Mary (The Elder) Partridge

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Naomi Parsons on 7th May 2025

Mary and her daughters, also Mary, and Ellen, were all charged with burgling Richard Donovan’s house at Liverpool, stealing 10 sovereigns, large amounts of clothing and shoes, bedding and other articles along with Jane Miller and Ellen Meadows. Mary and daughter Mary were both found guilty- Mary senior was sentenced to death, commuted to life transportation and Mary junior- seven years but Ellen was acquitted and left to return to Liverpool where Mary's son and the girls' brother John remained. Just four months later, Mary's daughter Ellen was convicted at Liverpool Borough Quarter Sessions of theft of clothing with a group of other young people including her son John and was sent to Lancaster Castle, reuniting the family in jail. Whilst in jail, a description of Mary "The Elder" was taken, she was described as "a formidable lady- 5ft 8" and "over 6ft in stockings, a giant". Mary was a widow, her husband Thomas had passed away just two weeks before Ellen's birth and she had raised her family alone. Mary's daughters were to be transported without her, she would not have known for at least a year that her daughter Mary had died from grief and heart failure from their separation whilst aboard the ship, Brothers and her youngest daughter Ellen had arrived safely in Van Diemen's Land. At 52, she was probably unlikely to have been transported due to her age but a year after her daughters had sailed, she personally asked to be sent to New South Wales with a note saying "she is a strong healthy woman and wishes to go abroad". John, her son, was sent to the hulk ‘Captivity’ and after five years, was eventually granted a free pardon in 1828. Mary, on arrival was described as originally from Brigham, Cumberland, 5 ft 8 1/2, hazel eyes, black to grey hair- well behaved on the way out and had acted as galley cook. She was assigned as a house and dairy maid to Commander William Ogilvie and his wife who had also sailed and met Mary on the Grenada, becoming friends (and whose son Edward named her the 'giant in her stockings'. Mary must have soon discovered the news of her daughters and began petitioning within months, via Mr Ogilvie for her surviving daughter Ellen to be allowed to sail from Van Diemen's Land to New South Wales to join her. She wrote in her own hand (before knowing their fates) "and that I may once again have the happiness of meeting my unfortunate children and it will make amends for all my grief and by your kindness extending towards me, your humble petitioner you will ever have the prayers of me and my children who will ever be in duty bound to pray for your goodness now kind sir trusting you will have communication on me and my poor children Ellen received permission to go and join her there though Ellen's employers decided they could not spare her but relented in January 1827. In August 1827, Ellen finally sailed on the ‘Governor Ready’ to join her mother at the Hunter’s River on the Merton estate and also went into service with the Ogilvies. The following year the 1828 census shows Mary now in service for Hannibal H MacArthur at Vineyard Cottage (Rydalmere) with Ellen still with the Ogilvies where she would marry the following year. Mary became a grandmother in 1831. Mary lived and worked with (and was most likely assigned to) her daughter and son-in-law at Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Valley as a licensed victualler and passed away there in October 1851, aged 76. She may have been buried at the Old Anglican Cemetery there.

341

Maureen Withey on 23rd April 2021

1828 Census Index. Mary Partridge, age 50, G.S. Grenada, 1825, Life, protestant, Servant H.H. McArthur, Vineyard Cottage, Parramatta.

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Maureen Withey on 23rd April 2021

Colonial Secretary Index. PARTRIDGE, Mary. Per "Grenada", 1825. 1825 Jan 25 Prisoner to be received from "Grenada" and delivered to the Colonial Secretary's Office; name crossed out (Reel 6014; 4/3513 p.317) 1825 Jul 9 Servant to William Ogilvie at Newcastle. For permission to join her remaining daughter at the Derwent (Reel 6064; 4/1787 p.18) 1825 Jul 18 Re her application to be sent to Van Diemen's Land (Reel 6015; 4/3515 p.33) 1825 Oct 7 Servant of William Ogilvie. Petition of William Ogilvie to have Mary's daughter Ellen returned from Derwent and assigned to him (Reel 6064; 4/1788 p.11) ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Convict Indents. State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 12188; Item: [4/4009A]; Microfiche: 654 Name: Mary Partridge the elder Ship: Grenada 1825 Date: January 1825 Place: Sydney Cove Details: Mary Partridge age 47. House and dairy maid from Cumberland. Tried at Lancaster 29 December 1823. Sentenced to transportation for life. 5ft 8 1/2 in in height. Hazel eyes, black to grey hair. Well behaved on the voyage out ------------------------------------------------- Source: Squatter's Castle, by George Farwell, p. 21 (A biography of boy, Edward Ogilvie, who came with his parents on the Grenada, arriving in 1825 Name: Mary Partridge the elder Ship: Grenada 1825 Date: 1825 Details: A formidable lady known as Partridge the elder, as her daughter Ellen had been transported on an earlier ship. Described as a gigantic woman six feet in her stockings. Sentenced to transportation for Life at Lancaster Assizes. Mary Ogilvie took a liking to her and she accompanied the Ogilvies on their trip to Merton.