His father, Benjamin Partridge, was an English train driver who moved to Ireland for work, and his mother, Ellen Hall, was an Irish Catholic.

[1] At age 22, he was transferred to the railways workshops at Broadstone (one source notes Inchicore[4]) in Dublin and here he became involved in the union movement, joining the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.

He campaigned for improved housing, education and civic amenities for the working people of Inchicore and he was elected to Dublin City Council where he served as a Sinn Féin councillor.

He attacked the hypocrisy of Catholic clergy in Dublin who sided with the bosses and condemned the ITGWU while doing nothing themselves to combat the causes of dire poverty in the city.

[1] However, the ship was scuttled by the captain Karl Spindler after the planned rendezvous with Roger Casement to unload the arms did not happen and they were then intercepted by the British Navy.

During the fighting, he carried the wounded female sniper Margaret Skinnider on his back from Harcourt Street corner to the college while under constant fire.

He was sentenced to 15 years of penal servitude, ironically, not for his part in the Rising, but for his actions in Kerry where he was charged with making anti-war speeches in 1915.