St James School

What is it about?

St. James' School was established in 1864. It was inaugurated by the then Most Revd. George Edward Cotton- the Bishop of Calcutta on 25th July 1864. Almost from its inception, reports show that these were years of stress and struggle. In the first twenty years of its existence the school faced intensive financial difficulties and had to be closed in December 1904. According to reports, there was an upsurge of sentiment on the part of parents, well wishers and old boys at the closure of the school. In 1907, with financial assistance from the Church Education League, the school was reopened. However, again it ran into difficulties and closed in 1918. Relying on the evidence of a few surviving records, we find that the tenacious spirit of the school made it open its doors again in 1924 under the Rectorship of The Rev. Thomas H. Cashmore, also the Vicar of St. James' Church. Rev. Cashmore established a renaissance in the life of both church and school. He had a strong feeling for the traditions the school had established in the half century of its existence, particularly in the field of sport, looking back to school's triumphant winning of the Beighton Cup in hockey in 1900.