Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Ridding, George
RIDDING, GEORGE (1828–1904), headmaster of Winchester and first bishop of Southwell, was born on 16 March 1828 in Winchester College, of which his father, Charles Henry Ridding (afterwards vicar of Andover), was then second master. His mother (d. 1832) was Charlotte Stonhouse, daughter of Timothy Stonhouse-Vigor, arch-deacon of Gloucester, and grand-daughter of Sir James Stonhouse, eleventh baronet [q. v.]. Isaac Huntingford [q. v.], bishop of Gloucester and Hereford and warden of Winchester, was great-great-uncle and godfather. Ridding was a scholar of Winchester (1840-6), rising to be head of the school, while his three brothers won equal distinction as cricketers. In default of a vacancy at New College, he matriculated as a commoner at Balliol, where he rowed in the college boat and gained the Craven scholarship, a first class in classics and a second in mathematics, and a mathematical fellowship at Exeter College (all in 1851); he won the Latin essay and proceeded M.A. in 1853; and took the degree of D.D. in 1869. From 1853 to 1863 he was tutor of Exeter (of which college he was made an honorary fellow in 1890); there he took a considerable part on the liberal side in college and university politics. On 14 Jan. 1863 Ridding was elected second master of Winchester; and on 27 Sept. 1866, when Dr. George Moberly [q. v.] resigned the headmastership, he was at once elected to succeed him. The time was ripe for reforms, educational and material, and Ridding was a wise and courageous reformer. Carrying on the policy initiated by Moberly, he established six additional boarding-houses, and transferred thither the ’commoners' (boys not on the foundation), who had hitherto been housed in an unsightly and insanitary block of buildings, which Ridding converted into much-needed class-rooms and a school library. Land was bought, drained, levelled, and presented to the school as additional playing-fields, since called Ridding Field. A racquet court, three fives courts, and a botanical garden were likewise given to the school. A new bathing-place and a gymnasium were provided. Wykeham's chapel was reseated and rearranged, with results which though artistically unfortunate were held to be good for discipline; and 'Chantry,' a beautiful fifteenth- century building in the centre of the cloisters, was converted into a chapel for the smaller boys. The funds for carrying out his reforms were provided by Ridding out of his own salary and private property, to an extent estimated at 20,000l., of which about half was eventually repaid to him. Educationally Ridding was a pioneer in the expansion of the curriculum of public schools. He was one of the founders of the headmasters' conference in 1870, and of the Oxford and Cambridge schools examination board in 1873; but he did not wait for the collaboration of other headmasters to carry out the reforms which he saw to be desirable. He more than doubled the staff of assistant masters. He greatly enlarged the scope of the mathematical teaching; he practically introduced the teaching of history, modern languages, and natural science, and made them, especially the first-named, vital elements in the education of the school. No separate ’modern side' was established; but opportunities were given in the upper part of the school for the development of special individual capacity. Ridding was himself a fine classical scholar and a stimulating teacher, and by a system of periodical inspection he kept the whole teaching of the school under his own eye. He had the gift of commanding both the respect and the affection of his pupils, and the perhaps rarer gift of carrying with him in a course of drastic reforms the co-operation and devotion of his assistant masters. His reforms were often viewed with disfavour by the fellows, who before 1871 constituted the governing body of the college, and were strenuously criticised by Wykehamists in general; but Ridding won his way, and the results justified him. The school rose in numbers from about 250 to over 400, and might have been much further enlarged but for Ridding's conviction that a school should not exceed the number with which a headmaster can keep in personal touch. The record of university successes was excellent; after his resignation he was entertained at dinner by sixteen fellows of Oxford colleges who were the product of the last eight years of his rule at Winchester. In 1872 occurred the 'tunding row,' arising out of a somewhat excessive punishment of a stalwart ’inferior' by a prefect. The incident was trivial, but the victim's father appealed to ’The Times,' and an animated, though in general ill-informed, correspondence followed [The Times, Nov. and Dec. 1872). Two members of the governing body resigned ; but neither Winchester nor the prefectorial system was affected by it. A further valuable extension of the activities of the school was the foundation, after the example of Uppingham, of a School Mission, first in 1876 at Bromley in East London, and subsequently in 1882 at Landport in Portsmouth, where the mission came into more intimate connection with the life of the school.
