Edwin Partridge

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

NOTE: Year of Birth is taken from official records but day and month are not known. The latter dates have been entered as 01/01 because the site does not allow those fields to be left empty.

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

POSTSCRIPT: WHAT BECAME OF ANNIE WEAVER? 1866: “Miss A. WEAVER.—The Alliance News states that the friends of temperance will be glad to learn that the noble-minded girl, Annie Weaver, who was shot at Stroud, in June last, by the youth she had discarded on his visiting her when in a state of intoxication, is now in a great measure restored to health, and nothing appears to stand in the way of a complete cure, which we sincerely hope will be realised.” (Lady's Own Paper, 29 December, 1866, p13 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002255/18661229/057/0013) -- 1875: “MARRIAGES... COLLINS—WEAVER. – June 29, at the Old Chapel, Stroud, by the Rev. E.V. Horton, Mr William Collins to Miss Annie Weaver, both of Stroud.” (Stroud Journal, 3 July, 1875, p4 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002221/18750703/036/0004) -- 1876: “BIRTHS... COLLINS. – May 7, at No. 6, Middle-street, Stroud, the wife of William Collins, of a son.” (Stroud Journal, 13 May, 1876, p4 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002221/18760513/033/0004) -- 1876: “DEATHS... COLLINS. – July 20, at Weston-super-Mare, aged 30, Annie, wife of Mr William Collins, of No. 6, Middle-street, Stroud.” (Stroud Journal, 22 July, 1876, p4 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002221/18760722/042/0004). -- 1877: “DEATHS... COLLINS. – April 28, at Packenhill, Stroud, aged 9 months, George Henry, son of Mr William Collins.” (Stroud Journal, 5 May, 1877, p4 at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002221/18770505/087/0004) --000--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

TO SINGAPORE: 1878, 14 September: On a “Register of Expirees and Conditional Pardon Holders who have left the Colony”, Edwin Partridge, expiree, #9846, sailed 14/9/1878 on the schooner Madeline out of Albany for Singapore. Described as slight, age 32, 5ft. 4in. high, light hair, brown eyes, oval visage, fair complexion (WA Police Gazette, No 42, October 16, 1878, p170 at https://slwa.wa.gov.au/pdf/battye/police_gazettes/187810_m.pdf). The Madeline carried a cargo of sandalwood (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2979868). --000--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

FREMANTLE JAIL RECORD: PARTRIDGE, Edward; inmate #9846, arrived 10 Jan 1868 per Hougoumont Alias: Edwin Date of Birth: 1844 [1846] Marital Status: Unmarried Occupation: Leather dresser [currier] Literacy: Literate Sentence Place: Gloucester Crime: Grievous bodily harm Sentence Period: 12 years Ticket Leave Date: 20 Oct 1872 Certificate of Freedom Date: 19 Aug 1878 Comments: Conditional Release 1875. Labourer, general servant. To Singapore, 14 Sep 1878 (https://fremantleprison.com.au/history-heritage/research/convict-database/). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

IN WA: 1868: On arrival, Edwin Partridge [sic], 22, was listed as convict #9846; sentenced to 12 years; sentenced at Gloucester, 8 August, 1866, for feloniously shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm; leather dresser [currier], single, no children; literate; Protestant; family – father Thomas Partridge, Stroud, Gloucestershire; character “good”. Described as 5'4¼" tall, light hair, brown eyes, oval face, fair complexion, healthy appearance; no distinguishing marks. Other: Ticket of Leave granted 20 October 1872; and Certificate of Freedom granted 19 August, 1878 (Convicts to Australia at https://www.perthdps.com/convicts/con-wa42.html). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

