Henry Edward Partridge was one of Gottfried Lindauer’s earliest clients, and grew to be his most dedicated patron. Their professional relationship lasted almost forty years. Partridge is now best remembered for having amassed a collection of over seventy paintings by Lindauer, later known as the Partridge Collection.
Fig. 1 Unknown.
Henry Edward Partridge c. 1899. Image kindly supplied by Bruce W.
Graham.
1Partridge (Fig. 1) was
born on 17th June, 1848 in Somers Town, London to
Mary-Ann and Charles Partridge, an employee of the district Post
Office.2 He had a peaceful
childhood and developed a love of literature despite minimal
schooling.3 At ten years of
age Partridge entered the labour force and began working a ten-hour
day, six-days per week.4 In
1861 he escaped this by joining the British Navy at the age of
thirteen, though his Naval career soon ended when he was injured in
service.5 Thereafter Partridge
continued his career at sea by crewing merchant ships and once
inadvertently sailed on a vessel carrying arms to the Confederate
Forces in the American Civil War.6
From January 1865 Partridge began working the tea trading route
between London and China.7
There was a prize for the first ship to arrive in London with the
new season's tea and Partridge later revelled in telling his family
exciting stories of ships racing to London's East India Docks.8
During one voyage in June 1866 Partridge's ship was wrecked and
he was stranded in China.9
From there he sailed to Sydney after being attracted by news of the
gold rush in Australia.10
However Partridge did not stay long there after setting his sights
on New Zealand's gold fields in Buller and Otago (Fig. 2).11
Thus he arrived in Hokitika in early 186712
and two of his siblings, Jesse Adelaide and Arthur, later joined
him in New Zealand.13
With little money and few possessions Partridge travelled the South
Island on foot in search of gold during the winter of that first
year.14
He was foiled by extreme weather which stopped prospecting and he
also developed serious frostbite.15
Partridge travelled north from there and by November 1868 had
reached Auckland where he met his New Zealand born future wife,
Miriam Antoinette Odlum.16
Their union in Auckland on August 2nd, 1870 produced
nine children, two of whom did not survive infancy.17
Fig. 3 James
MacKay, b&w original negative, 1/2-018088-F, Timeframes
Again in search of gold, Partridge moved to the Waikato district
and began running a small crushing plant in Moanataiari Creek,
Thames.18 It was here that he
brought seventeen-year-old Miriam to the home he had built.19
Partridge's acquaintance with James Mackay (Fig. 3), the
influential Government Agent in the Waikato20,
began here. He accompanied Mackay to Māori settlements, developing
an admiration for Māori culture and the motive to develop the
Partridge Collection.21
Mackay later contributed to the Collection, as
discussed in the Partridge Correspondence.
In 1873 Partridge and his family at last settled in Auckland
where he established his successful shop and business, H.E.
Partridge & Co., selling tobacco with a secondary trade in
sporting goods.22 The first
meeting of Gottfried Lindauer and Partridge took place shortly
thereafter in Auckland in 1874.23
Undeterred by the financial demands of his new business, Partridge
purchased four works produced in that year. Through Lindauer's
paintings, Partridge found a format for commemorating the older
generation of Māori. The affection between patron and artist
grew and in 1884 Partridge named a daughter Myra Lindauer.24
Fig. 5 Call to the
citizens of Auckland to donate to the Belgian Relief Fund, New
Zealand Herald supplement 3rd April 1915
It is unknown where Partridge first settled in Auckland, but by
188825 the family were living
in a home at 50 Grafton Road26
which overlooked the Auckland Domain.27
The house was known as 'Aropiri' and Partridge lived in it
until his death (Fig. 4). He exhibited his love of collecting here
and initially displayed the Collection28 there as well as many foreign
curiosities.29
A marked characteristic of Partridge's personality was his
compassion for others, witnessed by his volunteering during
the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tarawera in
1886.30 Partridge's greatest
known act of beneficence was his donation of the Partridge
Collection to the City of Auckland in 1915 on provision that its
citizens raised £10,000 for the Auckland Belgium Relief Fund (Figs
5,6,7). Partridge supported this cause as he had been in Europe at
the outbreak of WWI and greatly admired the Belgian stand against
the German forces (Figs 8, 9).
Fig. 8 Left hand
side of leather-bound, hand illustrated thank you letter presented
to Henry Partridge. Donated to the archives of the E.H. McCormick
Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery by Valerie Hill (RC 2009/5).
H.E. Partridge & Co grew as tobacco consumption in New
Zealand doubled between 1888 and 1898.31
By this time Partridge & Co had a popular shop at 20432
Queen Street (Fig. 10) and boasted of being New Zealand's largest
tobacco company.33
Partridge's business later incorporated warehousing and bonding and
as it stabilised and grew he travelled overseas often.34
This business brought Partridge wealth and the security he desired,
but he lived a private life despite being well known due to his
business.35
After WWI, Partridge found the principles of the business world
changed36 and he retired in
1920 at the age of 72.37 In
retirement, Partridge built a family beach house at Glendowie38,
Auckland where he stayed during the summer months.39
His wife Miriam died in May 1931 followed shortly by Partridge's
own death at his Grafton home on September 12th, in the
same year .40
He was buried in Purewa Cemetery in Meadowbank. Partridge was
survived by six children who warmly remembered him as a loving,
hard working and civic-minded man.
Stephanie McKenzie, Marylyn Mayo Intern 2009, Auckland Art
Gallery Toi o Tāmaki