PARTRIDGE, Abel

Abel Partridge was the son of Abel and Mary Partridge of Gaunts Yard, Halesowen and attended Halesowen C of E School. He volunteered for the Worcesters at the start of the war and went to the 1st Battalion. They crossed to France in early November 1914 and took over the front line at Neuve Chapelle in Artois. The trenches were poor and offered inadequate cover, the weather was treacherous and the enemy shelling was dangerous. In January the number of Worcesters killed by shells amounted to 28 men and one of these was Private Abel Partridge who was killed on the 22nd January 1915. He was 21 years of age and is buried in Merville Communal Cemetery (I K 13) He was the first Halesowen man to be killed in 1915 and is commemorated on the Halesowen and Halesowen C of E School Memorials.