200 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
Bishop Ridley is above all things a busy man. And it is not too much to say of him that " whatso ever his hand findeth to do, he doeth it with his might." The Church of England to-day in Canada, in India and at home is the richer for his zealous labours. He is another instance of the business man turned Bishop. Born in 1836, the son of Mr Allen Gibbs Ridley, of Brixham, Torbay, he fol lowed in the first place a commercial calling. Then the clerical bent revealed itself, and a theological training was undergone at the Islington Church Missionary College. In the ordinary course of events he was ordained deacon in 1866, and priest a year later. Like most of his contemporaries, he was anxious to be up and doing in the foreign field, so to begin with he was entrusted by the C.M.S. with important missionary work in Peshawur and Afghanistan. In 1868 he was installed Principal of the Peshawur College. By this time he had accomplished a good deal of linguistic work, and in addition to administering the many schools in the district, he was the ruling genius of what was in reality a training college for the Indian Universities. But in time ill-health due in part to the climate, and in part, perhaps, to excessive work caused Mr Ridley to be invalided home. It was to him a dis appointing turn of events ; but the four years spent in the foreign field, where he had enjoyed the friendship of French afterwards Bishop French, and one of the greatest linguists among missionaries
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