Previous Next

Burn Hall School

Profile for this school has been created by School Parents and Volunteers (School Well-wisher)

The first Prefect Apostolic of this mission was Msgr. Ignatius Brouwer who made Rawalpindi his headquarters. On 13th July 1888, at the time of Maharaja Pratap Singh in Srinagar, Msgr. Ignatius Brouwer obtained permission from the Viceroy to stay in Kashmir. Fr. Daniel Kilty was the first missionary to have set foot in Kashmir. He later went to Leh in August 1888 where he fell ill and died on 23rd April, 1889. The Mill Hill Presence in the dawn of the 20th century was felt in the persons of Msgr. Ignatius Brouwer, Msgr. Winkely, Frs. Densen, Kuhan and Simons. In 1930, Msgr. Winkely died in Rawalpindi and Fr. O’Donoqhoe was placed in charge of the Prefecture. He with the help of Fr. C.B. Simons established St. Joseph’s School, Baramulla.

Following the successful establishment of the school at Baramulla in Kashmir, the Mill Hill Missionaries desired to open another educational institution in Srinagar. Fr. Tijssen was assigned this task and Fr. S. De Jong assisted him. They came to Srinagar in 1942 and rented a home from Mr. Mirza at hotel road (now Moulana Azad Road) Srinagar. The building which housed the first Burn Hall School is at present Teachers Training College. Initially, it was started as the Senior Cambridge School, with the hostel facilities for boys and there were students from Punjab and the North West Frontier Province. Although planned for children of Indian nationality, the school also admitted Europeans. The school functioned well and grew from strength to strength. Fr. Tijssen soon set out to acquire a plot of land to construct the school building. But there was no response from the British Govt. and the local administration was very apprehensive of the Fathers’ intentions. In 1946 Fr. S. De Jong tried his luck to get a plot of land by putting an application to Hon. Minister Kak, but nothing came through.