Eric Honeywood Partridge

Eric Honeywood Partridge (1894-1979), author and lexicographer, was born at Waimata Valley, New Zealand, on 6 February 1894. He attended Toowoomba Grammar School, Australia, and entered Queensland University in 1914 (B.A., 1921). Partridge served with the Australian Imperial Forces during the First World War before returning to his studies. He was a travelling scholar at Oxford University (B.Litt., 1923), and lecturer in English literature at the Universities of Manchester, 1925-1926, and London, 1926-1927. After leaving teaching, he founded the Scholartis Press, which published several works before going out of business in 1931. He wrote three novels as 'Corrie Denison', and published A dictionary of slang and unconventional English in 1937. Partridge served in the Army Education Corps and the R.A.F. propaganda department during the Second World War. Thereafter, he compiled dictionaries and published books on use of the English language. He died at Moretonhampstead, Devon, on 1 June 1979.

From the guide to the Eric Partridge: Letters to Oliver Stonor, 1928-1979, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)