224. Sri Guru Nanak Middle Girls School, Bhoun! District Chakwal. (Govt. Girls High School, Bhaun).

Bhaun, or Bhoun (as it is spelled in some old sources), is a small town in the district of Chakwal. Before 1947, it was part of the district of Jhelum. It is a historic market town which, before independence, had a multi-religious population. Hindu temples and several beautiful havelis that still survive today testify to the strong Hindu presence in the town prior to the watershed year of 1947.

According to the census of 2023, the population of Bhaun is 21,711. It must have been considerably lower in the pre-partition days. While it is clear that Hindus formed a significant part of the town’s population, I am not certain how many Sikhs lived here. But we know that Hindus and Sikhs, being merchant classes, formed a higher proportion of towns as compared to the surrounding rural areas. Bhaun was also an important market town and terminus of the Mandra – Chakwal – Bhaun railway line of North Western Railways. The proof of a well-established Sikh community is a girls’ school in the town, and that is the subject of this post. According to the information given in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, the population of Bhaun in 1901 was 5,340 and the town had a vernacular public school maintained by the District Board.

Location of the School:

The town is situated nearly 11 kilometers southwest of the district capital, Chakwal, on the Chakwal–Kallar Kahar Road. The school itself is located at 32°51’35.85″N, 72°45’35.23″E, almost in the middle of the town, about 150 meters west of the main road. It is easily accessible and remains one of the surviving reminders of the Sikh presence in Bhaun before 1947. For directions, kindly refer to the map at the end of this article.

I visited this school on 14 May 2026. I was on my way to Chakwal to see a few historic schools of a similar nature, schools established by local communities before independence. I was somewhat apprehensive about visiting a girls’ school because, unlike a boys’ school, such visits involve greater sensitivities.

Anyway, I knocked on the iron gate, and a watchman appeared. I told him the purpose of my visit. He asked me to wait and went inside to seek permission from the principal. A few minutes later, he returned and asked me to meet the principal in her office.

The conversation took place in a cordial atmosphere, but the madam was understandably hesitant to allow me to take photographs. I also did not insist too much, understanding her position. She suggested that I obtain some official permission so that the matter could remain properly official, according to the rules and regulations.

However, I am sharing below the pictures that I was able to take.

The school building has obviously been expanded with the addition of new blocks. However, in the picture above, one can still catch a glimpse of an older section, which I think is the original building.

History of the School:

Strangely, no information is available about the history of this school or its founders on the internet. However, fortunately, there is a plaque fixed on the office building. There is no other plaque in the school, and this one provides invaluable information about its origins. It is a matter of great satisfaction that generations of teachers and administrators have taken good care of this important plaque. During this long period, the building must have undergone many changes, repairs, and renovations, but the plaque has been well preserved. Today, after nearly a century, it is still intact and prominently displayed.

HER EXCELLENCY
LADY HAILY
MOST KINDLY LAID DOWN THE
FOUNDATION STONE OF
SIRI GURU NANAK
MIDDLE GIRL SCHOOL BHOUN
ON 2^ND DECEMBER 1926

This plaque provides the following information about this school.

1. The name of the school was Sri Guru Nanak Middle Girls’ School.
2. Its foundation was laid on 2nd December, 1926.
3. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Hailey.

Andreina Alessandra Balzani (Lady Hailey)

Born in 1867 as Aneredina Alessandra Balzani, she was the wife of a prominent civil servant in ICS, Sir William Malcom Hailey. She married him in 1896 and moved with him to India, where she lived for a long time, mostly in Punjab. She was also a writer. A link on the internet describes her in the following words:

Andreina Alessandra Balzani was born in 1867, the only child of the Roman Conte Hannibale Balzani. According to her husband’s entry in ODNB* “She was beautiful, athletic, musically talented, and possessed of considerable courage, as for example when she went up in a small aeroplane at Lahore, crashed, and walked away vowing to go up again as soon as possible. But she was a foreigner, and never really fitted into British colonial society. The Haileys had two children; their son Allan (Billy) was killed on active service in the Middle East during the Second World War, and their daughter, Gemma, died as a teenager in 1922 from a burst appendix. For Andreina Hailey, Gemma’s death was a traumatic turning point from which she never really recovered. Thereafter, she suffered from severe depression and became an alcoholic; her increasingly eccentric behaviour was commonly thought to have prevented her husband from becoming viceroy. She died in 1939.”
For reference and more details, kindly visit the link here.
ODNB*: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Sir William Malcolm Hailey:

Now, something about her husband. Sir William Malcolm Hailey was the Governor of Punjab at that time. It is quite remarkable that his wife visited this small place to lay the foundation of a girls’ school.

Sir William Hailey was born in England in 1872. After completing his education at Oxford in 1894, he joined the Indian Civil Service in 1896. He had a distinguished career in the civil service of British India.

The first time I read about him was in 2014, when I visited a gurdwara in Sargodha. The building is now serving as the Ambala Muslim High School. On the main entrance of the gurdwara, I saw the following plaque:

ESOH*: Extra Assistant Settlement Officer Hailey

His first appointment was in the secretariat in Kolkata (then Calcutta, the imperial capital of India) but soon was transferred to Lahore. In Novmeber 1901, Hailedy was appointed the first colonization officer of the Lower Jhelum Canal Colony, in Shahpur district, now Sargodha. He served in this position until 1906. Canals were being dug and agricultural lands distributed. Hundreds of villages were established during this period, including the city of Sargodha and many other towns such as Phularwan and Sillanwali.

He served as Chief Commissioner of Delhi from 1912 – 1918. Later, he served as the Governor of Punjab from 1924 to 1928 and subsequently as the Governor of the United Provinces. He also served the British Empire outside India in various capacities. During his distinguished career, he received numerous honours and titles.

During his governorship, attention was given to the expansion of educational institutions and rural development projects. A number of schools and colleges either expanded or received official patronage during this period. Likewise, Hailey College of Commerce at the University of the Punjab was named in his honour in recognition of his support for higher education and commerce studies in Punjab. He died in England in 1969.

A Facebook page by Immi Gul:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=928640035949675&set=pcb.928640462616299
show a few pictures of plaques bearing the name of Sir Hailey. Another page displays pictures of Hailey Hostel of the Agricultural University, Faisalabad. The link is given below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/325737150919566/posts/1949495461877052/

Interestingly, 2026 marks the centennial year of the establishment of this school. One wonders whether anyone, on either side of the border, has taken notice or is planning something to honour the memory of those who established it, an institution that has since imparted knowledge to countless generations of students. I hope to find some details about the founders of this school, only then I shall feel this article to be complete.

Tariq Amir

May 23, 2026.
Islamabad