
be a calamity for the national development of the country. Of course, the people would feel
that they are being favoured by introducing oriental studies, but it is a sheer deception.”
Appendix 3
HISTORY of the PRESENT COLLEGE SITE
Extract from the Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women 1932-33
... the Danepur Dairy Site ... is almost three times as large as the present compound. It should
be possible to save a good deal of space by putting up two storey buildings, and thus to have
ample space left for games-courts and a garden...The Danepur Dairy has been in the
possession of Christian missions for over thirty years. It was purchased by the Superintendent
of the Frontier Faith and Mission Orphanage in 1902. Buildings were then erected on it which
were used as a school and orphanage for both boys and girls. In 1907 the name of the Mission
was changed to the Church of God Faith Home and Orphanage. In 1911 the property changed
hands and the Salvation Army entered into possession. They used it as the first Borstal
Institution in Lahore, the seed out of which the present Borstal jail sprang. Later it was used
as a Criminal Tribes Settlement which included a dairy farm. But some years ago the
settlement was closed as it was considered desirable to transfer the settlers to agricultural
settlements on Government land. Since then part of the land has been leased out by the
Salvation Army as a dairy farm...
Appendix 4
COPY OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT
Confidential
UNIVERSITY OF THE PANJAB
Inspection of Affiliated Colleges
1918-19
Report No. 6
KINNAIRD COLLEGE, LAHORE
Date of Inspection: Saturday, the 8th February, 1919
The last inspection was in April, 1917. The College had then applied for affiliation to
the B.A. in four subjects. The Inspection Committee recommended that the affiliations
desired should be granted, subject to certain improvements being made as regards the
teaching staff and the library, and on the understanding that the proposed arrangement
of classrooms would not be regarded as permanent. The Syndicate in May, 1917,
accepted this view, and the College was informed :- (a) that the improvement of the
library, and the relieving of the College staff from School teaching were regarded as
essential conditions which must be fulfilled before the Syndicate could recommend
affiliation to the Senate; and (b) that this being understood, the Syndicate had no
objection to a third year class being opened in 1917.
This third year class was opened in 1917, and in November it was reported that a room
had been specially appointed and furnished as a library, and that the Principal had
been freed from any work in the School. On the 18th January, 1918, the Syndicate
recommended affiliation of the B.A. classes. Affiliation was granted the same month.
2. In April, 1917, when there were only two classes in the College, the teaching staff
comprised the Principal and one other lady giving part of their time to the School, one
lady giving her whole time to the College; one man giving part of his time to the School,
and three other part-time men teaching their vernaculars. In order to provide for the
B.A. classes it was proposed to relieve Miss Annear, Miss Maya Das, and Lala Sardari
Lal of School teaching. It was recognized that for the fourth year another teacher would
be required. Provision for the third year was made by gradually relieving the teachers
mentioned of their duties in the School.
In September, 1917, Miss Stephens left the College, her place being taken by Miss
Ahmad Shah, B.A., who taught Philosophy and English. Since then she has been
replaced by Miss K. Sircar, who teaches English and Mathematics. To provide for
Philosophy Mr. Sundar Das, B.A., has recently been appointed. He is, in fact, the fourth
teacher promised in 1917. It may be noted that the Syndicate was informed in
December, 1917, that in the event of no English missionary being able to come out an
American lady would be appointed for the fourth year class.
A part time Munshi Fazil teaches Urdu. Provision is not made for other vernaculars.
The Principal, Miss Annear, (now Mrs. Jenkins,) having recently married, has resigned
the principalship, but will continue to teach up to the examinations. In the meantime
Miss Maya Das is officiating as Principal.
3. As proposed, a bungalow on the Mayo Road has been occupied as a residence for two
of the staff. A small side room has been utilised as a library and reading room, in which
small classes are held. The small dressing room has also been converted into a tiny
classroom for B.A. classes. Three classrooms are occupied in the school. One of these is
used for the assembling of the students (now thirty in number). The room is too small,
especially in the hot weather. It is recognized that these arrangements are inadequate;
moreover the School requires the use of the three classrooms used by the College.
Another bungalow adjoining the bungalow on Mayo Road has now been rented from
the American Mission, at Rs.90 per mensem. This contains four fair-sized rooms, with
the usual pantry, dressing rooms, etc. It is proposed to use this building for the library,
the College Office, and classrooms. To the front rooms no objection is raised, but it was
put to the Committee that if the rooms at the back were used as classrooms, the rooms
in the middle would be deficient in light and ventilation. Also it seems necessary to
insist that the library and reading room should not be used for other purposes; not, for
instance, as a general common room for the boarders.
4. The prospect of co-operation does not seem to be any nearer that it was in 1914. It is
true that this has affected the activity of many Missions, which consequently have been
reluctant to undertake any new ventures. On the other hand some Missions have made
definite progress in their educational work during this very period, and in Madras a
mission College for Women, run by a combination of Missions has been doing very well,
and now has 70 students on its rolls. Correspondence is said to be going on, but during
the last five years there has been little to show there is any vitality in the movement.
The Zenana Bible and Medical Mission has to find its local Secretaries, and most of the
managing body of the School and College from among the members of other Missions,
and clearly this Mission is not strong enough by itself to maintain a degree College in
Lahore, nor will it be sufficient for other Missions to aid with advice and service on the
Managing Committee, unless they are prepared to give substantial financial assistance.
5. The boarders are accommodated in quarters between a School and College

