ALL ABOARD THE ROYAL TRAIN

 

 

The granddaughter of Abraham Partridge, a Leigh fisherman, and his wife  Mary (nee Egeltine), married Jean Jacques Fehr, a Swiss national in 1895.

 

Jean worked for Cooks the travel agents until 1899 when he joined the staff of the Prince of Wales and in 1901, on Edward VII's accession, Jean became Director of Continental Journeys to ‘Their Majesties The King, and Queen Alexandra, at a Salary of £250 a year, payable Quarterly’. He was also known as the King's Courier.

 

Jean was required to escort the King and Queen and other members of the Royal family and on any Special Mission they sent him, at home or abroad.  He could take other employment outside these times but only under condition of immediate return if required to do so.

 

This of course is the era before the Great War where Edward VII was establishing the 'entente cordiale', especially with France, for which he was popularly called "Peacemaker".

 

All of this required Edward to travel extensively on the Continent so it can be imagined that Jean Fehr was a busy man – and who knows what the ‘special missions’ involved !!

 

During his time with the King and on his travels Jean received many awards from foreign heads of state - and also lost some as can be seen below!

 

None of the reports indicated that his wife, Sarah went with him on these trips so she must have had a pretty lonely time as the couple had no children as far as can be seen.

 

Jean became a British Citizen in 1907 and after  Edward’s death in 1910 he continued in Queen Alexandra’s household until March 1914 when he resigned and was granted a pension by George V.

 

He died in 1920 and Sarah in 1921.  

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Here are just a few references to Jean's journeys

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