Bishop Heber College is a religious minority educational institution established by the Tiruchirappalli – Thanjavur Diocese of the Church of South India. Its main objective is to cater for the higher educational needs of the members of the Church of South India and other Christians and specially to provide for them an educational atmosphere in keeping with the Christian ideals of the Church. The College, however, admits students of all faiths and religions and seeks to provide for them the best possible higher education. Bishop Heber College traces its origin back to Christian Frederick Schwartz, the first German missionary, supported by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K) in South India. He built a school near the Rock Fort in Tiruchirappalli in 1762. The School was vested in the S.P.C.K, and subsequently handed over to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel(S.P.G) in 1825. Reginald Heber, the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, came to Tiruchirappalli in 1826 on his way to Sri Lanka. He visited the school on the morning of the 3rd of April and expressed the wish that better buildings might be provided. He also spoke to the Tamil Congregation and later in the morning died of apoplexy in the cold water bath in the District Court Compound here. He was buried in St. John’s Church, Trichy. The School was renamed Heber Memorial School.