A pacifist's war

Francis Partridge's diaries are the record of a woman who not only participated in the lives of the legendary Bloomsbury group, but was the circle’s oldest surviving member until her death in 2004. At the outset of the Second World War, Ralph and Frances Partridge were both convinced pacifists. These extracts from Frances' war diary present an intimate and vivid picture of their life at Ham Spray in Wiltshire, a house they both adored and which became a place of refuge to many of the Bloomsbury circle, and numerous other waifs and strays of war. Frances Partridge's perceptively witty and lively account is held together by the thread of the Partridges' passionate concern and interest in the course of events, coupled with their belief that War itself was ethically unjustifiable.