PARDOE, WILLIAM (d. 1692), baptist divine, was apparently a native of Worcester, where, on 6 May 1650 and 13 Aug. 1652, his name appears as an assistant sequestrator (Cal. State Papers, Committee for Compounding, p. 237; and Committee for Advance of Money, p. 106). Before 1660, however, he had joined the baptists, and in that year signed the ‘Briefe Confession or Declaration of Faith set forth by many of us who are falsly called Anabaptists.’ He travelled about at this time, preaching in Leicestershire, Yorkshire, and neighbouring counties, and was at length apprehended and put in prison at Leicester in August 1675. From the gaol he corresponded with his friend Lawrence Spooner of Curborough, who was afterwards converted and baptised by him. During his imprisonment Pardoe commenced writing ‘Ancient Christianity revived; being a Description of the Doctrine, Discipline, and Practice of the Little City Bethania. Collected out of her great charter, the Holy Scriptures, and confirmed by the same, for the satisfaction and benefit of the house of the poor. By one of her Inhabitants, who desireth to worship God after the way which some men call heresie,’ London, 1688. The book was afterwards finished in Worcester gaol. It was dedicated to his ‘much esteemed friends of the baptist churches of Leominster, Worcester, and Lichfield.’ On 1 Oct. 1683 a large meeting was held at Spooner's house. Pardoe was apparently present, but informers were there, and some of the worshippers were imprisoned for some weeks.
Pardoe became pastor of a baptist church in Lichfield about 1688. The letter, undated, in which he speaks of preaching at Dudley, and of a severe illness at Bristol, which ‘makes him think his travelling will not be long,’ was probably written earlier. He died in August 1692.
Pardoe is spoken of as a ‘worthy, humble, self-denying preacher,’ useful and very successful as a minister. His sentiments were identical with those of the particular baptists, except that he accepted universal redemption. Besides ‘Ancient Christianity revived,’ he wrote while in Leicester gaol (June 1675) another devotional work, entitled ‘The Mariner's Compass.’
Another William Pardoe, of Worcester, who was probably a relative, was several times imprisoned between 4 July 1670 and 29 May 1685 as a quaker at Worcester, and in 1681 was distrained upon for goods of the value of 100l., which were afterwards redeemed by a person unknown to him (Besse, Sufferings, ii. 69, 77, 83, 84, 89).
[Four of Pardoe's letters to Lawrence Spooner were printed from the originals in the Baptist Magazine, 1810–11, pp. 56, 289, 413, 503; Spooner's Manuscript Journal (published by a descendant, Samuel James, in An Abstract of Gracious Dealings, &c.), 10th ed. London, 1842, pp. 71, 73, 74, 78, 81, 82, 96; Wood's Hist. of Gen. Bapt. p. 156; Ivimey's Hist. of Baptists, ii. 208, 580; Whiston's Memorials, ii. 575; Taylor's Hist. of Gen. Bapt. i. 236; Crosby's Hist. of Engl. Bapt. iii. 114.]
PARDON, GEORGE FREDERICK (1824–1884), miscellaneous writer, descended from a Cornish family, was born in London in 1824. He was educated at a private school, and at the age of fifteen entered the printing office of Stevens & Pardon in Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Soon afterwards he contributed articles to the ‘Old Monthly’ and the ‘Sunbeam,’ periodicals edited by Heraud. In 1841–2 he sub-edited the ‘Evening Star,’ and became intimate with most of the radical leaders. From 1847 to 1850 he edited ‘The People's and Howitt's Journal,’ and in the summer of the latter year he joined the staff of John Cassell [q. v.] as editor of the ‘Working Man's Friend.’ In 1851 he projected the ‘Illustrated Exhibitor,’ a weekly description of the Great Exhibition, which was revived in 1862, and afterwards merged in the ‘Magazine of Art.’ In 1851 he also projected and edited for Cassell the ‘Popular Educator’ and others of Cassell's educational publications. In 1854–5 he was engaged as editor of the ‘Family Friend’ and the ‘Home Companion;’ and he assisted in launching ‘Orr's Circle of Sciences.’ In 1861–2 he wrote for Messrs. Routledge a ‘Guide to the Exhibition,’ the ‘Popular Guide to London,’ besides numerous handbooks to chess, draughts, and card games, still published separately, and as a volume entitled ‘Hoyle Modernised.’ Under the pseudonym of ‘Captain Crawley’ he produced ‘The Billiard Book,’ ‘Games for Gentlemen,’ and about twenty other volumes descriptive of games, sports, and pastimes. Most of them were reproduced in America. For the ninth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ he wrote the articles on ‘Billiards’ and ‘Bagatelle.’ Among Pardon's other works are:
- ‘The Faces in the Fire; the Shadows on the Wall; with other Tales and Sketches,’ London, 1856, 8vo.
- ‘Dogs, their Sagacity, Instinct, and Uses,’ illustrated by Harrison Weir, London, 1857 and [1877], 8vo.
- ‘Stories about Animals,’ London [1858], 8vo.
- ‘Stories about Birds,’ London [1858], 8vo.
- ‘Tales from the Operas,’ London, 1858, 12mo.
- ‘Boldheart the Warrior, and his Adventures in the Haunted Wood: a
