"Friend & fellow worker of Margaret Damer Dawson". All we can find on-line are auction sites with the flower paintings of Ann (or Anne or Annie) St John Partridge, so we've used one of those for our picture. Her birth date is sometimes given as 1888.
The book "Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture" has a number of publicity photos of Dawson and Allen, in their police uniforms. That book also has a reference to “Miss St John Partridge” being an early member of the organisation and having designed a hat. For us this confirms that we have the right “J. Partridge”.
2020: Via Facebook Stewart Partridge wrote: "Ann St John Partridge was actually born earlier, around Nov 1855 at Walford, near Ross, Herefordshire, and christened on 9 Dec 1855 in Goodrich, Herefordshire. She was the daughter and fifth child of Edward Otto Partridge and Catherine Maria Partridge née Bevan. The 1860 and 1888 birth dates are spurious."
Andrew Behan has kindly provided this research, which supports the information provided by Stewart: She was born as Annie St John Partridge in Walford, Herefordshire, and her birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1855 in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. She was the youngest of the five children of Edward Otto Partridge (1819-1914) and Catherine Maria Partridge née Bevan (1820-1871). Her father was a magistrate and the High Bailiff in the County Court of Herefordshire. She was baptised on 9 December 1855 in Goodrich, Herefordshire.
Whilst the 1861 census shows her father at Leys House, Walford, Herefordshire, she is shown as living with her mother at 110 High Street, Eton, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire), together with her sister Alice Catherine Partridge (1850-1928), a cook, a housemaid and a footman.
On the night of the 1881 census she claimed to be aged 24 years, when she was in fact 25 years old, a visitor of independent means at 23 Devonshire Street, Marylebone, the home of Jane Morris. She studied art in France and by1900 she is listed in the Post Office London Directory using the name of Miss Ann St John Partridge, living at 19 Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia, London. The 1905 edition shows that she had moved to 48 Fitzroy Street, Fitzrovia and the 1910 edition lists her at 35 Maple Street, Fitzrovia. The 1911 census confirms she was still at this address, giving her age as 50 whereas she was 55 years old, listing her occupation as an Artist (Painter) and living with a female domestic servant.
Telephone directories from 1914 show her listed at 8 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, (next door to Margaret Damer Dawson with whom she had been involved with the Women's Suffrage Movement). The 1930 Post Office London Directory states she was both here and at Great Cheyne Studio, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, using the post nominal letters R.B.A. (Royal Society of British Artists).
Probate records state that she was living at Cheyne Cottage, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, a spinster, who died on 20 August 1936 at Great Cheyne Studio, Cheyne Row and that probate was granted to James Paterson MacGillivray, a consultant on investments, and Ethel Maud Raeburn, a spinster. Her effects totalled £4,078-15s-4d. Her death was registered in Chelsea and her age was given as 69 years; however, she was in fact aged 80 when she died.
Andrew adds: Whilst Suffolk Artists gives her parents as Joseph Partridge and Ann Partridge née Whitlock, I can find no supporting evidence for this. I believe her parents were Edward Otto Partridge and Catherine Maria Partridge née Bevan. She also started life as Annie St John Partridge, but later began using Miss Ann St John Partridge as her name.
