The
idea of founding a college exclusively for the training of the sons
of Chiefs in Central India was first conceived by General Sir Henry
Daly who, soon after his appointment as Agent to the
Governor-General in Central India in 1869, impressed on the Chiefs
the desirability of suitably educating their sons. His efforts soon
bore fruit and in 1870 some Kumars joined the Indore Residency
School which was then located in the building to the east of the
Indore Residency Post Office.
A
further step forward in this direction was taken in 1874 when the
Government of India began to evince greater interest and called for
a report on the Indore Residency School and the arrangements
existing for the education of the sons of Chiefs. In 1875 Lord
Northbrook paid a visit to Indore and personally investigated the
facilities for education that then existed, and gave a public
assurance that the Indore Residency School would be raised to the
status of a College for which the Government of India would appoint
and finance a Principal. In addition to his duties as the head of
the Indore Residency College, the Principal was to guide the
education of the sons and relatives of Chiefs attending the College
and have general supervision over schools in Malwa. On 17th April
1876 a separate class for the sons of chiefs, their sardars and
Jagirdars was formed and Mr Aberigh Mackay was later appointed
Principal of the Indore Residency College in December the same year.
In 1878 a boarding house was constructed as well as a bungalow for
the residence of the Principal.
Mr.
Aberigh Mackay died in 1881 and in the same year General Sir Henry
Daly retired. Money was collected to perpetuate the memory of the
latter’s career in Central India and it was decided to erect a
building for the Rajkumar classes of the lndore Residency College
and to call it ‘The Daly College’.
As
a first step, in January 1882 the Rajkumar classes were moved from
the Indore Residency College to the Boarding House and was called
the Indore Residency Rajkumar College. The same year Col. Thompson,
resident Engineer at Mhow, made the plan for the new building, and
construction was begun by the Military Works Department. As a matter
of interest it might be mentioned that whereas in Indore and Centre
India, generally, the building was referred to as the Indore
Residency Rajkumar College, in Mhow it was always spoken of as the
‘Daly College’.
The
new building, which now forms a part of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Medical College, was opened on 14th November 1885 by the then
Viceroy o India, Lord Dufferin, and the Daly College as such. came
into existence with Mr.
J.W.D. Johnstone as its first Principal. The Kumars of the Daly
College resided in the Gwalior Boarding House which was completed in
1891 by the Gwalior State. The first Kumar to pass an examination of
an Indian University was Sardar Madho Rae Kibe of Indore, he passed
the Matriculation Examination of the Allahabad University in 1894.
He was also the first Kumar of the Daly College to take a University
Degree obtaining the B.A. degree in 1899 and the M.A. degree in
1904.
The
Daly College suffered a set back in 1903 when it was decided that
the sons of Chiefs in Central India should be educated at the Mayo
College at Ajmer and that the Daly College should become a school
for the sons of Thakurs of Central India. As a result, many Kumars
left the College and in December 1903 it had only five small Kumars
left. In 1905 Major (afterwards Lt. Col. Sir) Hugh Daly, son of
General Sir Henry Daly was appointed agent to the Governor-General.
He immediately began to take keen interest in the affairs of the
College. In August 1905 at a meeting of the Chiefs and Political
Officers of Central India, it was decided to make the Daly College
once again a chiefs College and to move it to a larger building
situated in more spacious grounds. A site of 120 acres east of the
Central India Agency Jail was presented for the purpose by the
Indore State. The appeal for funds met with a liberal response and a
considerable sum of money was raised. At the end of 1905 plans for
the new building were prepared by Colonel Sir Swinton Jacob and the
work of construction was started in 1906 by the Public Works
Department. In July 1906 Mr. Percy Hide was appointed Principal of
the College.
In
1908 the Principal’s House, Servants Quarters, the Hospital
Building, the Gymnasium, one block of stables and the cricket nets
were completed. Some of the Servants’ Quarters were used as
dormitories and the Kumars lived in them going every day to their
old College for their classes. By 10th February 1909 the new south
Boarding House was completed and classes were removed into it from
the old building. When the North Boarding House was completed in
July 1910, classes were held in it and Kumars moved from the
Servants Quarters into the South Boarding House, living and working
for the first time under comfortable conditions. During 1910 the
Temple, donated by the Maharaja of Charkhari and the Mosque donated
by the Begum of Bhopal were both completed and opened with
appropriate ceremony. The classrooms in the main building came to be
used for the first time in February 1912 and the hall on 9th March
the same year.
It
was decorated with portraits of Central India Chiefs painted by Mr.
Herbert A. Olivier in 1906—07. Some of these paintings, which
still form a valuable collection of the College, were exhibited
later in the Royal Academy. The College building was formally
declared open on 8th November 1912 by the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge.
The
buildings and grounds at the Daly College were lent to the
Government of India, and the Training School for Indian Army Cadets,
presumably the first such institution of its kind in India,
commenced functioning in the Daly College with effect from 15th
September 1918. The batch of cadets included General K.M. Kariappa
who later became the first Indian Commander - in - Chief of India.
At this stage 17 Kumars joined the Mayo College at Ajmer and three
the Rajkumar College at Rajkot. The five junior classes were
retained and were shifted to the Gwalior Boarding House, which now
contains the offices of the Madhya Pradesh Public Service
Commission. A year later the Training School for Indian cadets was
closed and junior Kumars returned to the College on 1st December
1919.
In
1922—23 it was decided to vest the management of the College in a
working Committee consisting of five members, and the recognized
College Council, with the Viceroy as its President, met for the
first time on 7th January 1925. In 1933 the constitution of the
Governing Body was revised on a self-governing basis and the
president’s office came to be held by a Ruler of Central
India.
