Introduction

Beatrice Selina Partridge was born, lived and died at Hardington Moor. The tragic death of her father disrupted her childhood, but her mother soon remarried. After leaving school, Beatrice found work as a domestic servant at Hardington Rectory. At the age of twenty-one, she married John Marsh, a general labourer eleven years older than her. John and Beatrice lived at Weaver’s Cottage, Hardington Moor, for many years.

Childhood

Beatrice was born at Hardington on 14 March 1874, the youngest daughter of William Wethey Partridge and his wife, Charlotte (née Rendell). Her father worked as a lime burner, farm labourer and later as a railway labourer.

When Beatrice was four years old, her father died of tuberculosis at the age of 31, leaving her mother to care for five children. The following year, her mother married Simeon Rendell, a former soldier, with whom she had two children.

The 1891 census recorded Beatrice as a domestic servant, aged 17, at Hardington Rectory.

Marriage

In 1895, Beatrice married John Marsh, a general labourer.

Married life

John and Beatrice lived at Weaver’s Cottage, Moor Lane, which they bought in the estate sale of 1920.

In June 1921, John was an out-of-work general labourer, usually employed by Childs of Kingston, Yeovil.

Death

John died on 14 November 1939 at the age of 76. Beatrice died intestate on 30 July 1945, at the age of 71, leaving an estate valued at £295-11s-3d.

Children

John and Beatrice had four sons:

1896-Leonard William (married Elsie Withey in 1922; worked as a bricklayer and lived at Holywell, West Coker, in 1939; died in 1940);

Arthur John (served with the Dorset Regiment during the First World War; lived at Hardington until at least 1939; died in Yeovil in 1973);

1904-Harold George (married Dorothy Kate Rodd in 1930; became a fitter in London; died in 1973);

1905-Harvey Charles (married Florence Lavis in about 1939; lived in Yeovil, where he worked as a painter and decorator; died in 1939).