Abraham Partridge was a baker at Hardington Moor from about 1869 until late in life (he died in 1933, aged 89).

Childhood

Abraham Partridge was born at Hardington in 1844. He was the son of Abraham Partridge, a weaver, and his wife, Susan (nee Parsons. The family lived at Lyatts, their house and garden being plot 82 on the tithe survey of 1843. By March 1851, his father was a farm labourer and ten years later, a sheep skin dealer. A trade directory of 1866 lists him as a farmer.

Bakery business

When Abraham was sixteen, he was a farm labourer. Presumably, he later received training in someone else’s bakery before starting his own business.

He probably started his bakery business in 1869, taking over the premises at the foot of Pig Hill where his aunt, Sarah Purchase, had run the White Horse public house. This new commercial venture coincided with his marriage to Julia Taylor Leach on 12 August 1869. She was the daughter of Robert Leach, a retired farmer who lived in North Lane.

Abraham ran the bakery until the 1920s and possibly until his death.

Second marriage

Julia died on 8 November 1908, aged 65. Two years later, Abraham married her younger sister, Laura Bartlett Leach.

Death

Abraham died on 26 November 1933, aged 89. Probate was not granted until 1944, a year after his second wife died when his estate was valued at £420.

Children

Abraham and Julia had four sons and five daughters:

1870-Gilbert Leach

1871-Alice Julia Leach (died unmarried in 1914)

1872-Arthur Henry (died aged 2)

1875-Sidney Walter Taylor (died aged 1)

1876-Bessie Louisa

1878-Laura Bartlett (died unmarried in 1940)

1880-Archibald Abraham

1882-Ellen Florence Leach

1884-Gertrude Anna