EMBARKATION: 1867, 8 October: Edward Partridge was sent from Portland to board the Hougoumont for WA (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867, December; image 271). “The hired convict ship Hougoumont, which has been taken up, by the Government for the conveyance of a numerous party of convicts to Freemantle, Western Australia, left the Nore on October 1, and proceeded down Channel, after receiving on board 150 convicts from the establishments at Chatham and Millbank. The convicts from the Chatham establishment, at St. Mary's, embarked from the dockyard on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W. J. Blakely, and were in charge of a numerous party of convict guards and wardens, all heavily armed. Among the convicts shipped were a party of fifteen Fenians, who were engaged in the late conspiracy in Ireland, together with the officers and crew convicted of scuttling the ship Severn [only two were on the Hougoumont – Thomas Berwick and Lionel Holdsworth, each sentenced to 20 years for fraud], and some others who have achieved notoriety from their crimes. The Fenian convicts, like the remainder of the prisoners, were chained together in gangs, but it was observed that they were kept apart from the other convicts in a portion of the vessel by themselves. The steamer Petrel also took down a number of convicts from the establishment at Millbank, for shipment on board the Hougoumont, in charge of a strong escort and convict guard. On Tuesday, October 8th, the Hougoumont arrived in Portland roads. Shortly before midday ninety convicts were marched down to the Government pier at Portland under a strong escort of the 12th Light Infantry. The party included twenty-three Fenian convicts, among whom it was said, was Moriarty [not the senior Fenian, Captain Moriarty; rather, this was Bartholomew Moriarty, aged 17]. The Government steamer employed in the breakwater service was used for conveying the convicts on board the Hougoumont transport ship. The convicts were chained together on embarking, and on board the steamer a strong guard of marines from her Majesty's ship St. George was formed, and saw the convicts safely placed on board the Hougoumont. The Governor of the penal settlement at Freemantle, Captain Young, is on board the Hougoumont, and returns in that ship to his sphere of duty after paying a visit to his native land.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Dec 1867, p4, at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28608271). --00--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

1867, 21 May: Admitted to Portland Prison, Grove Road, Portland, in Dorset – Edward Partridge inmate #6117; 20 years old; convicted at Gloucester, 12 years; surgeon’s reports “good”, behaviour during the June quarter – “exemplary” (England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1876 for Edward Partridge; Quarterly Returns of Prisoners in Convict Prisons/Lunatic Asylums; 1867; June). Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Spike Island in Ireland were listed public works stations and the second stage in the penal process. After separate confinement, prisoners were “placed on work parties at various locations, most commonly naval stations, where maintenance of facilities was vital for the effective protection of Britain’s far flung commercial and military influences around the world. While there, attitude and behaviour were monitored closely. In theory, only after consistently positive reports was a prisoner moved on to the third stage of his incarceration—transportation.” (Edgar, p40) --00--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

JAIL: 1866, 5 September: Sent to Pentonville Prison, Caledonian Road, London, on Secretary of State’s Warrant (from Gloucester County Gaol). Listed as inmate #3956 Edward Partridge, 20, single, semiliterate, currier; convicted at Gloucester Assizes on 8 August, 1866, for feloniously shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm (Gloucestershire, England, Prison Records, 1728-1914; Registers of Prisoners; The County Gaol; 1865-1871; images 106-7; and UK, Criminal Records, 1780-1871 for Edward Partridge; Prison Registers and Statistical Returns; 1864-1871; HO 24/18; image 108). “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

Trial/4 "The Judge, in summing up, said the charge against the prisoner was almost the most serious that could be brought against any man, and the jury ought not to convict him on the first count unless they were satisfied that if the young woman had died he would have been guilty of her murder. There could, however, be no excuse even if the young woman rejected the prisoner, whom she had deliberately recognised as her suitor, for wounding her and inflicting upon her injury which, unless it pleased God to restore her, was worse than death. ‘Young men,’ he added, ‘who make love to young women must prepare themselves for occasional disappointments.’ These violent attachments between the sexes, when uncontrolled by religion and reason, did sometimes lead to things which, unless under the influence of that passion, enemies would not do to each other. He charged the jury to weigh all the circumstances, and decide as to the prisoner's intention when he fired the pistol. The jury, after a short consultation, found the prisoner guilty on the second count, of inflicting grievous bodily harm. The Judge, addressing the prisoner, said he had been found guilty of shooting Annie Weaver, with intent to do her grievous bodily harm. The jury had taken a merciful view of his case, and acquitted him on the first count; but it was impossible to hear the evidence in such a case without a wrestle and struggle with one's sense of duty and one's compassion for a youth of his age, and entertain the hope that he would be found guilty only of that offence of which he had been found guilty, namely, intention to inflict grievous bodily harm. There could be no doubt the prisoner bought the pistols, that he provided himself with powder and shot, that he loaded the pistols, and that, at twelve o'clock at night, he followed the girl to that place, where she lived, and on her declining to re-admit him to her company, he presented a pistol and shot her, and inflicted wounds which, on the evidence of the medical gentleman, rendered it exceedingly probable he would have killed her; and he had done her a mischief which was almost worse than death, and if she had died within a year afterwards, he (prisoner) would have rendered himself liable to be tried for murder. Making all the allowance possible to make in such a case, it was necessary that persons should be deterred from offences of this kind, and young men in particular should know that if they chose to gain the affections of a girl, that girl, after knowing them, had a right to decline having any further acquaintance with them. It was not only a base and unmanly thing but a most wicked thing for a young man to revenge himself upon the girl of his choice, through disappointment. On account of his youth and good character he should inflict a sentence which, he feared, ought to be much severer, namely 12 years' penal servitude. The prisoner, who had not appeared agitated at any time during the trial, was then removed.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000532/18660811/036/0008) --00--

