1. La Martiniere, Lucknow, consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls.
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2. Established in 1845, it was founded in accordance with the will of Major General Claude Martin, after his death.
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3. Being faithful to Claude Martin’s instruction, the day of his death, which is 13th September, is commemorated as ‘Founder’s Day’ every year.
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4. The school began work on 1st October 1845, so each year 1st October is celebrated as ‘Constantia Day’.
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5. The school shares the common motto – ‘Labore et Constantia’ which means ‘By Labour and Constancy’.
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6. La Martiniere Girls’ College was established in 1869, 24 years after the boys’ college.
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7. The La Martiniere Boys’ college is the only school in the world to have been awarded ‘Royal Battle Honours’ for its role in the defence of Lucknow during the mutiny of 1857.
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8. Constantia, the palatial building which houses the boys’ college, was built in 1785 as Martin’s residence but was not completed until 1802, two years after his death.
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9. The school caters to both day-scholars and boarding scholars.
10. In his will, Claude Martin left the bulk of his estate for the establishment of two other schools as well. One in Kolkata and the other at Lyon, his birth place in France.
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11. Constantia or the La Martiniere boys’ school is both a school and a mausoleum as his body is placed in a lead coffin in a vault beneath the house.
This was done in accordance with his instructions in his will.
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12. Initially the school was only open to Europeans and Eurasians. And its first principal was John Newmarch.
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13. In 1995, the school celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary and the then President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, released a postage stamp to recognize the contribution of the school.
It is the only school in India, and one of the few in the world, to have a postage stamp in its honour.
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14. In 2007 when the girl’s school celebrated its 138th anniversary it was endowed with a similar honour and a first day cover was issued by the Department of Posts with a picture of Khursheed Manzil (name of the girl’s school building) on it.
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15. La Martiniere boys’ college has been a part of many movies and fictional texts.
Movies like ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ , ‘Anwar’, ‘Always Kabhi Kabhi’, and books like Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’ have La Martiniere as a setting.
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16. The school is affiliated to ICSE and ISC boards and offers four streams at 10+2 level which are humanities, commerce, science and physical sciences.
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17. The school has a bagpipe band which dates from 1967.
It was a part of the Senior Division NCC contingent and the band members played in NCC uniforms with hackles on their berets.
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18. The institution has produced many famous personalities like Priyanka Chopra, Roshan Abbas, Muzaffar Ali, K. Raghunath etc.
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19. It is also believed that ‘Constantia’ was named after Martin’s first love whom he left behind in France when he came to India.
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20. The alumni of the school are fondly addressed as ‘Martinians’.
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