Richard Partridge

He was the tenth child and youngest son of twelve children of Samuel Partridge, a Glaswegian merchant who moved to Ross-on-Wye in his retirement.

On 5 November 1831, shortly after he had taken up the position of demonstrator of anatomy at King's College, the four members of the gang attempted to sell him the body of the so-called 'Italian Boy' for nine guineas.

Both Partridge and the dissecting-room porter, William Hill, were suspicious of the fresh state of the body, which looked as if it had never been buried, as well as of a cut on its forehead.

Partridge is said to have delayed the gang members with the ruse of claiming to lack change for a fifty-pound note, whilst raising the alarm with his superior, Herbert Mayo.

Three of the gang were found guilty of the murder; before they were hanged, John Bishop and Thomas Williams confessed to drowning the boy in a well after drugging him with laudanum, stating, however, that the victim was actually from Lincolnshire.

[8] Partridge's involvement placed him in the public eye at a young age, and the case seems to have made a strong impression on him; he is said to have often included the tale in his lectures.

When, after two weeks, the condition of the ankle had worsened, some began to favour amputation, and fears for the popular Italian patriot grew in England.

[9] After examining the patient, he concluded, based largely on the unswollen nature of ankle, that 'the bullet did not enter the joint nor effect a lodgement elsewhere', and that Garibaldi would recover with rest and nursing care.

Nélaton used a normal surgical probe to examine the wound, concluding that Partridge had been mistaken and the bullet was indeed lodged in the joint; he recommended extraction using ball forceps.

Using this improved probe, the Italian surgeon Zanetti became convinced of the bullet's presence, and successfully extracted it on 23 November, saving Garibaldi's limb.

[9] Although Partridge had re-examined the wound shortly after Nélaton's consultation and changed his mind to concur with his French rival, severe damage to the relations between the British and Continental schools of surgery was inevitable.