My grandfather's parents were born in separate shires in England and emigrated to Australia, where they married in Mackay in 1889.

His father, George Shinn was born in 1867 in the small farming community of Islington, also known as Tilney cum Islington, south-west of King's Lynn in western Norfolk. It is in an area of marshland known as "The Fens" and is one of the "Seven Towns of Marshland".

Whites Directory in 1845 describes Tilney cum Islington as "a parish of dispersed houses on the west bank of that broad part of the old river Ouse, which has been converted into pasture ground since the diversion of the waters..." (GENUKI) It also notes that after the river was diverted and channelled the water fowl disappeared, upsetting many of the poor inhabitants of the "Seven Towns" who relied on them for food and sport. (GENUKI) Much of the land was owned by the "lord of the manor" (the Bagge family of Islington Hall) or farmed under common rights. The main crops were wheat and beans. (GENUKI) There were "six cottages belonging to the poor".

Baptism Records indicate a number of siblings for George - Harry & Frederick (1865), Emma (1869), Elizabeth (1881) and Walter (1890) - all born to William and Elizabeth Shinn. However Burial Records show the early death of Harry, 1, in 1866 and Matthew, 6 and John, 8, in 1879. The cause of death is not known. However, it is interesting to speculate whether it was "marsh fever" or ague, a malarial disease endemic in the Fens throughout the 1800s.

The Shinns were probably agricultural labourers, although in his later years it seems William Shinn may have moved further south to become the licensee of the Ship Inn at Feltwell.

Click here to see historic photos of nearby villages such as Wiggenhall St Germans.

Click here to see a photo of the ruins of the Islington parish church.

Click here to see a detailed map