Welham Girls' School is a private

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for girls located in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, Uttarakhand, India.

History

The school was founded by Hersilia Susie Oliphant, who had previously set up

Welham Boys' School Welham Boys' School (informally Welham Boys' or Welham) is an all-boys private boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, established in 1937 by Hersilia Susie Oliphant, an English educationist. The school is affiliated with CBSE and has ...

. She named the schools after her home village of

Welham, Nottinghamshire Welham is a hamlet in the civil parish of Clarborough and Welham, of Bassetlaw district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It is 130 miles north of London, 28 miles north east of the city of Nottingham, and 2 miles north east of the ...

in the United Kingdom. She acquired a palatial estate called Nasreen adjacent to the boys' school to start a small boarding school for girls. There were no funds, staff, or school buildings. There were originally ten pupils. Oliphant recruited another English woman, Grace Mary Linnel, to run the boarding school for girls. Linnel became the founder principal of Welham Girls School, which started in 1957. The school has been described in ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

'' as one of a group of "old, rich and popular schools — the

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

equivalents in India ... These boarding schools are a state of mind in themselves, an attitude which can’t be duplicated".

Extracurricular activities

The school hosts competitive events such as sports, craft, dramatics, music, dance and photography. Sports include basketball, hockey, swimming, badminton, lawn tennis, athletics, table tennis, karate, shooting and aerobics. The basketball team has won numerous tournaments and represented Uttrakhand at the national level. Several students have been chosen for the India camp as well.

Notable alumnae

File:PRIYANKA GANDHI & NEELAM SHARMA AMBALA EX CHAIRMAN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AMBALA CANTT.jpg,

Priyanka Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (''née'' Gandhi; born 12 January 1972) is an Indian politician who is serving as the member of the Lok Sabha for Wayanad, Kerala, since November 2024. A member of the Indian National Congress, she is also serving as a ge ...

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Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient ...

, Actor File:Meira Kumar.jpg,

Meira Kumar Meira Kumar (born 31 March 1945) is an Indian politician and former diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress, she was the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009, the Minister of Water Resources for a brief peri ...

, former Speaker of the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

File:Tavleen Singh - India Economic Summit 2011.jpg,

Tavleen Singh Tavleen Singh (born 1950) is an Indian columnist, political reporter and writer. Biography Singh was born in Mussoorie in 1950 in a Sikh family. She studied at Welham Girls' School. She did a short-term journalism course from the New Delhi Poly ...

, Journalist File:Deepa Mehta (Giza Eskubideen Zinemaldiaren Saria - Premio Festival Derechos Humanos) (33879458355).jpg,

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2 ...

, Film director

Art

* Madhu Jain, textile designer * Smriti Morarka, hand-weaving revivalist * Mrinalini Mukherjee, artist *

Laila Tyabji Laila Tyabji (born 2 May 1947) is an Indian social worker, designer, writer, and craft activist. She is one of the founders of Dastkar, a Delhi-based non governmental organization, working for the revival of traditional crafts in India. She was ...

, co-founder of Dastkar

Business

Devika Bulchandani Devika Bulchandani is the Global CEO of Ogilvy (agency), Ogilvy. She is the first Indian-origin person to head the New York-based British advertising agency. She was previously the Global President at the company, and was appointed CEO in Septemb ...

, Global CEO,

Ogilvy The name Ogilvy may refer to: *Ogilvy (name) *Clan Ogilvy *Ogilvy (department store), in Montreal, Canada *Ogilvy (agency) Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Ed ...

* Devyani Rana, vice-president of Coca-Cola India

Film

, actress *

Nitya Mehra Nitya Mehra is an Indian film director and screenwriter based in Mumbai. She is best known for her work on the romantic drama film '' Baar Baar Dekho'' (2016), and the Prime Video series ''Made in Heaven'' (2019–present) and ''Big Girls Don ...

, director and screenwriter *

, film director * Shivani Rawat, producer *

Sukhmani Sadana Sukhmani Sadana is an Indian writer and actress from Amritsar. She is the editor-in-chief of a digital magazine called ''F.A.C.E''. She played the role of Uttara Bakshi in the TV series ''Khotey Sikkey'' that aired on Sony Entertainment Televis ...

, actor and screenwriter *

Priya Seth Priya Seth (born 1975) is an Indian cinematographer, best known for her work in Indian feature films, advertisements, and underwater filming and photography. She is among a handful of women cinematographers currently working in the Indian ma ...

, cinematographer *

Alankrita Shrivastava Alankrita Shrivastava is an Indian screenwriter, director and producer. Having made her debut as a director in 2011, she has since won accolades such as the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival and a nomination for a F ...

, screenwriter and film director

Indian Administrative Service

* Neera Yadav, IAS officer

Journalism

Radhika Roy Radhika Roy (''née'' Das; born 7 May 1949) is an Indian journalist who is the founder and former executive co-chairperson of NDTV. She was the managing director of the company between 1998 and 2011. The company started as a news production hous ...

, co-founder and co-owner of

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

, non-fiction writer, journalist and columnist, ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

'' *

Madhu Trehan Madhu Purie Trehan (born 1940s) is an Indian journalist. She was also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of a digital media portal called ''Newslaundry''. Education Trehan studied at Welham Girls' School in Dehradun, graduating in 1962. In 196 ...

, journalist and co-founder of ''

Newslaundry ''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television jo ...

Law

Malavika Rajkotia Malavika Rajkotia is an Indian lawyer. She joined the Bar in 1985 and developed a practice with a focus on family and property law. She has handled several high profile and complex divorce and property disputes across various courts of the count ...

, lawyer and activist

Literature

Advaita Kala Advaita Kala is an Indian author, screenwriter, and columnist. She has written screenplays for films such as the romantic drama ''Anjaana Anjaani'' (2010) and the thriller ''Kahaani'' (2012). Apart from writing for films, Kala has also written t ...

, novelist and screenwriter * Deepti Kapoor, novelist

Politics and activism

Subhashini Ali Subhasini Ali (née Sehgal; born 29 December 1947) is an Indian Marxist politician. She is a Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Polit Buro Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She is also the former President o ...

, activist, president of the

All India Democratic Women's Association All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) is a women's organisation committed to achieving democracy, equality and Women's rights, women's emancipation. It has an organisational presence in 23 states in India, with a current membership o ...

Renuka Chowdhury Renuka Chowdhury (born 13 August 1954) is an Indian politician and a member of the Rajya Sabha representing Indian National Congress. she represented the political party in the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and currently in Telangana. She ha ...

, MP

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, politician *

Brinda Karat Brinda Karat (née Das; born 17 October 1947) is an Indian Marxist politician and former member of Rajya Sabha for West Bengal, serving as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) representative from 11 April 2005 to 2011. In 2005, she became the ...

, Member of Parliament,

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

, ex-presidential candidate and First Lady speaker of the

* Mala Sen, writer and activist *

Ambika Soni Ambika Soni (born 13 November 1942) is an Indian politician in the Indian National Congress. She has been Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was a Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha. Early life ...

, politician

Sports

Jyoti Ann Burrett Jyoti Ann Burrett (born 18 September 1989) is an Indian professional footballer who plays for the FD Women's League club Royal Rangers. She started her career with Delhi state team, and has played for Kickstart and Hans Capital in the Indian ...

, footballer

References

External links

School website
{{Coord, 30.3163, 78.0564, type:edu_region:IN-UT, display=title Girls' schools in Uttarakhand Boarding schools in Uttarakhand Schools in Dehradun Educational institutions established in 1957 1957 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Private schools in Uttarakhand Girls' schools in India Girls boarding schools