Alec John Partridge, born on 11th November 1892 in Kent, was admitted to King Edward’s School in September 1905, leaving in April the following year. He was the only son of John Lockyer, a bank manager, and Mary Jane. After leaving KES, he attended King’s School Canterbury. From King’s, he went on to St Edmund’s Hall, Oxford, gaining a 2nd Class degree in Theology in 1915. During his time at Oxford, he was a keen member of the Officer Training Corps.
Alec had intended to take up Holy Orders, but instead applied for a commission on the 12th July 1915, and was accepted into the 9th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. He landed in France on 25th April 1915, attached to the 5th Battalion, and by July he was a Platoon Commander, attacking the German lines at Ovilliers with C Company on 3rd July. During this action, Alec’s commanding officer was his old science master at King’s, Second Lieutenant Harold Masters Brown. Much of the fighting at Ovilliers was fierce and hand-to-hand, and due to the German superiority in bomb supply, the Berkshires were driven back, suffering heavy casualties. Alec, aged twenty-three, was among the officers who were killed. His body was never recovered but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.