Albert Victor Partridge was born in the spring of 1885, in the north Somerset village of Abbots Leigh. The younger of two children, his parents were agricultural labourer James and his laundress wife, Elizabeth.
By the time of the 1891 census, the family were living at Upper Farm, but Elizabeth died at some point afterwards and James moved the family to Wraxall, near Nailsea. He was working as a carter on a farm, while Albert was employed as a domestic gardener.
Ten years later, and James had also passed away. Albert was now head of the household, and was working as a carter as his father had. Emily was sharing the home, and was employed, in the terminology of the day, as her brother’s housekeeper.
When war broke out, Albert was called upon to play his part. Details of his service are scant, but he joined up as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps and was attached to one of the Horsed Transport units. It is unclear whether he served on the home front or overseas, but what records remain suggested that he had enlisted by November 1917.
Driver Partridge was admitted to a hospital in London in May 1918. The only suggestion as to why comes through his Pension Ledger Card, which simply says ‘disease’. The condition was severe enough for him to pass away: Albert died on 24th May 1918, at the age of 32 years old.
Albert Victor Partridge was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful grounds of All Saints’ Church in Wraxall.
Emily’s whereabouts become a little vague following her brother’s death. An entry in the 1921 census suggests she may have taken employment at the Royal School for the Blind in Bristol, and she was still recorded there at the time of the 1939 England and Wales Register. Further records suggest that she passed away in Weston-super-Mare in 1945: she would have been 65 years of age.
[Note: My thanks to Rob Clarke of the Weston-super-Mare Family History Society for filling in some of the blanks in Albert and Emily’s lives.]
Death and Service 