Major G D Langlands – The CAP Podcast #84

Major G D Langlands was born in Yorkshire, England in 1917. In his conversation with The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, the veteran educationist spoke about how he came to India and then moved to Pakistan after the Partition. He then recalled his appointment at Aitchison College, and as the principal of a cadet college in North Waziristan.

Geoffrey Douglas Langlands CMG, MBE, HI, SPk (born 21 October 1917) is a retired British Major, and a retired teacher and educator living in Pakistan since the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947. He also served the British Indian Army and Pakistani Army as part of his service tenure.

Early life

Langlands was born 21 October 1917, in Hull, England, to a father employed in an Anglo-American company and a mother who was a classical folkdance instructor. His father died 27 October 1918, due to the 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions worldwide. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Langlands moved with the children to her parents' home in Bristol.

In 1930, Langlands' mother died due to cancer after which Langlands and his siblings lived under the care of their grandfather. The following year on 24 December, Langlands grandfather died leaving children with no other relatives. His older brother received a scholarship to an orphan school in Bristol, and a family friend helped secure positions for the other children.

Career

Military career

In July 1935, Langlands completed his A Level education and began his teaching career in London, the following year at age 18. In September 1936, he had been a mathematics and science teacher to second grade students in a school in Croydon. When World War II began in 1939, Langlands joined the British Army as an enlisted soldier. In 1942, Langlands became a commando and took part in the Dieppe Raid^[6]

In January 1944, Langlands arrived in British India as an army volunteer on a troop carrier and worked three years as part of the selection board for officers training in Bangalore. Rising to the acting rank of troop sergeant major, he received an emergency commission in the British Indian Army as a second lieutenant on 3 September 1944. During partition of the sub-continent in 1947 when India and Pakistan became independent nations, Langlands decided to move to Pakistan and was transferred to Rawalpindi where he joined Pakistan Army.

Teaching career

For approximately six years, Langlands worked as an instructor for the Pakistani Army which was young at that time. Upon the completion of the contract with Pakistan Army, British Army troops began to leave the country. Ayub Khan, then President of Pakistan, asked Langlands to stay and work in Pakistan. Langlands was offered teaching job in Aitchison College in Lahore which he accepted and as an English and mathematics teacher. During his 25-year teaching career at Aitchison College, Langlands first became house master of Kelly House in senior school and was later promoted to head master of the prep school. In 1979, then Chief Minister of Northwest Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) offered the post of principal to Langlands in Cadet College Razmak in North Waziristan,Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Langlands joined the Cadet college and served from April 1979 to September 1989.

In late 1989, Langlands took charge of the first private school in Chitral, Sayurj Public School, which was later renamed Langlands School and College in his honour. The school, founded in September 1988 by local Deputy Commissioner Javed Majeed, grew steadily under his leadership. Langlands served the school for twenty five years and after suffering a stroke in 2008, took retirement from the school at the age of 94 in September 2012. In June 2015, Langlands regain control of the school after having retired succeeding London-based Carey Schofield who took care of the school for two years as principal. Apparently, Langlands was not happy at the way the school was being run under Schofield thus he swiftly retake control of the school when Schofield was visiting London. To make sure of the takeover, the Pakistani residence visa of Schofield was allegedly cancelled by Pakistani authorities, preventing her from returning.

Recognition

• Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE; 1982)


• Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG; 2010)


• Hilal-e-Imtiaz (HI; 2011) (Sitara-i-Imtiaz: 1987)


• Sitara-i-Pakistan (SPk, 2004)