Ganga Ram was born in 1851 in Mangtanwala about forty miles from Lahore and fourteen miles from Nankana Sahib, his father, Doulat Ram, who was a junior Sub inspector at a Police Station in Mangtanwala, later moved to Amritsar to become a copyist of the Court. Here Ganga Ram passed his matriculation from the Govt. High School and joined the Govt. College Lahore in 1869 Afterwards he obtained a Scholarship to the Thomson Engineering College at Roorki in 1871, where he passed with the gold medal in 1873. He was appointed Assistant Engineer and called to Dehli to help in the building of the Imperial Assemblage. Impressed by his work, Lord Ripon sent him to Bradford in the U.K to get further training for two years in Water Works and Drainage. He came back to India and served the Punjab Goverment in various districts and builtn courts and goverment offices in Lyallpur, Sheikhupura. He was honored as Rai bahadur when he came to Lahore in 1885.
It was in 1873 that Ganga Ram appeared in his final examination, which he passed, standing third in order of merit, and topping the list in the project paper. This success won for him gold medal, a much-prized distinction, and it was instrumental in securing for him almost immediate recognition. He was appointed assistant engineer, and posted to Lahore, to serve his apprenticeship under the late R. B Kanayyah Lal then executive engineer of Lahore. Ganga Ram had covered a span of twenty-two years, and before him lay the unopened book of his career.
Rai Bbahadur kanhaya Lal the executive of engineer Lahore, who was considered a very great man those days, gets down the following remarks about him.
Lahore is a modern city with a rich history. It has kept the marks of great men in its folds for centuries. SIR GANGA RAM was one of such men who contributed immensely to Lahore’s development as a modern city, but was forgotten millions of the people are acquainted with his name because of the Ranga Ram Hospital, nobody knows that who Ranga Ram was. He dedicated a major part of his life to Lahore as a disfurnished engineer and a warmhearted philanthropist but the name of his hospital is in people’s consciousness. He supervised the construction of high court. Cathedral and constructed the Aitcheson chiefs college. He also gave Lahore new water works in addition to many other building. For twelve years he was the executive engineer of Lahore, a period which, in retrospect, has been called as “Ganga Ram period of Architecture