page_title: Henri Depelchin
section_title: Darjeeling
hierarchical_section_title: Henri Depelchin / Missionary years / Darjeeling
caption_attribution_description: English: The statue of Belgian Jesuit Henri Depelchin, founder of the St Joseph's School, Darjeeling (in Darjeeling)
context_page_description: Henri Joseph Depelchin, SJ, was a Belgian Jesuit priest and missionary in India and Africa. As a missionary, he was the first superior of the failed Zambesi Mission in Africa and the founder and first superior of the West Bengal Mission in India. As an educator, he was the founder and first director of three major colleges in India.
context_section_description: In 1887 Depelchin was sent back to India.  This time, his mission was the establishment of a high school in Darjeeling, a town in the foothills in the Himalayas in the North Bengal. He was already 67 years old.  But, with characteristic punctuality and efficiency, he began on 10 January 1888, the day he arrived in Darjeelling – and only six days after he came to Calcutta from Antwerp.  He found a bungalow to temporarily house the new school in a place called Sunny Banks and it opened on 13 February with the name of St. Joseph's School.  The first class had 25 students, with Father Depelchin as their first Rector.  He also served as the pastor for the town.
  But Depelchin wanted newer, bigger and better buildings for his new school.  To get them, he had to find land for the construction so he went out in search of it.  In spite of apparently insurmountable obstacles, he used his powers of persuasion, sheer audacity and innate tact to find it at a place called "North Point" outside Darjeeling.  The land was levelled and the largest of the buildings was finished in four years. The primary designer was Brother Eugène Rotsaert, S.J.  Most of the costs were covered by Belgian benefactors as well as members of the Anglo-Indian Catholic community, and even the civil authorities. The new building was blessed on 8 December 1891 by Depelchin himself.  Classes began there in February 1892 but with a new Rector – Alfred Neut.
caption: Statue of Henri Depelchin on the grounds of St. Joseph's School in Darjeeling
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