RIDLEY, Sir THOMAS (1550?–1629), chancellor of Winchester, born at Ely about 1550, was the second son of Thomas Ridley, gent., of Bewling, Shropshire, by his wife Anne, daughter of William Day of Wingfield in the same county. His father belonged to a branch of the Northumberland Ridleys. He was educated at Eton, which he entered in 1565, and at King's College, Cambridge, where he became fellow. He graduated B.A. in 1570–1, and proceeded M.A. in 1574 and D.D. in 1583. About 1580, before he was thirty years old, he was appointed headmaster of Eton by Provost Day. On 7 June 1598 he was incorporated D.C.L. at Oxford. He studied law, and was admitted advocate in 1590, and before 1599 a master in chancery, chancellor of Winchester, and vicar-general to George Abbot [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury. He also sat in parliament for Wye in 1586–7, and for Lymington in 1601. He was knighted at Greenwich on 24 June 1619. He died on 23 Jan. 1628–9, and was buried at St. Benet's Church, Paul's Wharf, London. He married Margaret, daughter of William Boleyn, who is said to have been connected with the family of Anne Boleyn. By her he left two daughters—Anne, who married Sir Edward Boseville or Boswell, and Elizabeth; he is also said to have had a son Thomas, who was father of Glocester Ridley [q. v.], but he is not mentioned in Sir Thomas's will, which is printed in Ridlon's ‘Ancient Ryedales,’ p. 428, and the genealogy is doubtful. Ridley wrote ‘A View of the Civile and Ecclesiastical Law,’ &c., London, 1607, 4to, with which James I was so pleased ‘that Sir Edward Coke undertook from thence to prophesy the decay of the common law’ (Lloyd, State Worthies, 1670, p. 423). Another edition, with notes by John Gregory, was published at Oxford in 1634 (Madan, Early Oxford Press, p. 180). Other editions appeared in 1676 (Oxford, being called the fourth), and London 1684.
[Authorities quoted; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 279; Metcalfe's Knights, p. 175; Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601 p. 337, 1611–18 p. 273, 1627–8 p. 337; Hodgson's Northumberland, II. ii. 322, III. ii. 323, 329, 339; Nichols's Progresses of King James I, iii. 554; Strype's Whitgift, ii. 332; Maxwell-Lyte's Hist. of Eton, pp. 174–5; Harwood's Alumni Eton, p. 180.]
RIDLEY, WILLIAM HENRY (1816–1882), religious writer, born on 2 April 1816, was eldest son of Henry Colborne Ridley (1780–1832), rector of Hambledon, near Henley-on-Thames, a descendant of the Ridleys of Willimoteswick. His mother was Mary, daughter of James Ferrier of Lincoln's Inn Fields. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 15 May 1834, was a student 1836–41, and graduated B.A. in 1838, and M.A. in 1840. He succeeded to the family living of Hambledon on 25 July 1840, and continued there until his death. In 1859 he became rural dean of Wycombe, and in 1871 an honorary canon of Christ Church, Oxford. He died at Brighton on 17 Feb. 1882, having married, on 25 Aug. 1841, Sophia Albertina, second daughter of Charles Richard Sumner [q. v.], bishop of Winchester; by her, who died on 1 July 1884, he had an only son, Henry Colborne Mannoir Ridley.
Ridley was a voluminous writer of theological literature, but many of his publications are only single sermons and tracts. The latter include two ‘Plain Tracts on Confirmation’ (1844 and 1862), which had a wide circulation. His chief works are: 1. ‘The Holy Communion,’ parts i. and ii. 1854; 3rd edit. 1860. 2. ‘What can we do for our Soldiers in the East?’ 1854. 3. ‘Clerical Incomes and Clerical Taxation; Dr. Phillimore's Bill for the Assessment of Tithe Commutation Rent Charges,’ 1856. 4. ‘What can we do for our Fellow Subjects in India?’ 1857.
[Guardian, 22 Feb. 1882, p. 264; Academy, 1882, i. 13; Times. 22 Feb. 1882, p. 10; Ridlon's Ancient Ryedales (1884).]
RIDOLFI or RIDOLFO, ROBERTO di (1531–1612), conspirator, born at Florence on 18 Nov. 1531, belonged to the great Florentine family of Ridolfi di Piazza (Crollalanza, Dizionario Storico-Blasonico, Pisa, 1886, i. 421). He was son of Pagnozzo di Ridolfo, himself a younger son of Giovanfrancesco di Ridolfo (1475–1533), a staunch adherent of the Medici and a senator of Florence. Roberto's uncles, Lucantonio and Lodovico di Ridolfo, were also Florentine senators (Mecatti, Storia Genealogica, 1754, i. 208–9; Ademollo, Marrietta de' Ricci, ed. Passerini, Florence, 1845, iii. 1069–70; Galvani, Sommario Storico delle Famiglie celebri Toscane, i. art. ‘Ridolfi’). Brought up to the business of a banker, Roberto entered at an early age into mercantile relations with London merchants. An ardent catholic, he viewed with satisfaction the accession of Queen Mary and the reconciliation of England with the pope. After Mary's marriage to Philip II he, like many other foreigners, visited London, and soon settled there (Camden, Annals, ed. 1688, pp. 118, 154). He at once acquired in both social and mercantile circles a position of influence which the accession of Elizabeth did not diminish. Sir William Cecil and the ministers of the crown
