Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Jane Partridge was born in 1860 in Oxfordshire, England before her parents William and Elizabeth, nee Lester, emigrated to Auckland with other Albertlanders on board the Matilda Wattenbach in 1862. They settled in Port Albert, north of Auckland, on a government grant of land.
When Jane was 21, in 1881, she married, at the residence of her father, to Henry Littin. Henry was born in 1859 in Otahuhu, Auckland, son of William Littin and Honor nee Clarke, of Devonshire, England. They arrived earlier in 1859 and went first south to Hunua and around 1868 to Kaiwaka and took up a 40-acre land grant. By 1884 Henry and Jane were living and farming in Port Albert where most of their children were born:
- Lionel Henry Alfred (1882–1927)
- Ivan Albert William (1884–1952)
- Myrtle Honor (1886–1910)
- Elsie Elizabeth (1888–1919)
- Eric Walter (1898–1972)
Henry was one of the first directors of the Port Albert Dairy Company and for some years acted as secretary. He was an active member of the Fruit Committee and served on a number of local bodies. Their eldest daughter Myrtle died in 1910 aged 23 years, and their second daughter Elise in 1919, four years after her marriage.
Jane died 14 Jan 1921 aged 61 years at Port Albert, after a long illness. The newspaper reported on a large funeral, 'Friends and relatives congregated from far and near testifying by their presence to the very high esteem in which Mrs Litten was held by all whose good fortune it was to know her. Many floral tributes bore silent testimony to the sympathy extended to the bereaved in this their great loss'. She was buried in the Port Albert Cemetery. The headstone reads: ‘As the ivy clings to the oak, our memory clings to thee’.
Henry lived on another twenty years, dying at Port Albert in 1941, aged 82 years. He was buried in the family grave at Port Albert with his wife and two daughters. In his will, he left his property and personal estate to his son Eric, worth 750 pounds.
Jane is the sister of 24 Jessie PARTRIDGE
Sources
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6083, 17 May 1881, Page 4
PAPERS PAST Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 9 February 1921, Page 4
PAPERS PAST Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 13 August 1941, Page 4
Archway probate Henry
Historical BDMs