Frank C. Partridge

Frank Charles Partridge
United States Senator
from Vermont
In office
December 23, 1930 – March 31, 1931
Appointed byJohn E. Weeks
Preceded byFrank L. Greene
Succeeded byWarren Austin
Member of the Vermont Senate from Rutland County
In office
1898–1900
Serving with Frederick S. Platt
Silas L. Griffith
Jesse E. Thomson
Preceded byFrederick H. Farrington
Hiram L. Manchester
George T. Chaffee
Rodney M. Lewis
Succeeded byJames H. Aiken
Philip R. Leavenworth
Percival W. Clement
Elwin O. Aldrich
U.S. Consul in Tangier, Morocco
In office
1897–1898
Preceded byDavid N. Burke
Succeeded bySamuel R. Gummere
United States Minister to Venezuela
In office
March 4, 1893 – January 9, 1894
Preceded byWilliam L. Scruggs
Succeeded bySeneca Haselton
Personal details
Born(1861-05-07)May 7, 1861
East Middlebury, Vermont, U.S.
DiedMarch 2, 1943(1943-03-02) (aged 81)
Proctor, Vermont, U.S.
Resting placeSouth Street Cemetery, Proctor, Vermont
Political partyRepublican
SpouseSarah Sanborn (m. May 7, 1907)
Children5
EducationAmherst College
Columbia Law School
ProfessionLawyer
Business executive

Frank C. Partridge (May 7, 1861 – March 2, 1943) was an American attorney, diplomat, and business executive from Vermont. A Republican, he served briefly in the United States Senate, appointed to fill the vacancy left by the death of Frank L. Greene.

A native of East Middlebury, Vermont, Partridge was educated in Middlebury, attended Middlebury College, and graduated from Amherst College (1882) and Columbia Law School (1884). Proctor practiced law in Rutland before becoming active in the Vermont Marble Company and associated politically with the company's owners, the Redfield Proctor family. Partridge advanced up Vermont Marble's ranks beginning in the mid-1880s, and served successively as treasurer, vice president, president, and chairman of the board. In addition, he was affiliated with other Proctor businesses, including the Proctor Trust Company and the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad.

Partridge held local offices in Proctor, including town clerk and school board member. When Redfield Proctor served as Secretary of War from 1889 to 1890, Partridge served as his private secretary. Partridge's connection to a powerful cabinet member who later served in the U.S. Senate led to several appointments, including Solicitor of the Department of State from 1890 to 1893, United States Ambassador to Venezuela from 1893 to 1894, and U.S. Consul in Tangier, Morocco from 1897 to 1898. From 1898 to 1900, Partridge served in the Vermont Senate.

As a prominent business leader and former diplomat, Partridge developed "senior statesman" status that led to service on various boards and commissions, in the 1910s and 1920s, including the state public safety committee that managed Vermont's participation in World War I and the public corporation that aided in Vermont's recovery following the Great Flood of 1927. In December 1930, Governor John E. Weeks appointed Partridge to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the death of Frank Greene. Partridge lost the Republican nomination to Warren Austin in the March 1931 primary, and in overwhelmingly Republican Vermont, Austin easily defeated Democrat Stephen M. Driscoll in the general election. Partridge retired in 1935, and resided in Proctor. He died there on March 2, 1943, and was interred at South Street Cemetery in Proctor.