Frances Partridge
Encyclopedia
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(née Marshall; 15 March 1900 – 5 February 2004) was a long-lived member of the Bloomsbury Group
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
and a writer, probably best known for the publication of her diaries. She married Ralph Partridge (1894 – 30 November 1960) in 1933.
Origins and education
Born in Bedford Square in London, she was the youngest of six children of William Marshall, an English architect. She lived in the square until she was eight when her father retired and they moved to the countryside.She was educated at Bedales School
Bedales School
Bedales School is a co-educational independent school situated in Hampshire, in the south east of England. Founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventional Victorian schools, today the school is one of the most expensive in the UK, charging £9,985 per term for a...
and Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
.
Bloomsbury
Working at a London bookshop owned by David GarnettDavid Garnett
David Garnett was a British writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life.-Early life:...
and Francis Birrell, she became acquainted with Lytton Strachey
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit...
, Dora Carrington
Dora Carrington
Dora de Houghton Carrington , known generally as Carrington, was a British painter and decorative artist, remembered in part for her association with members of the Bloomsbury Group, especially the writer Lytton Strachey....
and Ralph Partridge. In 1921, Ralph Partridge had married Dora Carrington, who was in love with Lytton Strachey, a homosexual who was himself more interested in Ralph Partridge. An added complication was Dora Carrington’s intermittent affair with one of Ralph Partridge’s best friends, Gerald Brenan
Gerald Brenan
Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE was a British writer and Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain.He is best known for The Spanish Labyrinth, a historical work on the background to the Spanish Civil War, and for South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village...
. Carrington, Partridge, and Strachey shared a Wiltshire farm-house, Ham Spray, in a complex triangular relationship that was recorded in the 1995 film Carrington
Carrington (film)
Carrington is a biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington , who was known simply as "Carrington"...
, with Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
playing Frances.
Ralph Partridge now fell in love with Frances. They lived in London during the week and repaired to Ham Spray at weekends. After Dora Carrington committed suicide out of grief in 1932, shortly after Lytton Strachey’s death, Ralph and Frances married on 2 March 1933. They lived happily at Ham Spray until Ralph’s death in 1960.
They had one son, (Lytton) Burgo Partridge
Burgo Partridge
Lytton Burgo Partridge was an English author and member of the Bloomsbury Group.He was the son of Ralph and Frances Partridge, and named after Lytton Strachey. In 1962, Burgo married Henrietta Garnett, daughter of Angelica Garnett and David Garnett,. At the wedding, seventeen-year-old Henrietta...
, who was born in 1935 and named for Strachey. In 1962, Burgo married Henrietta Garnett, daughter of Angelica Garnett
Angelica Garnett
Angelica Vanessa Garnett is a British writer and painter.-Early life:She was the illegitimate daughter of the painters Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf, and was a member of the Bloomsbury Group...
and David Garnett
David Garnett
David Garnett was a British writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life.-Early life:...
, with Henrietta already pregnant with their daughter. Sadly, he died suddenly of heart failure on 7 September 1963, only three weeks after the birth of their baby, Sophie Vanessa. He had already been noticed for his writing ability, and had published one well-received book, A History of Orgies (1958).
Frances sold Ham Spray and moved to London. Her writings, her membership of the Bloomsbury circle, her great personal charm and the energy that she retained into extreme old age together ensured for her a degree of celebrity towards the end of her life.
She was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
New Year Honours
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...
.
Works
- The Greville MemoirsCharles Cavendish Fulke GrevilleCharles Cavendish Fulke Greville was an English diarist and an amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1819 to 1827...
(Macmillan & Co, 1938), an editorial cooperation with Ralph Partridge (commenced by Lytton Strachey). - A translation of Nothing is Impossible (Harvill Press, 1956) by Mercedes Ballesteros.
- A translation of Something to Declare (The Harvill Press, 1957) by Lovleff Bornet
- A translation of Blood and Sand (Elek, 1958) by Vicente Blasco IbáñezVicente Blasco IbáñezVicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
- A translation of The Naked Lady (Elek, 1959) by Vicente Blasco IbáñezVicente Blasco IbáñezVicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
- A translation of The Enemy in the Mouth: An Account of Alcoholics Anonymous (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961) by Joseph Kessel
- A translation of A Gap in the Wall (Collins, 1963) by Gabrielle Estivals
- A translation of El Señor PresidenteEl Señor Presidente' is a 1946 novel written in Spanish by Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan writer and diplomat Miguel Ángel Asturias . A landmark text in Latin American literature, explores the nature of political dictatorship and its effects on society. Asturias makes early use of a literary technique now known...
(Atheneum, 1964) by Miguel Ángel AsturiasMiguel Ángel AsturiasMiguel Ángel Asturias Rosales was a Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat... - A translation of Human Communication (World University Library, 1967) by J.L.Aranguren
- A translation of Napoleon's St. Helena (John Murray, 1968) by Gilbert MartineauGilbert MartineauGilbert Martineau was a French naval officer, author of books on Napoleon and his family, honorary consul, and curator of the French properties on St Helena, 1956-1987....
- A translation of The War of Time (Gollancz, 1970) by Alejo CarpentierAlejo CarpentierAlejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba; and despite his European birthplace, Carpentier strongly self-identified...
- A translation of Napoleon Surrenders (John Murray, 1971) by Gilbert MartineauGilbert MartineauGilbert Martineau was a French naval officer, author of books on Napoleon and his family, honorary consul, and curator of the French properties on St Helena, 1956-1987....
- A translation of Reasons of State (Alfred A Knopf, 1976) by Alejo CarpentierAlejo CarpentierAlejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba; and despite his European birthplace, Carpentier strongly self-identified...
- A translation of Napoleon's Last Journey (John Murray, 1976) by Gilbert MartineauGilbert MartineauGilbert Martineau was a French naval officer, author of books on Napoleon and his family, honorary consul, and curator of the French properties on St Helena, 1956-1987....
- A translation of Madame Mère: Napoleon’s Mother (John Murray, 1978) by Gilbert MartineauGilbert MartineauGilbert Martineau was a French naval officer, author of books on Napoleon and his family, honorary consul, and curator of the French properties on St Helena, 1956-1987....
- A Pacifist’s War (Hogarth Press, 1978), an account of Ralph’s and her life as pacifists during the Second World War. (Ralph Partridge had won a Military CrossMilitary CrossThe Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
and bar during the First World War.) - Love in Bloomsbury: Memories (Victor Gollancz, 1981)
- Julia (Gollancz, 1983), a memoir of her friend Julia Strachey.
- Everything to Lose (Gollancz, 1985), her diaries between 1945 and 1960.
- Friends in Focus (Chatto & Windus, 1987), collected photographs.
- Hanging On (Collins, 1990), her diaries between 1960 and 1963.
- Other People (Harper Collins, 1993), her diaries between 1963 and 1966.
- Good Company (Harper Collins, 1994), her diaries between 1967 and 1970.
- Life Regained (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998), her diaries between 1970 and 1972.
- Ups and Downs (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001), her diaries between 1972 and 1975.
Further reading
- Chisholm, Anne (2009). Frances Partridge: The Biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780297646730