Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryland, Jonathan Edwards
RYLAND, JONATHAN EDWARDS (1798–1866), man of letters, only son of John Ryland (1753–1825) [q. v.], by his second wife, was born at Northampton on 5 May 1798. His earlier years were spent in Bristol, and he was educated at the baptist college, over which his father presided, and at Edinburgh University, where he was a pupil of Dr. Thomas Brown. For a time he was mathematical and classical tutor at Mill Hill College, and for a short period he taught at Bradford College. He afterwards moved to Bristol, and in 1835 went to Northampton, where he remained for the rest of his life. The degree of M.A. was in 1852 conferred upon him by Brown University, Rhode Island. He died at Waterloo, Northampton, on 16 April 1866. On 4 Jan. 1828 he married Frances, daughter of John Buxton of Northampton.
Ryland was well acquainted with Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and German, but he was shy and reserved in manner, and did not do himself justice. He chiefly employed himself in editing and translating the works of others. His earliest compositions were inserted in the ‘Visitor’ (Bristol, 1823); he was a writer in the ‘Baptist Magazine,’ and he edited vols. ix.–xii. of the fifth series of the ‘Eclectic Review.’ He wrote for Kitto's ‘Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature,’ and he published in 1856 a ‘Memoir’ of Kitto. In 1864 he produced ‘Wholesome Words; or One Hundred Choice Passages from Old Authors.’ To the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ he contributed memoirs of John Foster, Andrew Fuller, John Kitto, Robert Robinson, Schleiermacher, and Schwartz, and the articles on Northampton and Northamptonshire.
The translations, by Ryland, included Pascal's ‘Thoughts on Religion,’ Jacobi on the ‘General Epistle of St. James,’ Felix Neff's ‘Dialogues on Sin and Salvation,’ Sartorius's ‘Lectures on Christ,’ Semisch's ‘Life of Justin Martyr,’ Gaussen's ‘Canon of the Holy Scriptures,’ Tholuck's ‘Guido and Julius,’ Tholuck's ‘Old Testament and the New,’ Barth's ‘Weaver of Quelbrunn,’ Lange's ‘Life of Christ’ (vol. ii.), two treatises by Hengstenberg, and several volumes by Neander on the ‘History of the Church and its Dogmas.’ Ryland edited the ‘Pastoral Memorials’ of his father (1826–8), and the ‘Life and Correspondence of John Foster’ (1846, 2 vols.). He also edited collections of Foster's ‘Essays’ and ‘Lectures.’
[Gent. Mag. 1866, i. 771; Freeman, 27 April 1866, pp. 263, 269, 279; Works of J. E. Ryland.]