St Denys' School Murree
Text and Photos by Dr Ali Jan
Established in 1882, St Denys' School was the first Anglican Protestant School for British girls in the Murree Hills.

Murree lies at approx 7000 ft. at the foot of Himalayas in Pakistan. It is an alpine hill-station in the North of Punjab province bordering the Kashmir region that lies on a horizontal ridge running in East-West direction.

Murree was established as a summer 'hill-station' for the British families in order to escape the heat of the Indian plains consequent to the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849 from Sikh rule. After 1857 when the British Raj formally extended its sovereignty over India, a structured administration commenced in the Punjab. Murree became the summer capital of India and remained so until the end of nineteenth century. The creation of another summer capital at Simla (now in India) in the later half of the 19th century eased the load on Murree hills a bit. However it continued to serve its purpose.

The English had this urge to carve a bit of England in India. It was like any European town. One can still find a number of churches and chapels, 6 cemeteries, convents, a Mall and remains of a club and brewery etc apart from the many cantonments and old English settlements built in and around the town. One comes across many English sounding names of streets and houses. The local buildings and structures were built in typical English taste and many have survived the last 100-150 years. A sanatorium for sick soldiers and many hospitals were also built here.

Holy Trinity Church was one of the earliest buildings to be erected. It stands out as a prominent landmark in almost all the photos of Murree taken before the partition of India. Until 1875, it lay further away from the then main market or "lower bazaar' as it is now known. But when the 'Great Fire' burned down the market in 1875 a new Mall strip was built in its place in an area overlooked by the church grounds and parallel to the 'lower bazaar'. Over the following years, the Mall became the main market place and today has turned into a bustling business centre.

If you are an old student and have a story to share please get in touch with me.

I would be very interested in any photos of the school and to know what was life like back then. Everybody is welcome ofcourse but I am particularly interested in the period before partition of India.


If you have a comment please email me <[email protected]> I would love to hear from any alumni. You have all my gratitude)

Read memories of school life by past alumni!

1. Sheila Smaller's memories of St Deny's 1940s:
Murree (Click on the two links below. Hit BACK button to return to this page)
Part I
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2005-weekly/nos-27-11-2005/foo.htm
Part II
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2005-weekly/nos-04-12-2005/foo.htm#1

2. Doreen Johnson went to school in 1929/30:
Dear Dr. Ali Jan - I promised to reply to your letter a couple of months ago.
I have several pictures of Murree and the girls at St. Denys School so will attach a few.   The one of my mother in 189? might be of interest.  The picture of the four girls taking part in the "Merchant of Venice" is of four friends, Laila Dahl,
my sister Lorna Brockman-Palmer, Marion Bouverie and Lorna Spears taken in 1935 and a write up that appeared in the newspaper.
 
MURREE

Like Sheila Smaller I too was sent to school at St. Denys at the age of around five - far too young to leave a small child for nine months of the year!   This would have been in 1929/1930.     My memories of the journey are much the same but I did love that train trip from Bombay to Rawalpindi on the Frontier Mail - the B B & C I railway (Bombay, Baroda and Central India?)   The excitement of the railway stations with the hawkers selling their wares, the wonderful smell of Indian foods and sweetmeats, the coolies with their tiffin carriers and the great hustle and bustle of people.   I can still hear something that sounded like - Pan, bidi, cigarette.  ?   I still have a tiffin carrier!

The bus journey from Pindi to Murree was indeed a nightmare over narrow winding roads.   I remember one driver who wore a large turban, I guess he was a Sikh, and he would take both hands off the wheel to push back his turban and scratch his head - much to our delight!

The school was run by the "Grey Sisters" or "Grey Ladies".   They weren't Nuns but they were the Anglican equivalent of.   The Head Mistress was a lady called Dora Haig  and the Matron was Jane Lane, and they wore grey dresses but no head gear.   They ruled that school with an iron hand (sometimes rod or ruler!)

There were about one hundred girls in the school from all over the world and from all walks of life.    I think all parents, be they Army or Civil Servants, sent their children to the hill stations to get them away from the heat - or else it was just the "pukka thing to do"!

We attended chapel twice a day - I think I still know every psalm and hymn in the book, plus an awful lot of both the Old and New Testaments.   Needless to say I haven't attended much of anything since.

One thing I remember vividly and that was earthquake drill.    The alarm would sound, even in the middle of the night, and we would get out of bed, put on slippers and dressing gowns, grab our favourite teddy bear or doll (you were only allowed to take one to school!) and be marched down the stairs and out to the main drive where we stood in line until the all clear was given.  I do remember being in the Old School when an earthquake took place and bits fell off the ceiling and walls and we all made a run for it.

Each class only had about ten or twelve pupils and we got a very good education.   If you misspelt a word in an essay or did a sum wrong, a red pencil would be drawn right across the page and you stayed in after school to do the whole thing over again.

