S4409
PARTRIDGE, Wilfred Fewkes
| Service Number: | 3152 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 March 1917 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Keyneton, South Australia, Australia, December 1881 |
| Home Town: | Keyneton, Mid Murray, South Australia |
| Schooling: | University of Adelaide |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Grand Masonic Lodge WW1 Honour Board (1), Saddleworth Institute Roll of Honor WW1, Saddleworth St. Aidans Church Roll of Honour, Saddleworth War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 6 Mar 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1 | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3152, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Borda embarkation_ship_number: A30 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Jun 1917: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3152, 43rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Borda, Adelaide | |
| 18 Sep 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 3152, 43rd Infantry Battalion, Wilfred Fewkes Partridge was wounded, then discharged from Hospital France on the 25th of September, 1918 | |
| 11 Nov 1918: | Involvement AIF WW1, 3152 |
Wilfred Fewkes Partridge
Mem Fox, Wilfrid’s grand-daughter, has vivid memories of her
grand-father and their close relationship. Wilfrid, much to his
annoyance, was returned to Australia in late 1919 due to being
assigned demobilisation duties.
Wilfrid was educated at Way College and went on to be a journalist
with the Murray Pioneer. His partner, Amy Brazley established the
Montessori schools in South Australia. Wilfrid and Amy were
politically active due to their involvement with the ALP. After the
war, he went to Tasmania and ran the Stanley Chronicle for many
years.
Mem and her grand-father shared a wonderful relationship upon
her return from Zimbabwe. Each Sunday she would visit Wilfrid,
referring to the visits as “an hourly lesson on life.” Mem’s love and
appreciation of him stems in part from the fact that Wilfrid financed
her first year of study at drama school, paving the way for the
successful career she now enjoys.
As a well-educated man who loved literature, Wilfrid, in his 96
years, never lost his mental faculties, read avidly, subscribed to the
Times Literary Supplement well into his 90s and would walk
Wellington Square every day. In 1976, aged 96, he wrote to Prime
Minister Malcolm Fraser advising him of how to run the country
financially as it had been conducted in the 1930s – showing he was
still politically active in the last year of his life. Throughout his life,
Wilfrid questioned / criticised, “the biological impossibility of the
virgin birth of Jesus.”
Prior to moving into an aged care facility, Wilfrid lived in Woodville
and had a large orchard, where he developed the skill of grafting
fruit trees. Mem stated, “He lived life to the fullest to the last
minute...he wanted to live a simply minimalist life”. She and
cherishes having been lucky to have got to really know Mick in the
last six years of his life.
In 1974, Mem asked Mick, aged 94, if he would write down for her
his explanation of what his war service was like. His response “One
Plank Avenue”, stated that apart from fear and the struggle to stay
alive, the soldier’s greatest enemy was monotony.
He was a keen investor, living off his investments for a large part of
his life. He advised Mem to “buy and never sell.”
Mem summarised her grand-father’s life saying “Mick loved
Australia – he was a thinker, who constantly brought a different
possibility of a way of living and governing... he was a journalist, this
was his major contribution.”
Source: NAA; B2455; PartridgeWF;
Barcode8009222
Interview with Mem Fox October 19, 2016.
Submitted 14 October 2023 by christopher collins
Biography contributed by St Ignatius' College
Wilfred Fewkes Partridge
Wilfred Fewkes Partridge, a male, like many others, embarked for the war, and luckily made it home. We do not know a lot about Wilfred before the war, and even less about him after the war. We do know that he was born in Keyneton, South Australia between December 1st and 31st in 1881. Amy Brazely was his wife and they had two children, who if they had the same features as him, would have had brown hair, blue eyes and fair complexion.
Before the war, Wilfred had studied at the University of Adelaide, and as of November 1899, had passed his final exams in Latin, Law of Property and English Language and Literature. These qualifications allowed him to work at several newspapers around Australia including working at the ‘Renmark Pioneer’, the editor of “New Times’ at Kerang, Victoria, sub-editor of ‘Northern Star’ at Lismore, NSW and editor of ‘Daily Telegraph’, Charters Towers in Queensland. We also know that he was 5 foot 7, and an educated man who made the decision to embark on a journey with no known outcome.
There is not much known information about Wilfred during the war, apart from the number of times he went to hospital and his rank. On the 6th of March, 1917, he enlisted and embarked around 3 months later on the 23rd of June, 1917 on HMAT A30 Borda. He was a private, the lowest rank of the military, so had no heavy responsibilities within his infantry battalion, the 43rd. During the war he went to hospital multiple times, including the possibility of influenza, tonsillitis, being sick in general, influenza, gastritis, typhoid fever and wounded, staying in hospital for 6 days before returning. After all of these difficulties, Wilfred still survived, leaving to return home on the 4th of December 1919, after 2 ½ years of battle.
According to Wilfred’s service records, he was also taken on strength to the 11th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery from the 4th September 1918 to an unknown date, and served in the Australian Imperial Force Head Quarters until the 31st December 1918. He then returned on the 7th January 1919 and continued serving in the Australian Imperial Force Head Quarters until the 22nd April 1919, where he then returned to the Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery from the 23rd April 1919 until the 10th August 1919.
After the war, little to no information is known. We do know he was 38/39 years of age when he got home, discharging on the 4th December 1919, but date and age of death is not known. Wilfred won two medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Of all the information that is known about Wilfred before and during the war, after the war is a mystery that is yet to be solved. Wilfred had had appendicitis before the war, which was never operated on, so it is possible that his appendix may have burst after all that time, or he lived for a while after he came home and died of natural causes. Wilfred may have possibly gone back to his journalism career, writing about perspectives in the war or taught subjects including Latin, Law of Property and English Language and Literature.
Anzac Spirit refers to the qualities shown by Australians at the war, qualities including endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour and mateship. These are all qualities that were important to have. As Arthur Bourke OAM said "a powerful driving sensation that can only be felt. It is a feeling that burns in the heart of every Australian and New Zealand countryman. A warm, tender, fiery, even melancholy ideal that nurtures intense patriotism in the innermost soul of everybody." Mateship in particular was important as throughout the war they had to all work together and find the good in the bad. The war was a difficult place to be and having no mates for two years would have made the situation even more difficult than it already was.
Wilfred used these qualities throughout the war multiple times, having courage and endurance to leave his family and to continue for two years after being in hospital multiple times with gastritis, tonsillitis, influenza, but always returning to battle. He also fought within the 43rd Battalion, the 11th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery and finished serving in the Australian Imperial Force Head Quarters. By fighting in each of these battles, Wilfred must have had ingenuity, courage, endurance and mateship to survive and to continue to fight through each battle.
1. RSL Virtual War Memorial 2018, Returned & Services League of Australia SA Branch, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/67958>.
2. Australian War Memorial 2018, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search/people?roll=First%20World%20War%20Embarkation%20Roll&people_preferred_name=Wilfred%20Fewkes%20Partridge&people_service_number=3152>
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4. AIF Project 2016, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=234689>.
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7. ‘Personal’ 1914, The Mail, 28 February, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59648544?>.
8. First World War 1914-18 2018, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/atwar/first-world-war>.
9. Anzac spirit 2018, accessed 25 February 2018, <https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/anzac/spirit>.
10. Intelligence Summary 1918, Photograph, Australian War Memorial, accessed 26 February 2018, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1344155?image=14>.
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