College History
Harriet Wadsworth Lathrop was born in Norwich, Connecticut on the 9th of April 1796, being the second child and eldest daughter of Charles Lathrop,Esq,, and Joanna L .Effingwell. Her father was a graduate of Yale University. Her immediate ancestors were devout , prayerful men and women who lived a life of prayer and exemplified the Christian faith.
Ms. Harriet increasingly began to sense her call to the missions in the year 1816.After getting married to Rev. Miron Winslow on the 11th of January 1819, the couple were sent to the mission field to Calcutta, from where they sailed to Trincomalee, Galle, Colombo and then Jaffna.
The village of Uduvil was one of the highly populated villages at that time. Desiring to serve God, Rev. and Mrs Winslow decided to occupy a house made of limestone and sand in the year 1820. It was in the mind of Mrs Winslow to instruct female children. The missionaries were told that it was not customary for women to learn.
Soon after the missionaries moved to uduvil, two little girls were often seen about the Mission House, and sometimes were found looking through a door or window. Though shy at first, the two girls started taking sewing lessons from the missionaries. These two were enlightened on the advantages of being able to read and the missionaries persuaded them to try to learn. The two girls felt comfortable being with the missionaries in the course of six months. The missionaries requested the parents of the children to allow them to remain with the missionaries, but the parents refused, since they did not want their children to lose caste by eating at the mission premises and also because it was not customary for girls to be instructed. About this time the daughter of the missionaries’ domestic and two other little girls were residing at Mission House. A year after these three girls starting residing at the premises, a hard storm prevented the two day-scholars from going home. One of them agreed to eat at the Mission House, for the first time, while the other refused. The father of this girl gave the child up to the missionaries thereafter, to reside with them. These were the first Boarders of the school.
Meanwhile there were schools established in Tellipallai and Pandateruppu and a seminary was formed in Vaddukoddai. There were girls and boys studying in these schools. In 1824, all the girls in these schools were brought to Uduvil and the boys who were studying at Uduvil were sent to the other schools. The school was first known as Female Central School.