Nizam College

The Nizam College was the college of Hyderabad city that taught in English and sent its students to the examinations of the University of Madras.¹² Before Osmania University was founded in 1918, it was one of only two places of higher learning in the state.² Many sons of the nobility studied there and in the school attached to it.³

From the Chadarghat school

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of 1909, the college grew out of the Chadarghat high school.⁴ In 1877 the state closed its Anglo-vernacular high school in the city and sent the pupils to the Chadarghat school.⁴ About 1880 the Chadarghat high school became a second-grade college of the Madras University.⁴ In 1881 it was raised to a first-grade college, teaching up to the B.A.⁴

Some of its staff were recruited in England, the only education officers in the state who were.⁴ The gazetteer calls it “the Chadarghat high school, now called the Nizam College”.⁴

A. Claude Campbell’s Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898) tells it differently.⁵ He says the old Hyderabad College was joined with the Madrasa-i-Aliya in 1888, and the two took the name Nizam College.⁵

The college in the 1890s

In 1898 Campbell called it a first-grade college with “an excellent staff of University men”.³ Its principal was E. A. Seaton, an Oxford graduate.³ Seaton had come from England in 1882 to be headmaster of the Madrasa-i-Aliya.⁶ When the Nizam College was founded, he became its vice-principal under the principal, Mr. Hodson.⁶ After Hodson died, Seaton took his place.⁶ The college was reorganised in 1895, after Hodson’s death.⁷

The Madrasa-i-Aliya, a high school with a kindergarten, was attached to the college.³ Campbell says that although the college was open to all, only the sons of noblemen and gentlemen were on its rolls.³ It was run like an English public school, with care for the boys’ character and games as well as their lessons.³ In 1896 the college had 55 students, against 42 the year before.³

In 1909 the gazetteer praised its boarding-house.¹ But it said the hostel had too few places, and its fees were too high for poorer students from outside the city.¹

Madras or Osmania?

After Osmania University began teaching in Urdu, the Nizam College still followed the courses of the University of Madras.²⁸ In 1936 a Hyderabad committee wanted the control of the Madras University over the state’s education to end.⁸ It said the state should have only one place of university teaching.⁸ But some students could not study in Urdu.⁸ So it proposed that the Nizam College become an associated college of Osmania University.⁸ It would teach Osmania’s courses in English and keep its own Board of Governors.⁸

The committee did not want both institutions to teach the M.A. and M.Sc., since they were less than five miles apart.⁸ It repeated that the Nizam College should stay for those who could not use the Urdu courses.⁹ One witness, S. Hanumantha Rao, a professor at the college, thought Urdu could become its medium within a few years.¹⁰ He said boys from the Andhra and Maratha districts learned Urdu easily and did well at Osmania.¹⁰

Where the sources disagree

The two main sources tell the college’s origin differently:

• The Imperial Gazetteer (1909) says the Chadarghat high school became a college about 1880 and was “now called the Nizam College”.⁴
• Campbell (1898) says the Nizam College was formed in 1888, by joining the old Hyderabad College with the Madrasa-i-Aliya.⁵

Footnotes

1. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 75 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII: H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, Part I: Report (1933), p. 216, “The Osmania University” by H. A. Ansari, Registrar (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 65 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 74 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 90, life of W. A. Home (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 87, life of E. A. Seaton (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 89, life of H. C. Cooney (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

8. Committee for the Reorganisation of Education in the Hyderabad State: Report of the Sub-Committee (1936), p. 3 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

9. Report of the Sub-Committee (1936), p. 7 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

10. Report of the Sub-Committee (1936), Appendix C, summary of oral evidence, p. 54 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩²