James Edge Partington (or Edge-Partington, 1854–1930) was a British anthropologist, acknowledged as an authority on Pacific

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

. He collected materials of the peoples of the Pacific and Australasian regions, but also took an interest in the peasant culture of Europe, especially in the area of the Chiltern Hills.

Life and legacy

Born 6 February 1854, his family moved from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to London, though he maintained close connections with the North of the country. His education was at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

, and after reading law he began a career as a solicitor. He made an extended expedition to the Pacific, starting in 1879. Partington was a long serving member of the Royal Anthropological Institute, frequently attending its meetings and publishing in its journal, and volunteered his time to the ethnological department of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. He built up a substantial library of books during his lifetime. The sale catalogue for these ran to 190 pages. There were 2,682 items just relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Before he died on 4 November 1930, his extensive collections and some volumes from his library were donated to the British,

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, and

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museums.136. "James Edge-Partington, Born 6th February, 1854, Died 4th November, 1930." O. M. Dalton, ''Man'' Vol. 31, (Jul., 1931), pp. 129-131

References

1854 births 1930 deaths British anthropologists Australian book and manuscript collectors {{anthropologist-stub