Sir Nicholas Wyndham Partridge (born 28 August 1955) is a British health care and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

/ AIDS care activist.

Early life

Partridge was born in

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and ...

on 28 August 1955 to Miles and Patricia Partridge. He attended West Somerset School in Minehead. He studied

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1978.

Activism

Partridge worked for the Terrence Higgins Trust from 1985, when he started in the postroom, subsequently working his way to become chief executive in 1991, a post he held until 2013. There was controversy about his final salary on retirement: although not identified, three senior employees of the Terrence Higgins Trust were on salaries above £60,000, including one paid £140,000 to £149,999 and another paid £210,000 to £219,999. He was also chair of Involve, an advisory group of the

National Institute for Health and Care Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "im ...

(NIHR) promoting public involvement in public health and social care research. He lives in Peckham, London, with his partner, Simon Vearnals, a counselling psychologist. They entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

in 2008.

Honours

In 1999 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his contribution to the charitable sector and was appointed a commissioner of the Commission for Health Improvement. Partridge was knighted in the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...

. He was awarded an honorary DLitt from Keele University in 2008 and an honorary DSc from

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

in 2011. In 2006, he was declared one of the 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''; and in 2010 was ranked 75th (rising from 89th the previous year) in the same list.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Partridge, Nick Living people Alumni of Keele University Gay men LGBT rights activists from England Knights Bachelor Officers of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the London School of Economics 1955 births