John Garlington has done some sterling work over the years researching his biography of Robert Pateson, https://prestonhistory.com/preston-history-library/john-garlington-robert-pateson-biography/ However, I regret that there has been a misattribution as regards Pateson’s partner Partington.
In their well-illustrated book to accompany the 2004 exhibition at the Harris, Robert Pateson a scientific philosopher, Emma Heslewood and John Garlington wrongly assumed that the artist Joseph Partington, who was recorded visiting Preston photographer John Holderness in the 1861 Census, was Pateson’s partner. Robert Pateson’s partner was actually John Milner Partington (1831 – 1865).
John Milner Partington was baptised on 7 November 1831 at the Parish Church of St. Laurence, Chorley. His parents were William and Sarah Partington, his father was a hairdresser. By June 1841 they were living on Lune Street, Preston; William, still a hairdresser, was 35, Sarah was 40, they had three children Sarah aged 11, John 9 and Jane 6.
William had died by 1851, his widow Sarah, aged 50, was the head of the household, her three children were still residing with her at 1 Tuson Street, Preston; John, aged 19, was now a Chemist and Druggist.
J. M. Partington and Robert Pateson (1827 – 1910) separately commenced taking photographic portraits from their respective residences, 12 Maudland Bank and 51 Bow Lane, Preston at the beginning of October 1853. On 21 October 1853 they announced that they had entered into partnership and were now taking portraits from 10 to 4 daily, by the collodion process, at Pateson’s parental home, 51 Bow Lane.
On 19th November they announced that they had opened “their new, commodious and well lighted” Raphael Photographic Gallery at 10 Chapel Street, Preston. Portraits were taken “by the Daguerreotype, Calotype or Xylographic process, from 3s. 6d. upwards; coloured, if desired.” They offered stereoscopic views, prepared photographic papers, photographic chemicals and personal instruction in photography. “Portraits taken upon glass for 3s. 6d. upwards. Daguerreotypes from 2s.6d. Portraits upon paper…. Portraits taken for lockets, rings, &c. Families and private parties waited upon when required.” This address was later used by Alfred Beattie from 1869.
Their new venture coincided with a seven month lock out of millworkers by Preston mill owners unwilling to restore previous pay cuts; the commercial and professional classes would have consequently also had a corresponding diminution of disposable income.
So on 24 March 1854 Messrs. Partington and Pateson arrived for a two week visit to Lancaster, their base was Mrs. Cass’s, she let apartments at 87 Market Street. These were the same premises used by J. J. Ponder in July 1850, then run by Mrs. Woodhouse. Their prices were the same as they charged in Preston. A review in the Lancaster Gazette considered them first rate “and for accuracy of likeness and beauty of style these productions cannot be surpassed.” The Lancaster Guardian also pronounced them to be “of first-rate order and remarkable cheap.”
Owing to their apparent “immense success” they were induced to prolong their visit twice, first by another week and then for a few days more after 21st April. By May they were in Ulverston, residing at Mrs. Isabella Hunter’s, Upper Brook Street. In July they announced their intention to visit Dalton for a week.
They arrived for a second professional visit to Lancaster in early October 1854, again residing at Mrs. Cass’s, Market Street. Prices and products were as before, they attended daily from 9.a.m. till dusk. Again they were well patronised and extended their stay into mid-November.
Notice was given in the London Gazette that the partnership between John Milner Partington and Robert Pateson as photographers at Preston, Ulverston, Lancaster and Blackburn was dissolved by mutual consent on 14 February 1855. All debts due or owing to the said partnership in Preston would be paid and received by John Partington, and elsewhere by Robert Pateson.
Consequently in March 1855 Pateson returned alone to Lancaster, again taking apartments at Mrs. Cass’s “two doors above the Kings Arms”. This time he was here for a much longer stay. He rebranded himself as a “photographer and operative chemist” in December 1855. By July 1856 he had a photographic establishment on King Street, in front of the Assembly Rooms, and had engaged a "first rate artist" to colour his photographs. Later he also had a wooden studio with a glass roof at Morecambe.
This visit ended with his ill-fated attempted suicide on 30 June 1858 as he was in financial difficulties. He was caught in the act by his cousin and rushed by cab to the dispensary where his stomach was pumped out. He was brought before the town’s magistrates, most of whom he had probably photographed, and incarcerated over the weekend in the Castle hospital. Having apparently fully recovered, he was fortunate to be released into the care of his father, and returned to Preston. Robert resumed his career as a “photographer and operative chemist” from the parental home, 51 Bow Lane, in October 1858. The rest, as they say, is well documented history, he went on to achieve a lot over the next five decades.
Meanwhile, by the end of April 1855 Partington had moved to Bolton where he set up as a “chemist and practical photographer” at 77 Newport Street. By the end of the year he advertised that a priced catalogue of photographic apparatus and materials could be had gratis on application by enclosing a stamp.
John married Caroline Brooks on 8 October 1857 at the Parish Church of St. Mary, Bury. She was the second daughter of the late James Lowe of Bolton.
In 1861 Census John, a Chemist and Druggist, was living with Caroline and their two children, Walter Milner aged 2 and Adelaide Eugene, 3 months, at 46 Newport Street, Bolton.
John was still at the same address in June 1863 when he offered for sale a superior photographic apparatus suitable for professional or amateur use, one suspects that this might have been his own camera equipment.
A fourth child, John Lowe, was baptised at St Chrysostom church, Everton on 28 January 1865, sadly he died in infancy. John was now a licensed vitualler living on Reservoir Street. John died at Everton on 3 April 1865, and was buried in St Michael’s churchyard, Great Lever on 8 April. Probate was belatedly granted to his son Walter Milner Partington on 1 September 1880.
