* Notwithstanding the fact that the following was a message submitted by Cllr Dr J Kleinman who was the mayor of Ladysmith in May 1964, its relevance cannot be bypassed today: “It is with pleasure, pride and also a deep feeling of humility that I, as first citizen of Ladysmith, give this message of sincere goodwill to Windsor High School. Windsor High School was established in 1914, the year which marked the start of the ‘War to end all Wars’ and in which conflagration the youth of so many countries, including our own, was called upon to serve their countries and to perish.
At the same time, educationalists and responsible persons in Ladysmith were waging a different war on the front of ignorance.
A school was established to cater for the needs of the extreme youth; and to the credit of those responsible, this school has flourished and gone from strength to strength.
The school can be justifiably proud of the fact that many thousands of scholars have passed through its portals since 1914 and all these scholars have become members of a society in which they are called upon to contribute something, no matter how large or small, and there can be no doubt but that the value of their contributions to society has been largely increased by their training at Windsor High. We in Ladysmith are proud of the way in which our Indian community works to help itself, and it is our sincere wish and prayer that Windsor High School, as one of the foundation stones in that community, will continue to raise the curtain of light on the greatest curse of mankind, ie the curse of ignorance.”
* Through the years at every inter-house competition, scholars heard the names of the houses going up in encouragement, yet few know the historical significance of the persons after whom the houses have been named.
Here is a brief history of the personages: Curie House – named after Madame Marie Curie who was born in Warsaw, Poland, in November 1867. She assisted her husband Pierre in the discovery of radium in 1898.
She won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. The Curie-a unit of radium was named after her. She died in 1934.
Jagadis House – named after Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose who was born in 1858. He was Professor of Physical Science at Calcutta University, where he founded the Bose Research Institute in 1919.
He was knighted in 1917 and died in 1937.
Lister House – named after Lord Joseph Lister who was born in Essex in 1827 and who obtained his medical degree in 1852 in London. His introduction of the antiseptic system is considered one of the greatest triumphs of modern surgery. He died in 1912.
Raman House – named after Sir Chandrasekara Venkata Raman who was born in November 1888.
As Professor of Physics at Calcutta University, he devoted many years on researching problems of light and sound. He was knighted in 1929 and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. He became world-renowned for discovering in 1928 how a beam of light passes through a transparent substance, which became known as the Raman Effect.
* In keeping with development, the name of the school was changed to ‘Windsor’ when the then Administrator of Natal, Mr Dennis Shepstone, gave his consent to the name proposed by the then principal, Mr NG Chetty. That also marked two significant changes in the history of the school at that time.
The first was a change in the status of the school. That improved from ‘Secondary’ to ‘High’ and the second in name to avoid confusion with the Ladysmith Govt High School (white). Mr NG Chetty, who had phenomenal vision, chose the name because of its historical significance. Before, ‘Ladysmith’ the town was known as ‘Windsor’. Besides, the name of the streets in the vicinity of the school all have a bearing on royalty. The adminstrator arrived at the school on August 2, 1955, to formally approve the name.
