The school was originally established in Srinagar, Kashmir by the English Mill Hill missionary Fathers. In 1948, a year after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire, a few of the Fathers moved to Abbottabad with a handful of students[citation needed] and set up the school in a small building, the Abbot Hotel[citation needed]. The Fathers reasoned that if Pakistan was to be a successf
ul nation, it needed men of high calibre and, since the British Empire was built by men who came from the English public school system, the Fathers replicated the same system and promoted sports as a means of character building. More buildings were added to accommodate an increasing number of students and the school came under the control of the Diocesan Board of Education, Rawalpindi. In 1956, a new school building was constructed a few miles outside the town, on the Grand Trunk road. Its purpose was to provide more room for the seniors and it became known as the Senior Burn Hall, while the campus in the city center became known as the Junior Burn Hall. There were seven sports played at the school; Cricket, Hockey, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Swimming, and Athletics, with inter-house competitions between St Michaels and St Andrews(later renamed St Gabriel's). St Michael's was represented by a black shield with gold border, crossed white lance and sword. St Gabriel's was represented by a lion holding a fiery torch. In 1966 and 1967, foreign experts had come to assist in building the Tarbella Dam and their families stayed in Abbotabad. Two daughters of one of the consultants joined the school and were the first foreign girls to enroll in Senior Burn Hall. Miss Samina Manzoor and Miss Imrana Hameed later became the first Pakistani girls to join ABHC. Foreign students came from Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Laos, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kenya, the US and Britain. In 1977, the Burn Hall School Abbottabad, was taken over from the Mill Hill fathers and the Rawalpindi Diocese Board, by the Pakistan Army's 'Education Corps' and has since become known as the 'Army Burn Hall College and School'. Since then, it has gradually turned into a military style cadets' institution, turning out students destined for army service.
