Life

Called 'Glocester' because he was born at sea in the Glocester East Indian in 1702, Glocester Ridley was a collateral descendant of Bishop Nicholas Ridley

Nicholas Ridley (martyr)

Nicholas Ridley was an English Bishop of London. Ridley was burned at the stake, as one of the Oxford Martyrs, during the Marian Persecutions, for his teachings and his support of Lady Jane Grey...

, and son of Matthew Ridley of Bencoolen, East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

 (now Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

). He was educated at Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

, becoming scholar in 1718, when he was described as of St. Alban, Wood Street, London. He matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, on 14 October 1721, but was admitted a scholar of New College

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

 on 1 September 1722, becoming fellow on 18 June 1724, before the usual two years of probation had been completed. He graduated B.C.L. on 29 April 1729, and the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by diploma on 25 February 1767. While young he was fond of acting, and in 1728 he and four companions wrote the tragedy of The Fruitless Redress, each of them contributing an act. He afterwards composed the play of Jugurtha, but neither piece was produced on the public stage or printed. Theophilus Cibber

Theophilus Cibber

Theophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alexander Pope satirized Theophilus Cibber in his Dunciad as a youth who "thrusts his person full...

, his contemporary at Winchester, is said to have called upon him at Poplar

Poplar, London

Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about east of Charing Cross. Historically a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in 1817 Poplar became a civil parish. In 1855 the Poplar District of the Metropolis was...

, and to have pressed him to adopt the stage as his profession. Verses and translations by him, apparently written while he was at college, are in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

.

Ridley was ordained in the English church, and was curate to William Berriman, D.D. He was Berriman's executor, and preached his funeral sermon. In 1733 he was appointed by his college to the small benefice of Weston Longueville, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, thereby vacating his fellowship in 1734. He was also chaplain to the East India Company

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 at Poplar

Poplar, London

Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about east of Charing Cross. Historically a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in 1817 Poplar became a civil parish. In 1855 the Poplar District of the Metropolis was...

, where he chiefly resided, and lecturer at St. Ann's, Middlesex; and in 1751 he was presented by his college to the donative of Romford

Romford

Romford is a large suburban town in north east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...

 in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. When the Duke of Bedford

John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford

John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, FRS was an 18th century British statesman. He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey...

 was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 in 1756, Ridley declined an offer of the first chaplaincy, although it was coupled with a promise of promotion in England. He remained without substantial preferment until May 1766, when he was appointed to the prebendal stall of Teignton Regis in Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....

 by Archbishop Secker. Ridley was known to many learned men, including Bishop Lowth and the poet Christopher Pitt

Christopher Pitt

Christopher Pitt was a British poet and translator.His translations to English include Virgil's Aeneid and Vida's Art of Poetry.Pitt was educated at Winchester College, leaving in 1719 to study at New College, Oxford...

. To the latter he presented a set of verses ‘on his poems and translations.’ With Joseph Spence

Joseph Spence (author)

Joseph Spence was a historian, literary scholar and anecdotist, most famous for his collection of anecdotes that are an invaluable resource for historians of 18th century English literature .- Early life :Spence was born on 28 April 1699, at Kingsclere, Hampshire, the son of Joseph Joseph Spence...

, Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

's friend, he was especially intimate. Spence gave him Pope's cane, and made him his executor. Three letters from Ridley to Spence are in the appendix to Spence's ‘Anecdotes’ (1858 edition, pp. 320–7), and Ridley addressed to Spence his imitation of Horace

Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...

's Ode 12, bk. iv. in Dodsley

Robert Dodsley

Robert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....

's Museum (i. 135–6). William Duncombe

William Duncombe

William Duncombe was a British author and playwright. He worked in the Navy Office from 1706 until 1725. That year, he and Elizabeth Hughes won a very large lottery sum on a joint ticket. He married Elizabeth in 1726 and "retired into literary leisure." The nature of their match is unknown,...

's translation of the second book of the Epistles of Horace is dedicated to him. He died on 3 November 1774, and was buried on 10 November in the cemetery at Poplar, the epitaph on his monument being written by Lowth. Ridley's library was sold by Benjamin White in 1775. He left a widow and four daughters. In his old age he lost both his sons, James Ridley

James Ridley

James Kenneth Ridley was an English author, who was educated at University College, Oxford. He served as a chaplain with the British Army...

 and Thomas Ridley, a writer in the service of the East India Company at Madras, where he was no sooner settled than he died of smallpox. His daughter Mary (d. 1809), wife of Edward Evans (d. 1807), captain in the 23rd Foot, is said to have written several novels. Margaret Ridley, ‘the last survivor of his family,’ died at Hingham, Norfolk

Hingham, Norfolk

Hingham is a market town and civil parish in the Forehoe district in the heart of rural Norfolk, in England. The civil parish covers an area of and had a population of 2,078 in 944 households as of the 2001 census. Grand architecture surrounds the market place and village green...

 in 1837, aged 91.