bungalow. The rooms are small and inadequate for the numbers. They face south, and
have low roofs, so that they are very hot for working during the hot weather. They have
no windows, only roshandans. The dining room is dark, and too small for 18 students
and three members of staff. There is only one kitchen; there should be three. Hindu
students have to do their cooking in their rooms. There are no arrangements for
sickness. A better hostel building is urgently required. Such bad hygienic conditions not
only lower the vitality of the students, but set a low standard before those who will for
the most part be themselves teachers.
6. In its anxiety to encourage the higher education of women, the University has not
been exacting in laying down conditions for affiliation of this College. It is open to
question, however, whether this policy may not have an unfortunate effect on the higher
education of women in the Province. The conditions of work with which the staff and
students of the Kinnaird College are now struggling would not be tolerated elsewhere,
and the education given under these conditions cannot be said to be a University
education, and so is not meeting the demand. It is recommended, therefore, that the
Syndicate should inform the Mission concerned that the present state of things cannot
be allowed to continue indefinitely, and that if it is wished to maintain this institution,
some definite proposals must be put forward for providing adequate buildings and
equipment, and for maintaining a whole-time staff selected for the purpose.
J.A. Richey
A.C. Woolner
Miss Western
Appendix 5
COPY OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT
Confidential
UNIVERSITY OF THE PANJAB
Inspection of Affiliated Colleges, 1926-27.
KINNAIRD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN LAHORE.

Report No. 6.
The Inspection Committee visited the Kinnaird College on January 15th, 1927.
Buildings
The change of the site from Empress Road to Lake Road is an undoubtedly great
improvement. The former position besides being cramped must have been both noisy and
dusty. The new site consists of about 57 kanals of land with three buildings. One is a
bungalow occupied by the staff; one a large bungalow occupied by students and staff and the
third used mainly for classes. This is the worst of the three. It is an old fashioned bungalow
of which the rooms are very small and dark. It is barely sufficient to accommodate the present
number of students (26) and when the classes increase, it will be necessary to dismantle the
present building and put up a more modern and properly designed College building. The
College is at present, however, in debt over the site and improvements made. These cost
together Rs.175,000. It is doubtful whether they will be able to spend much more without
outside aid.
There is a well in the compound and tennis court and badminton; and a netball ground.
Library
There is a modest little library which is worthy of a larger room. Rs 1,357 were spent on
books in the year ending March 1926.
Hostel
There are about twenty girls in residence. They are in the charge of the Vice-Principal but the
students themselves superintend the ordering and giving out of stores. They appear to manage
their mess very economically.
Physical Culture
Apart from games there is no regular Instructor in drill. The College would welcome
assistance from the University in providing a lady Instructor.
General
The staff is adequate and satisfactory. The College is only affiliated in Arts - women students
in Science go to Lahore College for Women. The total number of students is 26, of whom 20
reside in Hostels. We were struck with the neatness and cleanliness of the premises and the
excellence of the general arrangements in the College and the Hostels.
Recommendations
If a woman physical Instructor can be found, this College should be granted the same
concession (on the same terms) as the Men’s Colleges under a recent decision of the
Syndicate.
G. Harrison
A. Yusuf Ali
Devi Dyal

