Matthew Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley
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Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley (July 25, 1842 – November 28, 1904) was a British Conservative politician and statesman. He was the eldest son of Sir Matthew White Ridley, 4th Baronet, of Blagdon and his wife Cecilia Anne Parke. His maternal grandparents were James Parke, Baron Wensleydale and his wife Cecilia Arabella Frances Barlow.
[edit] Biography
Ridley was born in London and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating BA in 1865, he was a Fellow of All Souls for nine years. In 1868, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Northumberland North, and held this seat for seventeen years before being returned as member for the Blackpool Division of North Lancashire in 1886.
Having been Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department for two years in Disraeli's administration, Sir Matthew Ridley (as he became when he succeeded his father as fifth baronet in 1877) was Financial Secretary to the Treasury in Lord Salisbury's interim government of 1885 to 1886. In 1895, after the fall of Lord Rosbery's ministry, and having already failed in April of that year to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, Ridley became Home Secretary, and held this post until his retirement in 1900. He was that same year created Viscount Ridley and Baron Wensleydale, of Blagdon and Blyth in the County of Northumberland.
Lord Ridley died aged 62 at Blagdon home, and was buried there.
[edit] Marriage and children
On December 10, 1873, Ridley married Mary Georgiana Marjoribanks (1850 - March 14, 1909). His wife was a daughter of Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth and his wife Isabella Weir-Hogg. They were parents to five children:
- Matthew White Ridley, 2nd Viscount Ridley (December 6, 1874 - February 14, 1916)
- Cecilia Marjorie Ridley (1879 - August 16, 1896)
- Stella Ridley (born 1884), married Rupert Gwynne, MP for Eastbourne (1910 to 1924), who was brother of Roland Gwynne, lover of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.[1]
- Sir Jasper Nicholas Ridley (January 6, 1887 - October 1, 1951). He was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
- Grace Ridley (1889 - September 22, 1959), married the 3rd Earl of Selborne.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Matthew Ridley, 4th Baronet Lord Henry Percy |
Member of Parliament for Northumberland North 2-seat constituency (with Henry Percy) 1868–1885 |
Succeeded by (constituency abolished) |
| Preceded by Frederick Stanley |
Member of Parliament for Blackpool 1886–1900 |
Succeeded by Henry Wilson Worsley-Taylor |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson |
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1878–1880 |
Succeeded by Arthur Wellesley Peel |
| Preceded by Henry Thurstan Holland |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1885–1886 |
Succeeded by William Jackson |
| Preceded by Herbert Henry Asquith |
Home Secretary 1895–1900 |
Succeeded by Charles Thomson Ritchie |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New creation (1900) |
Viscount Ridley | Succeeded by Matthew White Ridley |
[edit] References
- ^ Cullen, Pamela V., "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, ISBN 1-904027-19-9
