History of Roy Villa

'Roy Villa' at Darjeeling on the Lebong Cart Road is the building, where Sister Nivedita of India (born Irish and made India her home on behest of the great Swami Vivekananda) breathed her last. "The boat is sinking, but I can yet see the sunrise"- these were the last words of this noble soul.

Sister Nivedita, born Margaret Noble, was the centre of veneration of both Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore. She was instrumental in inspiring all of India's scientists (e.g, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Basiswar Sen), artists (like Abanindra Nath Tagore, Nandalal Bose), educationist (like Brajendra Nath Sil Ramananda Chattopadhyay, Kumud Bandhu Sen), and above all freedom fighters (like Rasbihari Ghosh,Arabinda Ghosh, Barin Chandra Ghosh, Bipin Chandra Pal). Herself an educationist from her very early age, in India she was the pioneer in women education. She stared a school in North Calcutta for women. The school still exist and remains a vigorous source of good education for the girls. The name of the school is 'Sister Nivedita Girls' High School'.

Sahitya Academy award winner Shankariprasad Basu as also Prabrajika Muktiprana, the then head of the Ramakrishna - Sarada Mission from India as also Lizel Rem from France wrote her biography separately. When Sister Nivedita passed away here, Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar, great Scientist like J.C.Bose and his wife Lady Abala Bose, Scientist Basiswar Sen, was present in this building Roy Villa.

In the year of 1954, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute also started in this building. It stands here up to 1957

Our Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, handed over the 'Roy Villa' on 16 May 2013.

Honourable Minister of North Bengal Development Sri Goutam Dev handed over the key of the Roy Villa on 10th July 2014 to Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Nivedita Educational and Cultural Center, Darjeeling a branch center of Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math to start & build up a Centre of exielience of its own.

Current physical status:
Its now in the under control of Ramakrishna Mission after the hand over of the property by Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt Mamata Banerjee on 16th May 2013. We are currently running the Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa (Total development programme for poor children), Surveying for giving scholarship to meritorious students and poor and needy old aged women and men and started Free Medical Camps with free medicines for local people in distress.