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Margaret Partridge | |
|---|---|
 Margaret Partridge c.1960 | |
| Born | 8 April 1891 |
| Died | 27 October 1967 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Electrical engineer, businesswoman |
| Known for | Pioneer in the field of engineering for women |
| Parent(s) | John and Eleanor Partridge |
Margaret Mary Partridge (1891–1967), electrical engineer and business woman, was born in 1891 into a farming family in Nymet Rowland, a small village in central Devon, north of Dartmoor. The family later moved to Bedford. One of the early members of the Women's Engineering Society, she set up her own electrical contracting company, M. Partridge & Co., and became a pioneer in the field of engineering for women.[1]
Education
[edit]Margaret Partridge was educated at Bedford High School in central southern England and Bedford College, London, from where she graduated in 1914 with a BSc in mathematics.[2] At Bedford College she was awarded the Arnott and Jane Benson scholarships.[3]
Career
[edit]After a brief spell in teaching, which she did not enjoy, Margaret Partridge was apprenticed to a firm of heating, lighting and ventilation engineers in London, and she later learned to design and produce small electric motors. In 1917 she moved to another engineering firm to work in munitions. She was one of the earliest members of the Women's Engineering Society (WES), founded in 1919, and campaigned for better access for women to the engineering profession. In 1921 she returned to Devon to open her own business, M. Partridge & Co., Domestic Engineers, Exeter.
In April 1922 she arranged an exhibition of electrical models and machines, which did much to publicize the work of her electrical contracting firm.[4] The firm was described in The Woman Engineer magazine as specializing in 'everything from curling tongs to generating plant – from electric lamps to wireless apparatus'. While advertising for 'Women for Woman's Work', it employed both women and men.[5]
In 1923 M. Partridge & Co. opened an office in London, while Margaret Partridge herself continued to run the Exeter branch. She wrote several articles and gave talks on the problems of providing electric power to rural districts. According to her friend and colleague Margaret Rowbotham, 'Where possible, she utilized the available water power but in many cases she build and equipped the necessary power station.' When the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) was founded in 1924, Partridge became an active supporter and a close friend of the EAW's director, Caroline Haslett, and she was appointed organiser for the South West region. She was a co-author of the association's flagship publication, The Electrical Handbook for Women.
During the Second World War, Margaret Partridge founded and directed Exeter Munitions Ltd and was made a Labour Supply Inspector, part of a team organised by Verena Holmes, with special responsibility for investigating the supply and conditions of women in engineering factories in southwest England. She was appointed vice-president of WES in 1942 and served as president from 1943 to 1945.
References
[edit]- ^ http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_10.html
- ^ http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Davis/Names/Partridge_Margaret.html
- ^ Law, Cheryl (2000), Women, A Modern Political Dictionary, London, UK: I. B. Tauris.
- ^ http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_1.html
- ^ http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_1.html