Affabel Partridge

Partridge was an apprentice of Richard Crompton. He worked at the sign of the Black Bull in Cheapside.Timothy Schroder, The National Trust Book of English Domestic Silver, 1500-1900 (London, 1988), pp. 55, 299. On 25 July 1554 (her wedding day), Mary I of England ordered some of the jewels in the Tower of London to be delivered to her goldsmith "Affabel Partriche".Elizabeth Cleland & Adam Eaker, The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England (New York, 2022), p. 161: John Gough Nichols, Chronicle of Queen Jane (London, 1850), p. vi: British Library, Cotton Titus B. IV.

With Robert Brandon, he became a goldsmith to Elizabeth I on her accession.Elizabeth Goldring, Nicholas Hilliard (Yale, 2019), p. 67. They were joined by Hugh Keall in 1577.H. D. W. Sitwell, 'The Jewel House and the Royal Goldsmiths', Archaeological Journal, 117 (1960), p. 150.

Brandon and Partridge supplied hundreds of pieces of plate which Elizabeth distributed as New Year's Day gifts, and as gifts on other occasions. They also repaired tableware.Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda, 1547-1565 (London, 1870), p. 486. In September 1560 Partridge and Brandon received 4000 ounces of silver plate scrapped from the Jewel House as unfit to serve at the queen's table, to be melted down and made into new objects.Arthur Collins, Jewels and Plate of Elizabeth I (London, 1955), p. 160.

Partridge established himself on Cheapside at the "Sign of the Black Bull".Elizabeth Goldring, Nicholas Hilliard (Yale, 2019), p. 69. On 25 July 1560, Partridge was employed to repair and reset old jewels from the Tower of London into a "better fashion" for Queen Elizabeth to wear from time to time, meet and suitable for her occasional use. The pieces for refashioning were "fifty tablets of sundry fashion tied upon a string whereof diverse have pomanders within them", and broken nether and upper habiliments (the jewelled bands which were worn at the forehead of a French hood), with aglets and their laces and pins. Partridge was to pay attention to the enamelling. The aged Marquess of Winchester was ordered to deliver the jewels to the goldsmith.Catalogue of the manuscripts in the Cottonian Library (London, 1802), p. 527 (queried as Queen Mary), British Library Titus B IV f.139.

Partridge and Brandon were permitted to collect base money for refining at the royal mint in October 1560.Robert Lemon, Calendar State Papers Domestic, 1547-1580 (London, 1856), p. 161.

Partridge sued Edward Baeshe of West Coker for the value of a garter set with rubies and pearls in 1565. Baeshe had paid for a gold flower set with diamonds and pearls.Matthew Nathan, Annals of West Coker (Cambridge, 1957), p. 208.

"Aphabelle Partridge" subscribed to a general lottery in 1568, and wrote this verse:

:If hawk do soar and partridge springs,

:Then shall we see what luck he brings,

:But if he soar and partridge flit,

:Then hawk shall lose and partridge hit.Alfred Kemp, Loseley Manuscripts (London, 1836), p. 211.

In 1576 Partridge supplied three gilt salts with "a cover of the French making".Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, Sarah Knight, John Nichol's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth I, 1572-1578, vol. 2 (Oxford, 2014), p. 476. "Affabell Partrydge" signed the vestry minutes of Stepney parish twice in 1583 and probably died in that year.G.Hill & W. Frere, Memorials of Stepney Parish: Vestry Minutes (Guildford, 1891), pp. 7-8.

Partridge lent money to a goldbeater Robert Mabbe, a son of the goldsmith John Mabbe, taking as security a share of the Tabard Inn, Southwark.Hubert Hall, Society in the Elizabethan Age (London, 1887), p. 82.

Partridge and Brandon were succeeded as royal goldsmiths by Richard Martin and Hugh Kayle.H. D. W. Sitwell, 'The Jewel House and the Royal Goldsmiths', Archaeological Journal, 117 (1960), p. 15.

He is said to have married (1) Anne Fildus, (2) Margery Gilbard.Visitation of London in 1568 (London, 1869), p. 37. His third wife was Denise or Dionise, the widow of John Owtred who held land in Havering.Marjorie Keniston McIntosh, A Community Transformed: The Manor and Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower (Cambridge, 1991, p. 104. His children included:

• Thomas Partridge
• Ellen Partridge, who married Thomas Berthellet,Visitation of London in 1568 (London, 1869), p. 37. perhaps the Thomas Bartlett who Partridge owed money to in 1578.John Roche Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council, 1577-1578 (London, 1895), p. 388.
• Mary Partridge, daughter of Margery, who married Thomas Wadnall, their daughter Jane (died 1616) married Robert Mabbe
• Dionyssus Partridge, who married the goldsmith Stephen Mabbe, a son of the goldsmith John Mabbe who served Mary I of England.Robin Myers & Michael Harris, The Stationers' Company and the Book Trade (Winchester, 1997), p. 74.
• Stephen Partridge, a goldsmith, who christened his daughter "Dennis" in March 1590 at St Peter upon Cornhill.A Register of Saint Peeters Cornhill (London, 1877), p. 34.

• [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O142161/reliquary-affabel-partridge/ Reliquary or salt cellar with the hallmark of Affabel Partridge, 1551, V&A]
• [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O158020/cup-partridge-affabel/ Cup with the hallmark of Affabel Partridge, 1568/9, V&A]
• [https://www.rct.uk/collection/31773/standing-salt Salt with the hallmark of Affabel Partridge, 1572/3, RCT]

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Partridge, Affabel}}

Category:English goldsmiths

Category:16th-century English people

Category:Material culture of royal courts