Works

• The Christian passover. Four sermons: in which the doctrine of the Lord's supper is laid down ... Preached in Lent, M.DCC.XXXVI, 1742
• Eight sermons on the divinity and operations of the Holy Ghost preached at the Cathedral of St. Paul in London: in the years 1740, 1741. At the lecture founded by the worthy Lady Moyer deceased, 1742
• Jovi Eleutherio, or an Offering to Liberty [anon.], 1745; this subsequently (1748) appeared in Dodsley's ‘Collection of Poetry,’ iii. 44–58.
• A sermon preached before the honourable Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America, and the Associates of the late Reverend Dr. Bray at their anniversary meeting, March 20, 1745-6. in the parish church of St. Margaret, Westminister, 1746
• Constitution in church and state. Three sermons preached on occasion of the present rebellion, at St. Ann's Limehouse, and the chapel of Poplar, in Sept. and Oct. 1745, 1746
• The good Christian never dies A sermon preached in the parish church of St. Andrew Undershaft, at the funeral of William Berriman, D.D. February 10, 1749, 1750
• God's threatnings against sinful nations exemplified, and improved A sermon preached in the chapels of Romford and Poplar, ... April 1, and 8, 1750., 1750
• The blessing of religion to civil societies. A sermon preach'd at the assizes held at Thetford, for the county of Norfolk, on Friday, March 23, 1753, 1753
• The difference and respective use of the moral, civil and ceremonial law. A sermon preach'd at the assizes held at Norwich, on Wednesday, August 15, 1753, 1753
• A sermon preached before the Sons of the Clergy in the cathedral church of St. Paul, on Thursday, April 28, 1757. By Glocester Ridley, ... To which is annexed, A list of the annual amount of the collection for this charity, from the year 1721, 1757
• A sermon preached in the parish-church of Christ-Church, London, on Thursday May the 5th, 1757 being the time of the yearly meeting of the children educated in the charity-schools, in and about the cities of London and Westminster, 1758
• De Syriacarum Novi Fœderis Versionum indole atque usu dissertatio, 1761, dedicated to Archbishop Secker; it is reprinted at the end of Semler's edition of J. J. Wetstein's Libelli ad crisen atque interpretationem Novi Testamenti (Halæ, 1776), p. 247. Ridley had received four manuscripts from Mesopotamia, two of which contained ‘binas versiones Cyriacas Novi Fœderis tabularum,’ and although he was without a preceptor, and even lacked a knowledge of the letters, he applied himself to a study of the language and learnt it. The manuscripts were left by him to New College, Oxford, and they were printed at the expense of the delegates of the Clarendon Press in 1778, by the Rev. Joseph White, D.D.
• Life of Bishop Nicholas Ridley, 1763; the success of this volume enabled him to invest 800l. in the funds; the greater part of it was reprinted in ‘The Voice of the Church,’ 1840, vols. i. ii.
• A Review of Mr. Phillips's History of the Life of Reginald Pole, 1766.
• A Letter to the Author of the Confessional [anon.], 1768; this was followed in the same year by second and third letters, and all three, in which Archbishop Secker assisted, were bound up together with a general title. Francis Blackburne
  Francis Blackburne
  Francis Blackburne PC KS was an Irish judge and eventually became Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Background:...
  
  , the anonymous author of ‘The Confessional,’ subsequently replied to them, and so did ‘A Country Clergyman’ (said to be the Rev. T. Gwatkin).
• Melampus: a Poem in Four Books, with Notes, by the late Gloster Ridley, 1781. On the title-page is a medallion portrait of the author, painted by Scoule, and engraved by John Hall. Prefixed is Ridley's poem of ‘Psyche,’ which had previously appeared in Dodsley's ‘Museum’ (iii. 80–97) and in Dodsley's ‘Collection of Poetry’ (iii. 33–43). The publication was effected by George Steevens for the benefit of Ridley's widow and family.

Some of his poems, including one on the death of George I and on the accession of George II from the Oxford set of verses on those events, appear in Nichols's ‘Collection of Poems’ (viii. 74–82, 112–34).

External links

• Rev. Glocester Ridley (1702-1774)