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Press Release

200-year-old high school building in a small Bangladeshi town Kotchandpur built and owned by Scotsmen Mr. New House and Macleod's is about to fall victim to nature's doing for lack of repairs

Ashraf Ali, D.Sc.
Former student of Kotchandpur High School (1966 - 1971)

Turn back your clock about 200 years in early 1800 in a remote village of Bengal called Kotchandpur. This area was in united Bengal under the British rule, became East Bengal after the division of Bengal by Viceroy Lord Curzon in 1905, became East Pakistan after the independence and division of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, and then became Bangladesh after its independence in 1971 from West Pakistan, which is now Pakistan. Originally from Scotland, Mr. New House came to Kotchandpur on behalf of East India Company to conduct the indigo cultivation and harvest activities of this area. Later on, Mr. New House built a number of buildings in this area in order to facilitate his sugar and coal business. Kotchandpur high school, which was established in 1899, has been using the building in question as its main building since 1959.

After Mr. New House passed away, the three sons of his only daughter (1) Edward George Macleod, (2) James Macleod, and (3) H. C. Macleod came to Kotchandpur as they inherited the properties as the descendants of their grandfather Mr. New House. Their father’s name was J. S. Macleod.

Another Mr. Eric was originally from Australia. The house he lived in around Kotchandpur was later known as the house of Mr. Shadhu, who owned and lived in the house with his family not that long ago. The youngest son of Mr. Shadhu is present writer’s contemporary – just to give you an idea. This house has now been demolished. It is known that when business climate started dwindling, Mr. Eric first left for Calcutta (now spelled as Kolkata) and from there on to Australia.

On the south side of the canal of adjacent village Solemanpur there stood a house right on the Kabadak River, known as the ‘Boro Shaheb Bari’. ‘Boro’ means ‘big’, ‘Shaheb’ means ‘Mr.’, and ‘Bari’ means ‘house’. The house came to be so named after the eldest son H. C. Macleod, who lived and died in this house. ‘Boro Shaheb Bari’ has now been destroyed. It is known that not very far from this house near the side of a house owned by Mr. Kazi Abdur Sattar Chhanu lies the grave of H. C. Macleod in unmarked and unprotected condition.

In addition to owning sugar and coal business, H.C. Macleod was also a landlord at the same time. It is generally assumed that faced with dwindling business climate, many British, Scottish and other foreigners sold their land-lordships and left the country before the Second World War around the year 1930. Others left around 1952, first for Kolkata and from there on to Scotland.

Notably, Kotchandpur was promoted to become a municipal town in 1884 with the efforts of Edward George Macleod. Out of the three Macleod brothers, James Macleod was the only one who was married. James Macleod’s son Harold Macleod was the Postmaster General of the then All India.

The building in question was built as a dwelling along with adjacent service buildings. These adjacent properties have slowly vanished. The building, known as ‘Chhoto Shaheb Bari’ (‘Chhoto’ means ‘little’ or ‘youngest’) in this locality, almost on the verge of falling apart today, has been used as the main building of Kotchandpur high school since 1959. The Vice President of the then school managing committee Mr. Abdul Mannan Sardar took strong initiatives to restore this building and its adjacent areas, again to be used as the main school office and classrooms and for other school programs. The initiatives did not go far because of lack of funding.

The building is 80 ft X 70 ft, two-storied, with 14 rooms. It was constructed with brick, wood, sand, and mortar and is built on 11 acres of beautifully landscaped land situated on the Kabadak River.

Current condition of the building - upstairs roof has extensive cracks leaking water, the walls have cracked in many places, the ceiling beams and cross-beams have been heavily damaged due to decay and can collapse any time, the wall plasters have fallen off, the doors and windows are either destroyed or do not work, the railings all around the building balconies have been destroyed.

It was mentioned in the beginning that the present write is a former student of this school. It is heart breaking to see the school building where thousands of students like myself received high school education is falling apart. More than that, this is the last standing building, testimony to the legacy and more than 200-year history of this place. There is still time to save the building with financial assistance from everyone who cares to help.

The present school authority estimates it would take about 50,000 US dollars to fully restore the building. If you would like to help, you could contribute to the Kotchandpur High School Building Restoration Fund of Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI www.bdiusa.org), a US-based registered tax-exempt non-profit organization, and send your check to (payable to BDI): BDI, 15160 SE 54th Place, Bellevue, WA 98006, USA. Contact Dr. Ashraf Ali at admin@bdiusa.org for further questions on this project.

Here are some images showing current conditions of the school building: