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La Martinière College is an educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière Boys' College was founded in 1845 and La Martinière Girls' College was established in 1869. The Boys' College is the only school in the world to have been awarded royal battle honours〔(Deefholts, Margaret. 'History's ghosts in Old Lucknow' ) accessed June 2007〕 for its role in the defence of Lucknow during the mutiny of 1857. The two Lucknow colleges are part of the La Martinière family of schools founded by the French adventurer Major General Claude Martin. There are two La Martinière Colleges in Kolkata and three in Lyon. La Martinière provides a liberal education and the medium of instruction is the English language. The schools cater for pupils from the ages of five through to 17 or 18, and are open to children of all religious denominations. The schools have day scholars and boarders. It is one of the most prestigious colleges of India and often features in the top schools of India. ==Claude Martin- the founder== La Martinière Boys' College was founded by an endowment from the wealthy eighteenth-century Frenchman, Major-General Claude Martin (1735–1800), who was an officer in the French and later the British East India Company. Martin acquired his fortune while serving Asaf-ud-Daula, the nawab wazir of Awadh, and was reputedly the richest Frenchman in India. Constantia, the palatial building which now houses the Boys' College, was built in 1785 as Martin's country residence, but was not completed until 1802,〔('La Martinière (??), the house of Colonel Martin, at Lucknow'. From the British Library's Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections on the Collect Britain website. ) accessed July 2007〕 two years after Martin's death on 13 September 1800. Historians believe that the house takes its name from the school motto ''Labore et Constantia'' (Work and Constancy) which represents Martin's personal philosophy. There is a more romantic, though unproven, notion that the building was named after Constance, a young French girl who was supposedly Martin's first love.〔(An article by the Lucknow historian Ms. Rosie Llewellyn-Jones in ''Taj'' magazine ) accessed June 2007〕 Martin never married and he had no heirs. In his will, dated 1 January 1800, he left the bulk of his estate to provide for the establishment of three schools to be named La Martinière in his memory. The schools were to be located in Lucknow, Calcutta and at Lyon, his birthplace in France. The residue of his estate after bequests had been made was to be used for the maintenance of these schools. He directed that the school in Lucknow should be established at Constantia and that the house should be kept as a "school or College for learning young men the English language and Christian religion if they found themselves inclined".〔(A synopsis of the history of La Martinière College, Lucknow ) accessed June 2007〕 Image:PolierMartinWombwellZoffany.jpg|thumb|Antoine Polier, General Claude Martin, John Wombwell, assay master, and Johann Zoffany, the painter, surrounded by servants and Polier's art collection. rect 269 140 344 305 Claude Martin rect 124 147 181 298 Antoine-Louis Polier rect 208 146 253 217 Johann Zoffany desc none Martin instructed in his will that his 'body be salted, put in spirits or embalmed', and placed in a lead coffin in a vault beneath the house. His tomb should carry a plaque bearing the following inscription: ''Major-General Claude Martin''. ''Arrived in India as a common soldier'' ''and died at Lucknow on the 13th of September,'' ''1800, as a Major-General.'' ''He is buried in this tomb.'' ''Pray for his soul.''〔Extract from "Quest for Kim - In search of Kipling's Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk. London: John Murray, 1996. ISBN 0-7195-5560-4. (Transcribed by Tony Mooar in a posting on the India-L Rootsweb Mailing List on 23 April 1999 ) accessed June 2007〕 It is popularly believed that Martin was motivated not just by vanity but by a desire to protect his property after his death and to prevent his friend, the nawab, from acquiring it. By having himself, a Christian, buried beneath Constantia, he knew that the building would be permanently desecrated in the Muslim nawab's eyes.〔 Chandan Mitra, in his book ''Constant Glory'', thinks otherwise. He writes "Constantia's plans show that the basement mausoleum was part of the original scheme for the building and not included as an afterthought to guard against requisition."〔Mitra, Chandan. ''Constant glory: La Martinière jai mata di saga 1836–1986''. Calcutta: Oxford University jai mata di Press, 1987.〕 Martin was duly interred in a specially prepared vault in the basement of the house. Thus Constantia became both a school and a mausoleum. It is the largest European funerary monument in India, and the historian William Dalrymple has described it as "The East India Company's answer to the Taj Mahal".〔(Prachi jai mata di Pratap, "La Martinière and the Mutiny", on Tornos India ) accessed July 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「La Martiniere Lucknow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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