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Islamabad: Major Langlands, the dedicated teacher, humanitarian and soldier, died in Lahore on Wednesday morning. He died at the age of 101, but lived long enough to see one of his students become prime minister.
Prime Minister Imran Khan is one of the many students of Major (retd) Langlands who touched countless lives during his nearly 60 years of teaching. In his condolence message, Imran paid rich tributes to Langlands and said: “Saddened to learn of the passing of my teacher. Apart from being our teacher, he instilled the love for trekking and our northern areas in me.” He earlier noted “the dedication and passion with which you [Langlands] taught us has remained with us throughout our lives.”
Major (retd) Geoffrey Douglas Langlands, a former British Army official and an educationist, served Pakistan since partition in 1947 and was affectionately known to all as ‘The Major’.
Aitchison College, where Langlands served as dean, noted in their message: “We acknowledge the life of a soldier, teacher, gentleman, storyteller, mountaineer and humanitarian whose life was devoted in service to others and especially his adopted country Pakistan. May he rest in eternal peace.”
Langlands is revered in Pakistan and abroad for his services to humanity and education and was honoured with Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Order of British Empire by the Queen of England.
Langlands was born on October 21, 1917 in Yorkshire, England. He joined the British Army in 1939 and volunteered for services in the Indian Army in 1944. After partition of the Subcontinent, he was transferred to the Pakistan Army. Later, he joined Aitchison College in 1954. In 1979, took on a challenging teaching task in North Waziristan as principal to Razmak Cadet College where he served until 1989.
Later, he took over as principal of a school in Chitral, which was later renamed after him as Langlands School and College in Chitral where he taught for 24 years. “He loved the country and it was his decision to stay on after 1947” according to Carey Schofield, who took over as principal of the Langlands School and College in Chitral after him. He remembered Langlands as an inspiring teacher.
“Pakistan has lost a great friend and teacher of generations of its students,” said British High Commissioner to Pakistan Thomas Drew on Twitter following Langlands’ demise.
