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Friends' School (known as Walden School from 2016–17) was a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
independent school located in
Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...
,
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Gr ...
, situated approximately 12 miles south of the city of
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...
, England. The school was co-educational and accommodated children between the ages of three and 18 (boarders and day pupils). The school closed at the end of the 2017 summer term.


History

Friends' School, Saffron Walden was founded as part of the Quakers' Clerkenwell workhouse in Islington in London in 1703, 50 years after
George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...
. The workhouse was for children and the elderly and the school moved out as a separate entity in 1786. It was now nearby in Clerkenwell and now known as the Friends' School. However the new building was damp and ill suited to teaching and learning. In 1825 the school began operation in Croydon. There was initially 120 places for students who began at the age of nine. Children did not have to be members of the Quakers but these children were accepted first. In 1828 the school had a marriage when Elizabeth Hutchinson married Edward Foster Brady. They were both teachers and both former pupils of the school. In 1833 they became joint heads of the school, although Edward was ill and had been consumptive. He died in 1838 and Elizabeth Brady led the school until 1842. In 1876 the mayor of Saffron Waldon offered a new site for the school and in 1879 the school opened in Saffron Walden. In September 2016 the school changed its name to Walden School. On 11 May 2017 it was announced that Walden School would close at the end of the 2016–17 school year.


Notable former pupils and associates

*
Harriett Baldwin Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin (; born 2 May 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Worcestershire since 2010. Prior to her parliamentary career, she worked for the investment bank JPMo ...
, MP for West Worcestershire *
Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...
, English painter, illustrator, graphic artist and
WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
war artist * Elizabeth Brady, student here and head of the school *
Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
, actress, Quaker and patron of Walden School *
Carola Dunn Carola Dunn (born November 14, 1946) is a British writer of regency romances and detective fiction. Life Dunn attended Friends' School, Saffron Walden, and graduated from the University of Manchester.Ralph Erskine, Sweden-based architect and planner (pupil from 1925 to 1931) * Matthew Evans, chairman and former managing director of Faber and Faber Ltd, and member of the House of Lords *
Margery Fish Margery Fish (née Townshend) (5 August 1892 – 24 March 1969) was an English gardener and gardening writer, who exercised a strong influence on the informal English cottage garden style of her period.
, gardener and writer *
Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...
, singer-songwriter, record producer and audio engineer *
Diana Wynne Jones Diana Wynne Jones (16 August 1934 – 26 March 2011) was a British novelist, poet, academic, literary critic, and short story writer. She principally wrote fantasy and speculative fiction novels for children and young adults. Although usually d ...
, novelist, poet and academic (pupil from 1946 to 1952) *
E. V. Lucas Edward Verrall Lucas, CH (11/12 June 1868 – 26 June 1938) was an English humorist, essayist, playwright, biographer, publisher, poet, novelist, short story writer and editor. Born to a Quaker family in Eltham, on the fringes of London, Lucas ...
, humorist, essayist and playwright * Tony Newton (Lord Newton of Braintree), politician * Deborah Norton, actress * John Peet, journalist and translator of
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
* Matthew Robinson, executive producer of ''
Byker Grove Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series '' Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is bor ...
'' and ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
'' and founder of Khmer Mekong Films (pupil from 1958 to 1963) *
Tom Robinson Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...
, singer-songwriter and broadcaster (pupil from 1961 to 1967) * Jeremy Shearmur, philosopher at Australian National University * Malcolm Shepherd, politician, businessman and member of the House of Lords (pupil from 1929 to 1935) * Sally Tuffin, fashion designer and ceramicist *
Emily Young Emily Young FRBS (born 1951) is a sculptor, who has been called "Britain's greatest living stone sculptor". She was born in London into a family of artists, writers and politicians. She currently divides her time between studios in London and It ...
, sculptor


In popular culture

Carola Dunn's book ''Anthem for Doomed Youth'' is set at the school.


See also

*
List of Friends Schools Friends schools are institutions that provide an education based on the beliefs and testimonies of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). This article is a list of schools currently or historically associated with the Society of Friends, reg ...


References


Further reading

* ''The Avenue'' (school magazine). * Bolam, W. D. (1952). ''Unbroken community: The story of the Friends' School, Saffron Walden, 1702–1952''. * Buss, R. (2003). ''A Community through three centuries''. * Crosfield, J. B. (1902). ''Saffron Walden School: a sketch of two hundred years''. * Halter, H. (2002). ''The School on the hill: memories of three hundred years of Friends' School, Saffron Walden, 1702–2002''. * Hitchcock, T. V. (ed.) (1987). ''Richard Hutton's complaints book: the notebook of the steward of the Quaker workhouse at Clerkenwell 1711–1737''. * ''OSA Annual reports'', at Essex Record Office, Chelmsford. * ''Saffron Walden Weekly''. Local newspaper founded in 1889. Good coverage of Friends School. * Woods, J. C. (1979). ''Friends School: A hundred years at Saffron Walden 1879–1979''.


External links

*
Obituary of Lord Malcolm Shepherd
{{authority control 1702 establishments in England Co-educational boarding schools Defunct schools in Essex Educational institutions disestablished in 2017 Educational institutions established in 1702 Quaker schools in England