doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com St. Partridge Day

Tucked into my maternal Grandfather’s copy of the 1906 edition of the “Art of Shooting by “ Charles Lancaster” ( in fact Mr. Thorn) is this faded photograph with St. Partridge Day 1925 written on the back.

His shooting books were given to me by his son, my Uncle John, who is the schoolboy on the left as you look at the picture stood next to his father.

The tall gentleman in breeches and leggings seems to be holding a leg of mutton case under his arm.

I have not otherwise seen the term St. Partridge Day, but it is clearly a reference to the opening of the season on 1st September.

Good Hunting to all those fortunate enough to be out today!

Well then, Happy St. Partridge Day, Parabola.

"The Illustrated London News", Sept. 3, 1859, The First Of September - Partridge Shooting

The artist has drawn the ram rods and ramrod pipes under the barrels, so his models were still using muzzle loaders and not pinfires

Well spotted!

The date is in the lower left corner. can anyone make out the year? I can't. It's Sept. 3, ????

Can't read it, but Drew tells us it's Sept. 3, 1859.

Parabola;

Thank you for sharing this wonderful memory of your ancestors.

Stephen Howell

Are they hunting partridge in turnips? That's exactly what the flora looks to be.

Very probably. J.K. Stanford in Partridge Shooting 1963 recalls “interminable waits in mangolds or turnips with one or two half-broken dogs that were trying to find two or three partridges that were down in front of the line”.

He quotes another author, Almere Maxwell 1911 referring to the “dreary monotony of interminable turnip fields” when walking up partridges.