I am amazed to hear that "Charlie" was still in operation ten years after I had left school.    Charlie, the sweet seller, was the highlight of our week.    He would squat on the floor, open his tin trunk and we would spend ages making up our minds how best to spend our two annas pocket money.    The thought of those wonderful sweetmeats!   I must confess to a naughty thing - on Sundays,

When we went to the Church in Murree, we used to unwind the covered buttons on the seats, take the cloth covers off them  and drop the little tin bits that were inside into the offertory  bag, instead of the two anna pieces that we were supposed to put in.    The resulting saving of two annas always went to Charlie!  Needless to say, if you were caught, it resulted in that rod of iron (ruler) by the Headmistress!

Another naughty was Harvest Sunday.   The Church was always decorated with all sorts of fruits and vegetables and needless to say there was not much left after the service.   We would carry them back in our bloomer pockets and then have midnight feasts under the beds after Matron had done her rounds at ten o'clock.   Ever tried to cook corn with matches?!

The walk back from Church on Sunday evenings stays in my memory - walking back in the dusk in a long line, two at a time, with Bearers on either side carrying lanterns.   We would gather the fireflies off the bushes on the side of the road and carry them in our handkerchiefs as tiny lights.   Back to school supper of soup and buns and what a treat that was, the buns had raisins in them!

The winter was a time to remember.   Thick snow and no heating in the school. Mittens on your hands whilst you did your lessons, thick woolly gloves when you went outside and chilblains in all sorts of funny places, especially on the end of my nose!   The Nativity Play in the Chapel at the end of the year was lovely.    I was always put to the back of everything as I couldn't sing in tune and since I was far too tall and gangly to be an angel I was lucky to be a shepherd.

We played tennis, netball, went for long walks and rambles through the woods and collected conkers (chestnuts).    They were beautiful forests.    At night the sounds of the hyhenas and jackals, the beating of the drums and chanting of the villagers were sometimes a bit scary but we were safe tucked away up on top of our hill.

And then the best part - the journey home to Bombay.   For weeks ahead of our departure we would make "Homeward Bounds" - each letter drawn on a full size sheet from our drawing books, all in different colours, and then somehow manage to stick them to the outside of the train.   Three months later it would start all over again!

I have never been able to return to Murree, although I did live in Bombay again after the war for a few years.   Having then lived in several different countries I now live in New Zealand in the beautiful Bay of Islands. 

Sincerely -  Doreen Johnson   (Mrs. Peter Johnson)

3. Peggy Rustomji (nee Morley) Years attended: 1935-1939
Dear Dr.Ali Jan, on a whim I went to Wikipedia and went to St Denys' School, Murree, I can't tell you my surprise when it opened on memories of 71 years, I am now 79, soon hitting 80.  I suppose few of my generation are still around.  I was in St. Denys' from 1935 to 1939, Std.II to Std. V.  Doreen Johnson's memories are so similar to mine, much hadn't changed in the five years between us.  Of the people she mentions
Miss Haig was still there and many years later I chanced upon her in London, we were both waiting for a bus, and Miss Lane was taking care of St.Faith's Home on Ferozepur Road in Lahore where I spent a few months to finish my Senior Cambridge at the Cathedral School. Laila Dahl I remember very well, she was the prefect who sat at the head of our table in the dining room, I sat on the right of her!! Of the teachers, Miss Ross, Miss Newell, Miss Christie... and so the memories can go on.
At present I live in Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu) looking after a small family property, and my postal address is PO Box **, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India **** ****** <email>.

Oh, two girls with me and friends were
Norma Harrison and Betty Moore.
 
With sincere wishes,
Peggy Rustomji (nee Morley)

4. Norma Probert -- St Deny's pupil in 1930s
Hello Ali
I was dellighted to be shown your web photographs and the write ups of the Murree schools.  I was in St Denys and I can send you a couple of pictures - one taken in 1937 and one in 2000 on one of my trips back to Pakistan (my home) even though I left there many many years ago - I still love both India and Pakistan and visit quite often.
What an enterprising man you are.  I am thrilled to know that someone is taking this type of interest in our school that are now your schools.
As a bit of information - our school had to be dug out of the snow that covered nearly the whole of the ground floor.  The porch had to be cleared with the drive way to it, so that we could get into school in March. St Denys was at the highest peak of Murree above Kashmir Point.  We had the most beautiful view of the Himalayan Peaks on a clear day.  This picture is taken on a misty, cloudy day.Thanks
Norma Probert


Additional Links of Interest:

Convent of Jesus and Mary Murree

Mystery of the Tomb of Mary by Dr Ali Jan

The English Cemeteries in Murree by Dr Ali Jan

Convent of Jesus and Mary School Murree
Click on photos to view in larger size
Those who searched for this webpage typed the following keywords: st deny's st danies Murree photos photo picture alumni alumnus old students church chapel Lawrence Memorial Asylum Murree 1860, Woodburn, Jesus and Mary School, St Thomas' College Murree Roman Catholic institution, Saint Denys' or Deny's Dennis Dany's Danys' Murreestudent murree india cjm official website hill-station
For comments or queries: Dr Ali Jan
[email protected]
Students from 1899 photo courtesy Doreenaj
St Denys' school Chapel
Photos coutesy of Sheila Smaller nee Goodall & Doreen Peter nee Johnson (past pupils)
Students photographed with school staff - 1899
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