Bentinck School, Vepery

The Bentinck Higher Secondary School is located on Jermiah Road, Vepery, Madras, near the Vepery Police Station. The school is considered to be one of Chennai's best girls' schools, and is affiliated to the Directorate of Matriculation Schools, Tamil Nadu. The school offers English Medium education to girls from Year 1 to year 12. The school is also known as simply the Bentinck School or Bentinck Vepery. The school celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2013. Started in 1837 with just 21 students, the school now has more than 2000 students.HistoryThe school was established in 1837, by Mrs. Anna Drew, a missionary of the London Missionary Society, posted in the Madras Presidency, British India. Anna Drew (née Sheridan), was the widow of Rev. William Hoyles Drew, who died from cholera in Pulicat, and cousin of English playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The institution started with just 21 orphans, who were housed in a bungalow. Then known as the London Mission School, the main units taught were needle work and scriptures. At one stage, Mrs. W Porter became the head mistress, and made many improvements, such that the school came to be known as Mrs. W Porter’s School. In 1852, the school moved to its campus on Jermiah Road. In 1915, the school was renamed as the Bentinck School, in honour of Lord William Bentinck, Governor General of India. Another prominent head mistresses was Marjorie Sykes, a Gandhian who served the school between 1930 and 1939, before leaving the school to join the Shantiniketan.