Thomas Cowle Partridge 1864 memoirs

[Valerie Smith]

Hello

I don’t think I can claim any connections to the merchant navy but I am after your help! I’ve just got at auction a really interesting lot and would be to have your thoughts.

It’s two volumes of (thankfully nearly all legible) handwriting, dated 1864 and signed “TC Partridge”. The contents looked at first glance like a series of accounts penned between 1927 and 1929 about a fictional sailor who travelled the world several times over.

Reading through more carefully on a wet afternoon, and with a bit of help from Google and Facebook, I have discovered what it is - the life story of Thomas Cowle Partridge, a merchant seaman born in Devon in 1849, whose work took him worldwide from apprentice to mariner, with numerous adventures. Despite being written in a matter-of-fact reporting style, his stories recount places, people and happenings, clearly taken from notes he must have kept for his employment. Thomas’ eye-opening experiences include shipwrecks and mutiny, facing starvation, fever, serious injury, crocodiles and a drunken captain. If it wasn’t for being able to check out the details, some would seem frankly unbelievable.

Accompanying the journals is an impressive list of destinations Thomas visited over his working life. His descriptions conjure up vivid images of where he travels to trade, often with his retro-narrative from a 1920s perspective, itself like another antiquated world to our modern eyes. Some glimpses of his home life are also included.

After having to relinquish his career at sea, Thomas (1849-1935), who was married with two children, became a portrait photographer in Sudbury, Suffolk, an altogether quieter existence (cabinet card from Ebay below). He toyed with early photography in his youth so it would have been a natural progression.

Investigations are necessarily at an early stage, due to my current diary project requiring my attention, so my skim reading needs to be followed by transcribing, editing and research. I see there are a couple of “private” family trees on Ancestry so I may be able to contact descendants of Thomas Partridge for more information and consent to share it.

But if you know or can find out more of Thomas Partridge and his maritime career and personal life form records I would love to hear it. Can you also tell me anything about serving in the merchant navy in Victorian times? The career path and pay etc etc? Finally do you think he was called Thomas or Tom?

I am researching eight family diaries with a background in Devon and I’m excited about this project just as much. If you’d like to read more about my diary projects I am sharing extracts of my research on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/www.AddictedtoDiaries.co.uk

Thank you for your interest

Best wishes and I really look forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes

Val x

Addicted to Diaries

[Marian Gray]

Good Morning Valerie, Welcome to the site. What an exciting and riveting find. I'm sure members here will help where and if they can baring in mind the are considerably younger. There are a few links already listed on site which I'll FWD on once I locate them, provided by another member here some time ago, some links though may need updating. Don't have time today to start but will in earnest next week. There will be books from previous seafarers memoirs published over the years in Thomas's time frame and should certainly help you in your research into that era. I have enclosed a Shipping & Commercial Gazette NewsPaper page [from FMP] which names Thomas himself - not in great detail but gives you a flavour of those days when you could hardly see the water for the number of ships.

Not on Facebook so not sure I'll be able to read your link, though will try. Will check out the trees on Ancestry too and what's available on Find My Past on his private certs as their seaman records start in earnest from 1914 and not much use to you per se - most of those were destroyed unfortunately.

Apologies Valerie can't upload link, must be due to the trouble I've had posting this week, will try and get around it.

[wightspirit]

If you check the Ancestry website and search under 'UK and Ireland Masters and Mates Certificates' you'll find copies of his Mate's and Master's certificates, along with a number of other documents - 12 pages in total.

Dave W

[Valerie Smith]

Thanks Dave I’ve found the documents. I was wondering what the life of a merchant seaman in Victorian times was like generally - is there a book about it?

[Marian Gray]

The following links Valerie are courtesy of Brian Watson a member here Benjidog Main which also include his recommendations of other Nautical forums, too many to post, probably best you wade through and select for yourself.

Tracing Master Mariners (mariners-l.co.uk) From Debbie Beavis

Seamen on British Censuses (mariners-l.co.uk)

HMS (google.com)

Bob Sanders too has provided a list of links Maritime Resources
See GENUKI: Merchant Marine, UK and Ireland

Re Books: list of 19th century mariners biographies - Bing images

Re Ancestry, do you have access to FMP also?

[Valerie Smith]

That is all so helpful thank you Marion! I really like the images as I didn't even know what the uniforms would have been like from 1860s-1890s. Plenty to keep me busy now. I would love to find an image of Thomas Partridge himself. You'd think as a photographer there must be one somewhere...
Val xx

[Valerie Smith]

Hello Marian,

I’m sorry I missed your great reply yesterday! Any help you can give would be just perfect, especially any details of ships etc. The Commercial and Gazette Newspaper page sounds fascinating. Thank you!
I’m wondering how best to tackle this project, presumably it’s not been transcribed or published before, is there any way of finding out?

Best wishes

Val

[Marian Gray]

#6&7, You would think Valerie but have searched all day and can't find one of him, a fair few of his customers though. Probably best you contact the library in Sudbury itself Sudbury Library | Suffolk Libraries or Salcombe Library - Devon (devonlibraries.org.uk) the area where he was born, hopefully they can advise you.

As to ships, are there any mentioned in his diaries? If there are, use this link Crew List Index Project to insert the Ship's name for further info.

In the 1891 Census aged 41yrs he is listed as a Photographer so not an oldtime Mariner.

Still cannot unload The Liverpool Telegraph and Daily Shipping and Commercial Gazette 26/1/1869 Newspaper extract to here - mainly because it opens a window into the shipping world that landlubbers like you or I would find interesting, think it must be too big. Reading through the ones available they mainly consist of certificate of competency 1871 or his cargo - sheep etc, nothing as exciting as his written fictional account in said daries. It is well known that many old sea dogs can spin a good yarn, there is even a few on here

I presume you have access to Ancestry since you were able to view the Master and Mates certs that Dave advised you of #3 & 4 as there are quite a few trees [20] pertaining to Thomas some with thousands of photographs, way too many to search through, you would be quicker approaching and asking for one, if not forthcoming you are quite at liberty to help yourself to those in public trees.....Mind you, if you mention his diaries I think they may well welcome you with open arms Still trying to locate any of his voyages, will post if and when I do.

Valerie I can send the file to you by email if you wish

[Valerie Smith]

Marian,
Thank you enormously, it sounds as if you've been spending as much time reseaching Thomas (or trying to) as I have!
I will take your excellent suggestion of attempting to access the newspaper reports and then approaching one of the family tree members. We do have access to Ancestry so I'll see what more I can find out. When I know a bit more the diaries will no doubt make a lot more sense.
I know what you mean about good yarn, Thomas Partridge seems to be able to spin them in a very dead pan way!
More when I find out and thank you again

Val x

PS please do email me if you can, Brian will have my address if I'm not permitted to post it up publicly

[Marian Gray]

Have sent you my email address Valerie by pm - [private message]