A one-room house in a noisy quarter of Aminabad Bazar was Miss Thoburn's starting place. The school began functioning on April 18, 1870 with only six girls. "We began at sunrise with the hope of the morning in our hearts, but how little we dreamed of the future of this school." The school was shifted a few weeks later to a rented house.
A year later Lalbagh, the house of the treasurer of the last Nawab of Avadh, was purchased for which fourteen bags containing 1,000 rupees each - all in silver were given. Gradually the number of students began to increase. And by 1876, there were 65 boarders and 51 day-scholars on roll. By 1884 two students were determined to sit in the entrance examination of Calcutta University- Lalavati Singh and Sharat Chakerbuty.
By 1886, Miss Thoburn was aware of a greater need. In March she wrote to her Church friends in the U.S.A, "The need of India today is leadership from among her own people, leadership not of impulsive enthusiasm or of prejudice, but of matured judgment and conscientious convictions. Part of our work as missionaries is to educate and train the character that can lead, and it is to accomplish this that we formed our first women's college in the Eastern World".
The Lucknow women's College began functioning as such on July 12, 1886 with the F.A (Fine Arts) class affiliated to the to the University of Calcutta. The Faculty consisted of two members, Miss H.V. Mansell and Mr. Bishumbar Dayal. In 1894, despite a discouraging enrolment Miss. Thoburn added a third year to the College, and shifted the affiliation to the University of Allahabad. By 1906, ten girls had passed the Intermediate examination and the first student was to appear for B.A examination.
Miss
Isabella Thoburn laboured for 31
years 'facing many challenges-
shortage of finances and the
burden of dept adding heavily to
her problems, which she met with
courage and patience'. However,
she lived to see her dream
become a reality.Dr. Duff, an eminent Indian educationist, had once said "You might as well try to scale a wall fifty feet high as to education the women of India". By 1900 Miss Thoburn was able to write with confidence- "The wall has not only been scaled but thrown down, the women have been reached and taught". In August 1901 Miss Thoburn died after a attack of cholera leaving behind the message she had lived all her life, that of "being kind to the stranger within our gates." In her memory of the college was named Isabella Thoburn College.
The College grew attracting women from all castes and religions. That they studied together in the caste-ridden society was a great stride in the empowerment of Women. The demand of Higher Education grew slowly but steadily and by 1902 five students had obtained the B.A degree. In February 1921, Miss Florence Nichols arrived in Lucknow. She realized the need for establishing the college as an institution separate from the school. In 1923, the college moved from Lalbagh to Chand Bagh, its present site of over thirty acres of land located within half a mile of the University. Since 1922, many large modern buildings have been erected which provide classrooms, laboratories, hostels and the library.
For us education is more than passing examinations. Miss Isabella Thoburn stated that “the power of educated womanhood is simply the power of skilled service; we are not in the world to be ministered unto but to minister. The world is full of need and every opportunity to help is a duty. Preparation for these duties is education, whatever form it may take or whatever service may result."
Today Isabella Thoburn College is committed to be comprehensive college with balanced attention to under graduate and graduate professional studies. Its central goal is to foster the life of the mind by providing sufficient resources to sustain and environment conducive to excellence in learning teaching and creativity.
