Amrita Varma (OS97) writes about the Spirit that is Sanawar.

1857. This was the year of the Sepoy mutiny which spread from Meerut in the heartland of India and gained momentum. Though unsuccessful, this was the first collective uprising of its kind against the British East India Company. The sparks had been lit to an otherwise peaceful rule of the Imperial Crown. Ten years before the first signs of conflict between the Raj and the locals had been seen. With a volatile political climate and in such tumultuous times the Raj and its officers found their families in grave danger and Sir Henry Lawrence came up with a very sound strategic idea of a military school and asylum for the children and orphans of the British soldiers up in the hills of the sleepy Himalayas. 1847 became the year of the evolution of education system with the setting up of The Lawrence Military Asylum now, The Lawrence School, Sanawar, one of the oldest co-educational boarding school in the world.