Frances Catherine PartridgeCBE (née Marshall; 15 March 1900 – 5 February 2004) was an English writer. Closely connected to the Bloomsbury Group,[1] she is probably best known for the publication of her diaries. She married Ralph Partridge (1894 – 30 November 1960) in 1933. The couple had one son, (Lytton) Burgo Partridge (1935–1963).
Dora Carrington, Ralph Partridge, Lytton and Oliver Strachey, and Frances Partridge, 1923
While working at a London bookshop owned by David Garnett (whose first wife was Frances's sister Rachel Marshall, known as Ray) and Francis Birrell, Frances Partridge got to know Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington, 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 Partridge. An added complication was Dora Carrington's intermittent affair with one of Partridge's best friends, Gerald Brenan. Carrington, Partridge, and Strachey shared a Wiltshire farm-house, Ham Spray, in a complex triangular relationship (later recorded in the 1995 film Carrington, with Alex Kingston 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 at Ham Spray until Ralph's death in 1960.
They had one son, (Lytton) Burgo Partridge, who was born in 1935 and named after Strachey. In 1962, Burgo married Henrietta Garnett, daughter of Angelica Garnett and David Garnett,[5] with Henrietta already pregnant with their daughter. 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).[6]
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.[7]
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 Martineau
A translation of The War of Time (Gollancz, 1970) by Alejo Carpentier
A translation of Napoleon Surrenders (John Murray, 1971) by Gilbert Martineau
A translation of Reasons of State (Alfred A Knopf, 1976) by Alejo Carpentier
A translation of Napoleon's Last Journey (John Murray, 1976) by Gilbert Martineau
A translation of Madame Mère: Napoleon’s Mother (John Murray, 1978) by Gilbert Martineau
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 Cross 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 (HarperCollins, 1993), her diaries between 1963 and 1966.
Good Company (HarperCollins, 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.
Chisholm, Anne (2009). Frances Partridge: The Biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN978-0-297-64673-0[9][10]
Footnotes
^McGuire, Julie (Autumn 2003). "Review: A Bloomsbury Canvas: Reflections on the Bloomsbury Group by Tony Bradshaw". NWSA Journal. 15 (3): 223–225. JSTOR4317027. Frances Partridge, Quentin Bell and Angelica Garnett were among the last survivors of those closely connected to the Bloomsbury Group.
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