In 1883 Ridding refused the offer of the deanery of Exeter (while at Oxford he had refused a colonial bishopric) ; but in 1884 he was appointed the first bishop of Southwell, and consecrated on 1 May. Southwell was a new diocese, formed by separating the counties of Derby and Nottingham from the dioceses of Lichfield and Lincoln respectively. The cathedral town was so inaccessible that Ridding firmly declined to live in it, and rented Thurgarton Priory as his residence in place of the ruined episcopal palace. In population the diocese was the fifth in England, but it had no chapter, no diocesan funds, no common organisation ; the two counties had diverse traditions, and much of the patronage remained in the hands of external bishops and chapters. Ridding's work was to bring unity and a corporate spirit out of diversity and jealousy, to create all kinds of diocesan organisations, to raise the intellectual standard of the clergy, and to stimulate spiritual Life in neglected districts. As at Winchester, he was not understood at first, and encountered some opposition ; but his sincerity, genuineness, and liberality (the whole of his official income was spent on the diocese) ultimately gained the affection and loyalty of both clergy and laity. He was emphatic in upholding the national church, and very definite in his advocacy of church principles. His independence and originality of thought made him a valued adviser of two successive archbishops ; with Temple in particular he was united by cordial friendship, based on considerable resemblances of character. This same independence, on the other hand, often separated him from the main parties of church thought. During the controversy of 1902 on religious education, he was not in accord with either the government or the opposition of the day, but strenuously advocated a universal system of state schools, accompanied by universal liberty of religious teaching.
With the exception of a long holiday (necessitated by overwork) in Egypt and Greece from December 1888 to April 1889, his work in his diocese was unbroken. In 1891 he refused translation to Lichfield. In 1893 occurred the great strike in the coal trade, lasting four months (July-Nov.), during which his efforts to restore peace were unceasing. In 1897 he presided at the Nottingham Church Congress. In 1902 repeated attacks of rheumatism and sciatica began to tell upon his health. In July 1904 he tendered his resignation ; but before it had taken effect an acute crisis supervened, and on 30 Aug. he died at Thurgarton. He was buried just outside Southwell minster. Ridding was twice married: (1) on 20 July 1858 to Mary Louisa, third child of Dr. George Moberly [q. v.], then headmaster of Winchester ; she died on the first anniversary of their marriage ; and (2) on 26 Oct. 1876 to Laura Ehzabeth, eldest daughter of Roundell Palmer, first earl of Selborne [q. v.].
Ridding published one volume of sermons, 'The Revel and the Battle' (1897); and after his death his 'Litany of Remembrance' (1905) and his visitation charges, 'The Church and Common- wealth ' (1906), 'Church and State' (1912), were edited by his wife. His style, whether in writing or in speaking, was peculiar : full of thought, tersely and trenchantly expressed, but often difficult to follow from lack of connecting links and phrases. Nevertheless it was stimulating from its vigour and obvious sincerity, as well as from the unexpectedness which was a characteristic quality also of his teaching and conversation. His administrative powers are best shown by the results : as headmaster he earned the title (conferred on him by the conservative warden of New College, Dr. Sewell) of 'second founder of Winchester,' and as bishop he was the founder and organiser of the diocese of Southwell.
Ridding's portrait, painted by W. W. Ouless, R.A., in 1879, as a wedding gift from old Wykehamists, hangs in Moberly Library, Winchester ; it was engraved by Paul Rajon. Another portrait by H. Harris Brown in 1896 belongs to Lady Laiu-a Ridding. A full-length memorial brass by T. B. Carter was placed in Winchester College chapel by the warden and fellows in 1907; and a fine bronze statue, kneeling, by F. W. Pomeroy, A.R.A., was presented to Southwell Cathedral by the diocese and friends. There are engravings from photographs in 1897 and 1904. A cartoon portrait by 'Spy' appeared in ’Vanity Fair' in 1901.
[George Ridding, Schoolmaster and Bishop, by his wife. Lady Laura Ridding, with bibliography, 1908; Miss C. A. E. Moberly, Dulce Domum, 1911; articles in the Church Quarterly Rev., July 1905, and Cornhill Mag., Dec. 1904; personal knowledge.]