Evolution of Daly College

Daly College

Daly College The construction of the main building was started in 1882 and opened by Lord Dufferin in 1885. It was entirely made of reinforced concrete. The classes were held on the upper floor. The lower floor accommodated the Principal's office, a general reading room for the Kumars and staff and the library, which contained numerous valuable books on Arts, Science, History, Oriental Literature and so on.

The new building was inaugurated on November 14 th 1885 by the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin. By 1891 the Holkars of lndore and the Scindias of Gwalior had donated the two student houses.

In 1905 Sir Henry's Son, Sir Hugh Daly, was appointed Agent at lndore, to the position previously occupied by his father. He took great interest in Daly College which flourished as a Chiefs College The Holkars then donated 118 acres east of the old campus and various Chiefs contributed to build on the newly acquired land. Construction started in 1906 of two student houses, a temple, a mosque and the Principal's residence. The main building was constructed out of marble from the Udaipur quarries and was designed in the Indo Saracenic style by Col. Sir Swinton Jacob. The main building was officially inaugurated on November 8,1912 by the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge and the old campus was given up.

The bust of General Sir Henry Daly erected by H.H. Maharaja Madhavrao Scindia of Gwalior was placed in the Central Hall on the upper floor. When the college moved to its present premises in 1909, the building with the boarding houses was handed over to the Medical School.

For the, next 28 years the College was open exclusively to the sons of the Chiefs of Central India. In 1940, showing great vision, the Board of Governors decided to prepare students for a modern and free India. The Daly College came together with a few other institutions and started the Indian Public Schools Conference (IPSC) its doors were thrown open to admissions on merit, regardless of caste or creed. Since then, the Daly College has grown in strength and reputation and now offers the most modern of education - in a heritage setting. In 2005 it became a member of the Round Square.

The Principal's Bungalow

This building was constructed in 1878 out of the money subscribed to the Mayo Memorial Fund. Mr. G. R. Aberigh Mackay, the first Principal of the Indore Residency College, was the first occupant.

The Indore Residency School

The office of the Public Works Department now occupies the original building of the Indore Residency School. In the room facing the iron gate, a separate class for chiefs attending the class made their own arrangements for boarding and lodging where the classes were taught by Mr. G. Aberigh Mackay, who was then tutor to minor Raja of Ratlam. This was the beginning of Daly College, which was then known as "The Rajkumar Class" and subsequently, in 1882, as "The Indore Residency Raj Kumar College" when the classes were moved to the Old Boarding Houses.

The Old Boarding Houses

When the Rajkumar classes were separated from the Indore Residency school in 1882 this house was constructed on the site of the present K.E. Medical School. It contained about eight rooms one of them being used as a reading room.

The Gwalior Boarding House

This house was built in 1891 to the north of the C.I.A. Jail. H.H. Maharaja Tukoji Rao Puar of Dewas, Senior, and H.H. Raja Arun Singh of Narsinghgarh lived here with their companions and tutors from 1898 to 1903. In 1904 H.H. Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar with his guardian Mr. Percy Hide occupied the house and regularly took part in the college games. From 1905 to 1908, it accommodated about twenty Kumars with a housemaster. With many additions and alterations, it was subsequently used as the Chief's Guest House.

The Holkar Boarding House

The office of the Public Works Department now occupies the original building of the Indore Residency School. In the room facing the iron gate a separate class for chiefs attending the class made their own arrangements for boarding and lodging where the classes were taught by Mr. G. Aberigh Mackay, who was then tutor to the minor Raja of Ratlam. This was the beginning of Daly College, which was then known as "The Rajkumar Class" and subsequently, in 1882, as "The Indore Residency Raj Kumar College" when the classes moved to the Old Boarding Houses.

The New Boarding House

This was originally the college gymnasium, which was open all year round. To provide accommodation for the Kumars, the gymnasium was walled and made into a boarding house in 1904 with three large rooms, a bathroom, a room for the house Master and a spacious verandah in the south. To the north of this boarding house were two tennis courts, where the European ladies and gentlemen of the station often came to play tennis with the Kumars.

Old Daly College - Play Ground

A small plot to the west of the college building was the only playground where the Kumars and the staff played cricket, football and hockey. In 1905, the Principal, Mr. J.H. Smith, inaugurated the C.I.S.A sports association, whose first meeting was held on this ground.

Besides riding, there were physical and company drills, fencing, bayonet exercise, lance practice, sword exercise, boxing, torchlight parable. In 1906, a separate football ground was made in the extreme north of the compound.