Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Partridge, Joseph
PARTRIDGE, JOSEPH (1724–1796), author, son of Joseph Partridge, innkeeper and ‘London waggoner,’ was born at Nantwich, Cheshire, in 1724, and succeeded to his father's business. When forty-two years of age he qualified for the church without going to the universities, and in 1766 obtained a license from the Bishop of Chester to be master of the free grammar school at Acton, Cheshire. About the same date he became curate of Baddeley and chaplain of Woodhey, both which posts he retained until his death. He left Acton to become master of the Nantwich charity school in August 1772, and died on 25 Oct. 1796. He was buried in Nantwich churchyard. His widow died on 1 Jan. 1806. He wrote: 1. ‘The Anti-Atheist: a Didactic Poem in Two Parts,’ Manchester, 1766, fol. 2. ‘An Historical Account of the Town and Parish of Nantwich,’ Shrewsbury, 1774; reprinted in Poole's ‘Cheshire Tracts,’ 1778. 3. ‘The Renovation of the Heart, &c.: a Sermon,’ Nantwich, 1778. He also brought out in 1754 a pamphlet connected with some personal controversy with Thomas Burrow of Manchester.
[Hall's Hist. of Nantwich, 1883, p. 380; Earwaker's Local Gleanings, 1875, pp. 103, 113.]