Partridge, Eric, 1894-1979

Born New Zealand, migrated to Australia, M̀an of Letters', writer on language, particularly English.

Eric Honeywood Partridge (1894-1979), author and lexicographer, was born in New Zealand, and was the son of John Thomas Partridge, grazier, and his wife Ethel Norris. In 1907 the family moved to Brisbane, Australia, where Partridge was educated at Toowoomba grammar school. He studied French and English at the University of Queensland, during which period he also served as a private during the First World War, where his interests in the 'underside' of language originated. He then became Queensland Travelling Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and taught at Manchester and London Universities before founding his own publishing firm Scholartis in 1927. This firm closed in 1931, at which point Routledge and Kegan Paul commissioned Partridge to write a dictionary of slang. This was eventually published as A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English in 1937, and was followed by other works on language (slang and etymology in particular). He wrote novels under the pseudonym Corris Denison, and also wrote professionally on tennis, which he played to a high standard. He married Agnes Dora Vye-Parminter in 1925, with whom he had a daughter. During the Second World War he joined the army education corps and later the correspondence department of the RAF. He died in Moretonhampstead, Devon, in 1979. Paul Beale, lexicographer (1933-1999), was handed the editorship of Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English in 1978 by Partridge himself, although Partridge continued to make further research notes towards the dictionary until a few weeks before his own death in 1979. The two men had become friends in 1974, when Beale wrote to Partridge to contribute slang words and phrases. Beale drew extensively on his own experiences of 21 years of service in the Intelligence Corps in his own considerable work of revisions on the dictionary. He also worked as a librarian and contributed slang and colloquial phrases to the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary .

Born in Gisborne, N.Z., Partridge attended Toowoomba Grammar School and the University of Queensland. He lived in Cambooya, Qld., and worked as a teacher before enlisting on 23 Apr. 1915 (no. 394) as a private in the 26th Battalion. He was repatriated to Australia on 22 Dec. 1918. Partridge left Australia in 1924 to live in England where he became a distinguished lexicographer.

Eric Honeywood Partridge (1894-1979), author and lexicographer, was born in New Zealand, and was the son of John Thomas Partridge, grazier, and his wife Ethel Norris. In 1907 the family moved to Brisbane, Australia, where Partridge was educated at Toowoomba grammar school. He studied French and English at the University of Queensland, during which period he also served as a private during the First World War, where his interests in the ‘underside’ of language originated. He then became Queensland Travelling Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and taught at Manchester and London Universities before founding his own publishing firm Scholartis in 1927. This firm closed in 1931, at which point Routledge and Kegan Paul commissioned Partridge to write a dictionary of slang. This was eventually published as A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English in 1937, and was followed by other works on language (slang and etymology in particular). He wrote novels under the pseudonym Corris Denison, and also wrote professionally on tennis, which he played to a high standard. He married Agnes Dora Vye-Parminter in 1925, with whom he had a daughter. During the Second World War he joined the army education corps and later the correspondence department of the RAF. He died in Moretonhampstead, Devon, in 1979.

Alan George Delgado (1909-1983), author and editor, was born in London. His publication include 'Victorian entertainment', 1971, 'The annual outing and other excursions', 1977, and 'Edwardian England; illustrated contemporary sources', 1967.