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School, Isleham Fen
History of Isleham Fen School
School, Isleham Fen OS 1925
In the 1930s Mrs Walker, headmistress lived here, together with her carpenter husband. Two of the teachers also lived here but there was a third elsewhere. The school also served as a church on Sundays.
Henry Richard Quinn, the first headmaster of the Fen school, was the first to take flower growing seriously in the locality. The most famous flower grower to have been born in the Fen was ben Quinn, one of the three sons of the headmaster. ‘Starting from nothing’ as it is always said, Ben Quinn gradually acquired or rented a large acreage in West Row Fen over the river … some say up to 10 acres and created much seasonal employment. In due course Ben Quinn acquired his own lorry with the inscription’Ben Quinn Stock and Aster.’ Tom Quinn assisted his brother and was a flower grower himself.
Source: The History of Isleham Fen in the 1930s by Polly Hill, Clare Hall, 1990
Founded 1879
1881 West Bank of River Lark National School
Henry Richard Quinn, 37, schoolmaster, b Ireland
Kate, 37, b Middlesex
Harriet, 9, b London
Francis Henry, 8, b London
Thomas, 6, b Isleham
William, 4, b Isleham
Kate Fielders Quinn, 1, b Isleham
1891 School House and Sundays for church services
Henry Richard Quinn, 47, certificated teacher
Kate, 47,
Harriet, 19,
Francis, 18, small farmer
Thomas, 16,
William, 14,
Kate Fielders, 11,
Walter Benjamin, 7, b Isleham
Edward H, 1, b Isleham
1901 Fen Bank
Henry R Quinn, 57, school master lay reader,
Kate, 57,
Harriet, 29, teacher in day school
Walter B, 17, market gardener,
Edward H, 11,
1911
Walter Benjamin Quinn, 27, market gardener
Ellen Mary, 22, b Suffolk
Thomas, brother, 36, market gardener
Alice Marguerite Annie Carr, boarder, 23, elementary school mistress, b Northants
1921 School House
Walter Benjamin Quinn, 38, market grower, b Isleham
Ellen Mary, 33, b Suffolk
Thomas Quinn, brother, 45, market gardener, b Isleham
Henrietta Paterson Lawrie, 27, school mistress, b Michigan USA
In 1911 Henrietta had been living in Workington, Cumbria. The other members of her family were born in the UK.
1922 Henrietta Paterson Lawrie married Albert Charles Clarke, 37, farmer at the parish church in Mildenhall. her father was Thomas Lawrie, deceased, accountant.
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