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CELEBRATING KINNAIRD

Pioneering Women’s Higher Education

Copyright © 2001 The Association of Kinnaird College for Women

Published by The Association of Kinnaird College for Women

FOREWORD by the BISHOP of LAHORE

THE COLLEGE PRAYER, MOTTO, SHIELD, SONG and OATH

Chapter 1. A TUMULTUOUS CENTURY

Chapter 2. SMALL BEGINNINGS

Chapter 3. THREE LOCATIONS

Chapter 4. MISS ISABELLA McNAIR (Principal 1928 - 1950)

Chapter 5. INDEPENDENCE and PARTITION 1947

Chapter 6. MISS PRIOBALA MANGAT RAI (Principal 1950 - 1969)

Chapter 7. MISS MARGARET ROBINSON (Principal 1969 - 1972)

Chapter 8. TWENTIETH CENTURY GRADUATES

Chapter 9. THE LAST WORD: COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Chapter 10. DR. MIRA PHAILBUS (Principal 1972 - )

Chapter 11. ERA of NATIONALIZATION 1972 - 1996

Chapter 12. AUTONOMY and the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Chapter 13. REMINISCENCES

Chapter 14. A STAFF PERSPECTIVE on 1972 - 2000

AFTERWORD by the PRINCIPAL, DR. MIRA PHAILBUS

Appendix 1 Notes on the Kinnaird Family

THE RIGHT REVEREND DR ALEXANDER JOHN MALIK, BISHOP OF LAHORE

1. The College Prayer

Light to guide us, Courage to support us and Love to unite us.

3. The College Shield

4. The College Song2

Now we praise you, God Almighty

In this world where you have set us

2Written by Miss Kathleen Dall, Lecturer in English 1959-67.

5. The College Oath

The Punjab under Ranjit Singh

Work among women

10Founded in 1799 and recently renamed the Church Mission Society.

11A ‘normal school’ was a teacher training college.

The High School for Girls

18London minutes of Z.B.M.M. No.835, May 1st 1907.

19London minutes of Z.B.M.M. No.751, April 16th 1902.

Elizabeth Roshan Khan, Lily Jackson, Mary Thakur Das,

24See Maskiell, p.84.

Miss Joan McDonald 1913 - 1915

Miss Mohini Maya Das 1915 - 1916 and 1919 - 1920

Miss Annear 1916 - 1919

Miss Elizabeth M. Edwards 1920 - 1928

29Letter from Miss E. M. Edwards to Mr. Wilson, 6th April 1925.

Miss Komolini Sircar 1922-23 and intermittently until 1928

The Early Years

828Annual Report of the Kinnaird Christian College for 1918.

030Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1921-22.

131Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1920-21.

232Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1922-23.

33Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1923-24.

535Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1924-25.

636Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1925-26.

737Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1926-27.

Enrolment 31st March 1929

838Punjab Educational Journal, December 1927.

939The Folio, Magazine of Forman Christian College, Jubilee Number 1886-1936.

040Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1927-28.

242Annual Report of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore 1928-29.

THREE LOCATIONS OF KINNAIRD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

Let us take a closer look at each of the three sites.

545Memories Old and New.

646University of the Panjab. Inspection of Affiliated Colleges,1918-19. Report No.6, Kinnaird