The CMS College, Kottayam, founded by the Church Missionary Society of England, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in India. It was Colonel John Munro, the British Resident and Dewan of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore who invited the C.M.S. missionaries to Kottayam with the vision of reforming the Church where ignorance and superstitions prevailed. The missionaries be
lieved that education was the weapon for reformation. Thus ‘The College’, Cotym, which later on came to be known as the CMS College, was started in 1817 to be a centre of light and life in this land and a blessing to many. The Government of Travancore welcomed the College as ‘a place of general education whence any demands of the state for officers to fill all departments of public service would be met’. In the early years, the curriculum included the study of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Mathematics, History and Geography besides English, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Syriac. In 1838, the College was shifted to Annankunnu, a beautifully wooded hillock where she continues to remain. Benjamin Bailey, the father of printing in Travancore, was the first Principal of the College. He was a missionary with a vision, prudent and farsighted, a scholar and an architect. He brought out the first English – Malayalam and Malayalam – English dictionaries and also gave Malayalam its modern round type for printing. He authored over a dozen books and was the architect and engineer who designed and built the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kottayam. Joseph Fenn who followed Rev. Bailey as Principal was a lawyer turned missionary. It was he who nurtured The College and set it on the road to become an institution of liberal education. Richard Collins took charge as Principal in 1855 and it was during his tenure in 1857 that the college was affiliated to Madras University and students were presented for the matriculation examination. The College provided free education to all the students until 1855 when a fee of one rupee per month came to be collected from each student. Collins left his mark upon the academic life of the College as it was he who started the College Magazine in 1864. An excellent teacher, Rev. Collins was also a scholar linguist who brought out a very comprehensive English – Malayalam dictionary. The total number of students in 1870 was 129. In 1880, when the Maharaja visited the College, His Highness observed: “Long before the state itself undertook the humanizing task of educating the subjects, the Christian Missionaries had raised the beacon of knowledge in this land”. In 1890, the two-year F. classes were started. The first batch of students was presented for the F. Examination, in 1892, the year when the college was made a Second Grade College. French Adams was the Principal then. It was in 1913, when Rev. Askwith was Principal, that woman students began to be admitted for the first time in the history of the College. But this was discontinued in 1918 due to circumstances that still remain obscure. During Rev. Askwith’s tenure as Principal, additional buildings to comfortably house the various classes were constructed. Askwith was instrumental in radically improving the character and quality of his students by inculcation, instruction and the grooming of their talents. The first College Day was celebrated in 1905 and it was also during his time that the College was deemed the best Second Grade College in the Madras Presidency. The boy’s Hostel of the College is named after this remarkable Principal. In 1928, Mr. Thomas became the first Indian Principal of the College and in 1937, when he was the Principal; the college became affiliated to the Travancore University. The last Missionary Principal of the College was Rev. Philip Lea, after whom the Women’s Hostel is named. It was in 1938, while he was in office as Principal that women students were again admitted in the college after a break of two decades. Philip Lea was Principal at a time when the whole country was caught up in the Gandhian non violent struggle for independence. It is a measure of the love that the missionaries were able to inspire in the hearts of the people that the working of the college was not too disrupted even at the height of the struggle. The generosity of Rev. and Mrs. Lea was responsible for giving a poor Dalit boy a chance to learn. It was this boy – Dr. K. Narayanan -who rose to become the President of India. Philip Lea laid down office in 1942 to be succeeded by Prof. P. Joseph as Principal. During his long tenure as Principal, till he retired in 1965, the college progressed by leaps and bounds. The college became a First Grade College with degree courses in eight disciplines and postgraduate courses in six. Prof. Joseph was a permanent member of the Syndicate of the University of Kerala, to which the college became affiliated. Dr. George M. Thomas was appointed Principal in 1965. He took his Doctorate in Nuclear Physics from the renowned Mc Gill University in Canada. He was one of the only five Indians then with Ph.D in Nuclear Physics – Dr. Homi J. Baba, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, was another! A brilliant Physicist, an excellent teacher and a humorist, Dr. George M. Thomas conquered the hearts of his subordinates and students alike. Impartial to friend and foe, he became a role model for many of his students. Postgraduate courses in Botany, Sociology and Physics were started during his tenure as Principal. In 1965, the Church Missionary Society transferred the management of the college along with its ownership to the CSI Synod which transferred the same to the CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese in 1981. M. John followed Dr. George M. Thomas as Principal in 1977 and it was during his time that new buildings were constructed to house the expanding departments of Botany and Home Science. The prestigious Benjamin Bailey Memmorial Lectures was instituted during the tenure of Rev. John. Dr. Mithra G.Augustine, then Principal of Madras Christian College was the first to deliver the Memmorial Lecture.
