St. Bede's is a school in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. The school was started in 1907 to provide Catholic education for children of European and Anglo-Indian descent.
History
The first 25 years
St. Bede's School was born in 1907. When Lord Curzon announced the scheme of European education for the whole of India, His Lordship the Bishop of Mylapore, Dom Theotonius Emmanuel Rebeiro Vieire de Castro, decided to start a school separate from the San Thome High School for the benefit of the Anglo-Indian children. The "Leland's Garden", a building on the Santhome High Road which now forms part of the C.S.I. School for Deaf & Dumb, was rented to house the new school. These premises were taken over later for housing the present school for deaf and dumb.
On 18 January 1907, St Bede's (then known as St. Bede's European High School) was formally blessed and declared open by its reverend founder – His Lordship the Bishop of Mylapore - Dom Theotonius Emmanuel Rebeiro Vieira de Castro.
The school began in 1907 with six classes: Standard II to Standard VII, and with Rev. Fr. M.I. Anacleto as its first Headmaster. Seventeen inmates of the San Thome Orphanage who were studying in the San Thome High School were brought on to the rolls of the new School. A new boarding (The St. Bede's Boarding) was started with just three students. These, with the 35-day scholars, brought the strength of the school to 55 in the first year. The San Thome Orphanage (also started by the founder of St. Bede's) and the St. Bede's Boarding were always considered part of St. Bede's School, as their inmates were pupils of the School. Rev. Fr. M.J. Salgado was the Director of the Boarding House and Rev. Fr. D’Costa was in charge of the Orphanage.
In 1908, when Fr Anacleto went on leave, Fr. Salgado took over as headmaster. The first high school class was begun in 1909 and science was introduced.
In 1909 the Bishop of Mylapore invited the Selesian Fathers to take over the San Thome Orphanage, which had been under the direct management of the mission of Mylapore. Rev. Fr. George Tomatis, S.D.B., who was then working in Tanjore, was called upon to shoulder the new responsibility as the Director. An exceptionally gifted man, Fr. Tomatis was a multi-linguist. As a boy, he had been in personal contact with Don Bosco and he had served the Saint's mass for three years.
The first batch of High School candidates from St. Bede's appeared for the European High School Examination in December 1909. Joseph Sears secured the first rank in the Madras Presidency. He was later killed on the battlefield in France during the First World War.
In 1913, work started on a new building (the one on the northern end of the San Thome Orphanage compound). Rev. Fr. J.J. Lopez became the School's First Correspondent. Among the newcomers on the staff that year was Rev. Fr. Francis A Carvalho, who later became the auxiliary Bishop of Madras and Mylapore. The same year, Joseph B. Figredo (later Rev. Fr. J B Freeman, and Principal of St. Bede's from 1944) secured the first rank in the Presidency. He was the only candidate to get a First Class in Madras.
In 1914, Fr. Villa Verde took charge as Principal and saw the school through the First World War. He proved to be one of the most outstanding Principals of St. Bede's. On 29 April 1914, the new building was blessed by Bishop of Mylapore and inaugurated by the Hon. Justice Sir John Wallis, Kt. The boarding is housed in "Bethany House" and the Orphanage in the Old Parish Hall (now the Community Hall which is opposite Santhome Basilica).
While the school moved into the new building, the boarders were moved into a separate building, the present "Church View" on Rosary Church Road. In the war years some of the older pupils were mobilized into the Volunteer Corps.
In 1920, Fr. Lopez Pires was appointed Principal and Correspondent. In 1921, Fr. Villa Verde returned from Europe and took charge as Principal and Correspondent. In 1922, Mr. G.C. D’Cruz was appointed as Headmaster – the first layman to hold the post.
About this time there was great enthusiasm for the Scout movement and 24 of the school youngsters who had passed the Tenderfoot examination were formed into the first school Scout troop. The school won the European Schools Athletic Association Championship for four years in succession.
