Frances Partridge: The Biography

by Anne Chisholm

Frances Partridge was one of the great British diarists of the 20th century. She was born in 1900, the daughter of a progressive mother and architect father whose friends included Henry James and Arthur Conan Doyle. After studying Moral Sciences and English at Cambridge, Frances worked in Francis Birrell and Bunny Garnett's bookshop in London. She soon became part of the Bloomsbury group encountering Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, the Bells, Roger Fry, Maynard Keynes, Dora Carrington and Ralph Partridge. She and Ralph fell in love and married in 1933. During the Second World War they were committed pacifists and opened their house, Ham Spray, to numerous waifs and strays of war. After it was over they enjoyed the happiest times of their lives together, entertaining friends such as E.M. Forster, Robert Kee, and Duncan Grant. Frances' life changed abruptly with two sudden and unexpected deaths. Ralph had a heart attack in 1960 and three years later their only son, Burgo, died aged 28 from a brain hemorrhage. However, she survived—indeed, prospered—for another four decades, showing an astonishing appetite for life. Her diaries chronicle her life from the 1930s onwards. Their publication brought her recognition and acclaim, and earned her the right to be seen not as a minor character on the Bloomsbury stage but standing at the center of her own.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, British Literature, History

416 pages, Hardcover

First published April 9, 2009

About the author

Anne Chisholm is a biographer and critic who has also worked in journalism and publishing. Her first biography, Nancy Cunard (1979), won the Silver PEN prize for non-fiction; in 1992 the biography of Lord Beaverbrook she wrote jointly with her husband, Michael Davie, was runner up for the Hawthornden prize.

Reviews

[MargCal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished reading ... Frances Partridge: the Biography / Anne Chisholm ... 26 Nov. 2016
ISBN: 9780753826997

One of the best written biographies I've ever read. A wealth of information, but bringing someone to life rather than reading from a fact sheet. The knack of giving a number of quite varied bits of information then giving one more item in considerable detail (relatively speaking) worked excellently for me as a device for advancing the narrative and rounding out the person of Frances Partridge.

Frances Partridge was very much part of 'Bloomsbury' yet more than anything she comes across as an observer, on the edge. Hers was an interesting life, and long at 104 years, for many of which she kept diaries. I haven't read the diaries but gather they were heavily relied upon in writing the book under review.

This biography gives a different slant on 'Bloomsbury' to anything else I've read. In particular, the story of Carrington and Lytton Strachy is seen in a quite differnt light via Frances Partridge. But then, she was the fourth, and generally least known, member of the Carrington/ Strachey / Ralph Partridge 'triangle'.
I don't think I'd have liked Frances Partridge much. She defended her husband, right or wrong (not necessarily a bad thing within a marriage), and seemed to hold views so strongly as appearing inflexible. Her stoicism on the death of her husband and, not long after, the death of her son was almost chilling. Yet she adored both. In contrast, she was a loyal friend, stretching out to others in circumstances when most of us (me, most definitely!) would have given up.

If you've read the diaries, this book probably wouldn't be of much interest. But if you've read a bit about 'Bloomsbury', particularly from the points of view of some of its most famous names, this book would be an excellent addition to your reading list.

[Adrian]

The life of the last surviving member of the Bloomsbury group. Not that Frances was fully Bloomsbury she worked on the fringes. But the group and its ethos-about which Chisholm writes clearly and competently- certainly made its mark on her; the love of friends over family, the importance of penetrating and thoughtful talk and always choosing love over duty, were all things FP lived by. She was a solid character. She showed it in her steadfastness to husband Ralph despite his numerous affairs (all mention of which is excised from FP's diaries) and the pacificism right through WWII which however you feel about it took guts. FP's diaries are still some of the best I've read and they make up a major share of Chisholm's material but the author has handled her subject's nearly 104 years with love and respect. She deserved no less.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. I've already read those volumes of the diaries I could get hold of (which is most but not all of the published volumes). This biography clearly draws heavily on those but also fills in some gaps - childhood and the years of the famous ménage à quatre at Ham Spray in the late 1920s/early 1930s, and some of the more painful detail of the short life and early death of her only son. (It's interesting to see how the diaries skilfully presented everything as a bit more respectable than it really was: no mention there of people wandering around naked and embarrassing their guests, or the affairs and attempted seductions which Ralph Partridge seems to have gone in for).

[Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a superb biography of a fascinating woman whose life spanned the twentieth century. She is not as well known as most of the Bloomsbury Group, to which she was affiliated, as her renown as a writer only blossomed in her old age when she edited and published her diaries. However she played a key part in others' work, indexing the English publication of Freud's work, acting as archivist and editor of Dora Carrington and Lytton Strachey's letters and work after their deaths at Ham Spray House where she lived most of her married life. She knew many writers and artists and was always open to new friendships with interesting people, so that biography depicts many other famous personalities from a new viewpoint. It is a very personal history of a tumultuous century.

[Kidlitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very illuminating biography to read alongside treatments of Strachey/Carrington and their triangle with Ralph Partridge. Frances usually gets mentioned as an afterthought to the Bloomsbury set but she was a steadfast observer of all of it, and came through the other side with her memories, dignity and experiences intact. How lovely and seedy and affordable London was then! But even with all of her advantages, Frances had to work and juggle many demands of family, friends, work and her ethics. Fortunately she kept up with her diary, and provides the less Romantic view of Bloomsbury that gives those of us sensible sorts the hope we wouldn't be so entirely out of place in that den of entertaining narcissists either.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and well written. I found it quite long and lost my way a bit with all the references to intertwined people and lost patience a bit with their focus on their intertwined relationships. I enjoyed the book more after Ralph died; for all Frances' insistence on supporting him, I really did find him repulsive.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary woman with a gift for expression. I have been reading her published diaries which she edited herself and enjoyed them all thoroughly so I had to read her biography and was not disappointed. An extraordinary life filled with extraordinary people. She was loved.

[Featherbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, interesting biography of a remarkable diarist (always a favorite genre of mine), editor, translator and member of the Bloomsbury circle who continued working at her desk until her death at 104. She married Carrington's husband, Ralph Partridge, and became part of that select artistic, intellectual group surround Lytton Strachey, writing, reviewing and traveling and always discussing. I enjoyed the book immensely and am now equally taken with her diaries, borrowed from a friend.

[Sherry Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this interesting enough but as I have read so much about the Bloomsbury set and about Frances partridge before, this just added to my store of knowledge. I have read some of her diaries and as others have said they are really well written and fascinating. I think you have to be a big fan already for it to make much sense as there are assumptions that you know a fair bit before you read this. All in all a good read if not a great one.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad that I read this book.
Frances Partridge was just barely on the edge of my consciousness as part of "Bloomsbury," but she was a fascinating person and not "adjunct" at all. The long span of her life, the people she knew, the fierceness of her intellect, the uniqueness of point of view -- they all make for a really rewarding biography.