Guwahati, July 24: At the turn of the last century, a British administrator used all the resources at his disposal to set up an educational institution here which was to later become one of the most revered temples of learning in the entire Northeast.

Cotton College, Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton’s labour of love, was set up in 1901.

After 108 years, former Cottonians will pay homage to the Englishman by installing a model of Cotton College at the residence of Henry Cotton in London.

Jagadish Dutta, general secretary of Association of Past and Present Office Bearers of Cotton College Union Society, told The Telegraph that the objective of the initiative was to pay tribute to Sir Henry, who had ushered in the era of higher education in the region by setting up the college.

Dutta said the project would also give the present generation of Englishmen an idea of Sir Henry’s great work in Assam and the region.

He said the academic course at Cotton College had provided jobs to its graduates and the people of this region got the opportunity to work in the British administration.

“We also want Cotton College to remain close to the heart of present and future generations of Sir Henry’s family. The society will take the help of former Cottonians who are now staying in the UK to find the exact location of Sir Henry’s residence to execute the project. The project will help popularise Cotton College before the international audience,” Dutta said.

The Cotton College authorities contacted Sir Henry’s family during the centenary celebrations of the institution in 1998. A senior teacher associated with the celebration said: “We could contact the fourth generation members of Sir Henry and they expressed a great deal of interest in staying in touch with the institution.”

“Similar efforts should be made at the London residence of Frederick William Sudmerson, an Englishman and first principal of Cotton College. I had email correspondence with one of the sons of Sudmerson who is based in Australia. Sudmerson also contributed a great deal in successfully running the college during its infancy,” the teacher said.

From a small undergraduate college, Cotton College has now become a full-fledged post-graduate institution, integrated with undergraduate education, having enrolled 5,000 students and around 244 teachers. There are 21 undergraduate and 20 post-graduate departments in science, humanities and the social sciences.

Dutta said the society was taking an initiative to unite Cottonians across the globe for academic and overall upgrade of the college.