In its early days, the Greenock firm of Scott, Sinclair & Co were best known in Greenock for producing engines and other items for ships at their foundry at Cartsburn Street. However, in 1844 a much more unusual item was made there. It was an iron schoolhouse.
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| Lady Byron - source |
It was made for Lady Byron, widow of the poet Lord Byron and was described in a newspaper article -
“It is one storey high, has a pavilion roof, is round in shape, and has four windows and a door. It weighs about 8 or 9 tons, and being in compartments, an be easily taken down in convenient pieces to carry to any distance, and quickly put together again.”
The building was to be used as a school for the education of 50 poor children paid for by Lady Byron. It was set up in Fleckney in Leicestershire where it was known as the “iron school”.
Lady Byron was born Anne Isabella Noel Milbanke in
1792. In 1815 she married George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) the poet. It seems to have been an
unhappy marriage and the couple separated after just one year, Annabella (as
she was known) having given birth to the couple’s only child, Ada Lovelace (1815-1852). A great philanthropist, Lady
Byron took a special interest in education and established several schools. She died of breast cancer in 1860.
Greenock has another link with Lord Byron. Author John Galt wrote a biography of Byron which was published in 1830.
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