Bishop Cotton Boys' School

Bishop Cotton Boys’ School is a private school founded in 1865. It has an enrollment of around 7,000 and covers 14 acres. It is affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ICSE) and the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISC). Its colors are green and gold, and it publishes two publications – The Cottonian and The Cotton Mill. Old students are known as Old Cottonians.

Bishop Cotton Boys’ School is an all-boys school in Bangalore, India. It was founded in memory of Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta. The school is known as “The Eton of the East” and offers boarding and day scholar programs.

Bishop Cotton Boys’ School is located in the heart of Bangalore, bordered by Residency Road, St Mark’s Road, Lavelle Road, and Vittal Mallya Road. It covers 14 acres of land and has had several notable school heads throughout its history.

The Boarding has around 200 students from India and other countries like Thailand and Nepal. Bishop Cotton Girls’ School is located across St. Mark’s Road from the Boarding.

Bishop Cotton Boys’ School was started in 1865 by Rev. S T Pettigrew, the then Chaplain of St. Mark’s Cathedral. It was named after George Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta, and is still governed by the Church of South India. The school was originally intended to provide education for the children of European and Anglo-Indian families.

Bishop Cotton Boys’ School had three principals in its first five years until George Uglow Pope arrived. He acquired the current site for Rs 47,500 and grew the school’s strength. He gave it a motto – ‘Nec Dextrorsum Nec Sinistrorsum’, meaning ‘Neither to the right nor the Left’. When Pope left India in 1892, the school started to decline and by 1906 closure was considered.

Henry Whitehead, Bishop of Madras, asked the Brotherhood of St Peter to save the school from closure. Herbert Pakenham-Walsh, later to become Bishop, revived the school and it still celebrates St. Peter’s day and Guy Fawkes’ bonfires today. The girls’ school was moved across the road in 1911 and William Elphick worked for 25 years to help its growth. Father David was the last living member of the Brotherhood in India and he worked

The General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust pays tribute to the School and remembers General K. S. Thimayya, a Cottonian (1918 to 1922). It organizes the annual Thimayya Memorial Lecture and awards the Thimayya Medal for exemplary public service. The Trust also runs a Benevolent Fund to help former staff members of the School financially.