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Dianne Jones on 17th December 2023

Trial/3 "Mr R. Carter, surgeon: On Saturday, 2nd June, I was called in to attend Annie Weaver, and found her at Mrs Peyton's, lying on the floor, faint, and bleeding from wounds in her side. I had her removed and put to bed. Her clothes were blackened by powder flash, and bloody. I removed the clothes and found four wounds on the right side of the chest, about level with the breast, just outside the arm. They appeared to be gun-shot wounds, and such as might have been caused by such shots as those produced. All of them were not of the same character. Two of them appeared to have been produced by firearms discharged very closely, because the edges were scorched and blackened by still unconsumed powder. From one of these I removed crushed whalebone, corresponding with the whalebone of the stays; from the other, newspaper, which appeared to have been used as wadding. The other two were of slighter character, and were not blackened by the firearm. One of them was a severe abrasion of the skin; the other a punctured wound of about a quarter of an inch deep, such as might be produced by a shot of the description produced going in a little way and falling out. I probed one of the first wounds to the depth of an inch, but could not follow them with the foreceps further. In one of them I found a pellet of paper. It is my opinion that one of the wounds certainly penetrated the chest—if not both—and that the shots are still there. The skin of her right cheek was marked by grains of unburnt powder. The stays have marks corresponding with the wounds, and one of the whalebones is fractured. It is my opinion that two of the shots were fired close to the body, and two some distance off. They were highly dangerous wounds. On the following day the girl suffered from internal bleeding to such an extent that I thought she would have died; but the bleeding stopped, and she became gradually better, but became delirious, and after a few days her brain passed into clear insanity, and on the 11th July she was removed to the County Lunatic Asylum. Ebenezer Toller, Superintendent of the County Lunatic Asylum: I received Annie Weaver into the Asylum on the 11th July. Her general health was in a weak state; she was suffering from a discharge from two wounds in the side and acute mania. After a few days she became in a very weak state but by great care and attention she became a little revived, and, mentally, is a shade more intelligent than she was. Cross-examined: She may recover, but it is very probable she will not. Mr. Motteram said the enquiry was a very serious one— next to a charge of wilful murder. The prisoner was a youth of twenty, who was keeping company with Annie Weaver; no one regretted the occurrence more than the prisoner himself. He did not intend to argue that it was not the prisoner's act, but he asked them to consider well the circumstances of the case, and say whether there was not a far safer verdict than that his learned friend asked them to give—namely, shooting Annie Weaver with an unlawful intent. The prisoner, so young, could not have formed the intention of killing the girl. If he had wished to kill her, bullets and not swan shot would have been the missiles used, and then the consequence would have been the death of the young woman. There was jealousy in his mind, and it was this which caused the act which has been productive of such lamentable consequeuces. His intention was to injure, but not so deeply as he had injured. They might judge of the intention with which the act was done by his subsequent conduct. He makes his way from Stroud, knowing not where to go; his reason, which had been disturbed, returns, and he retraces his steps to Stroud, and meets the Inspector, and his first inquiry is, ‘How is Annie?’ He asked them to consider the case as men of the world—without prejudice he was certain they would. Charles Warner, a retired manufacturer, living at Stonehouse, said the prisoner was a pupil in the school of which he was superintendent. He was always well conducted, gentle, and kind. Mr. Bryant, of Stroud, and Mr. George Davies, formerly of Stroud, also gave the prisoner a good character." Contd/4...