Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

Seven: Hon. Major J. E. Partridge, Indian Army, late The Queen’s Regiment and onetime Band Master of the Viceroy of India’s band

1914-15 Star (1999 Pte., The Queen’s R.); British War and Victory Medals (1999 Cpl., The Queen’s R.); India General Service 1908-35, 2 clasps, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 1921-24 (6076799 Cpl., 2 Bn. The Queen’s R.), single initial ‘J.’; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., India (Clr. Sjt., Viceroy’s Band), mounted court-style as worn, contained in an old Spink & Son leather case, contact wear, edge bruising and polished, otherwise generally about very fine or better (7) £300-350

Ernest John Partridge was born in Exeter in February 1898, the son of a Colour-Sergeant of the Devonshire Regiment. During the course of one of his father’s subsequent postings to India, young Ernest joined the New Delhi Post Office as a boy messenger, but in August 1914, just a few days after the outbreak of hostilities, he enlisted in the Queen’s Regiment, very probably in the 2/4th Battalion, T.F., for in August 1915, he was landed in Gallipoli. Here the Battalion suffered heavily, both from enemy action and disease, and fought gallantly at Hill 53. In December 1915, it was sent to Egypt, and in May 1918 to France, and Partridge was discharged back home in January 1919.

Quickly re-enlisting, he was posted with the 2nd Battalion of The Queen’s to India, where, as it transpired, he would remain for the rest of his military career. Having fought in the Waziristan operations of 1919-24, he found more peaceful employment mastering his skills with the violin, work that led to his appointment to the Viceroy of India’s band, of which body he would become Band Master before his retirement as a Warrant Officer Class 2 in January 1939. Partridge, however, quickly gained himself appointment as a civilian Band Master to the 3rd Rajput Rifles at Peshawar, and was commissioned as a Captain on the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in October 1939. This latter appointment led to his re-embodiment in the 1939-45 War, when he gained advancement to Hon. Major, and he finally retired to the U.K. in 1946.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including official certificates for the recipient’s Jubilee 1935 and Coronation 1937 Medals, from Viceregal Lodge, Simla; his warrant for the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2, dated 8 November 1934; a good assortment of career photographs (approximately 30); and a Royal Arch Masons of England certificate for the Ramsey Chapter, Lucknow, dated 11 December 1924.