# Willie Partridge — Piccadilly Jim character guide

> Willie Partridge in Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Willie, Bill, Partridge

**First appearance:** 0004-v-the-morning-after

## Snapshot

A young chemist absorbed in perfecting a devastating explosive, whose innocent obsession with his formula makes him a pawn in others' plots.

## Who they are

Willie Partridge is the Pett family's resident inventor, a boyish enthusiast whose mind runs on reactions and yields rather than romance or society. His explosive formula attracts the attention of relatives eager to exploit it, turning his harmless tinkering into a source of real danger. He matters because his invention becomes the object everyone else is maneuvering around, and his obliviousness makes him both comic and precarious.

## In the story

### [Mrs. Pett Is Shocked](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/piccadilly_jim_se/chapters/ix-mrs-pett-is-shocked)

Discusses his explosive Partridgite with Lord Wisbeach and Mrs. Pett, maintaining an air of self-importance.

### [XV: A Little Business Chat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/piccadilly_jim_se/chapters/xv-a-little-business-chat)

Displays a test-tube of Partridgite at lunch, alarming the company; claims it can blow up half of New York.

### [XXVI: Everybody Happy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/piccadilly_jim_se/chapters/xxvi-everybody-happy)

Referenced in relation to the bomb that nearly went off.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/piccadilly_jim_se/characters/willie_partridge
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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/piccadilly_jim_se/characters