Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley

The Right Honourable The Viscount Ridley Bt DL PC
Home Secretary
In office 29 June 1895 – 12 November 1900
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	Herbert Henry Asquith
Succeeded by	Charles Ritchie
Personal details
Born	(1842-07-25)25 July 1842 London, England
Died	Blagdon, Northumberland, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Hon. Mary Marjoribanks (1850–1899)
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley PC, DL (25 July 1842 – 28 November 1904), known as Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bt from 1877 to 1900, was a British Conservative politician and statesman. He notably served as Home Secretary from 1895 to 1900.

Background and education

Ridley was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Matthew White Ridley, 4th Baronet and his wife the Hon. Cecilia Anne, daughter of James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale and his wife Cecilia Arabella Frances Barlow. He was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1865, he was a Fellow of All Souls for nine years.

Political career

In 1868, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Northumberland North, and held this seat for seventeen years before being returned as member for the Blackpool Division of North Lancashire in 1886. Having been Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department for two years in Disraeli's administration, Sir Matthew Ridley (as he became when he succeeded his father as fifth baronet in 1877) was Financial Secretary to the Treasury in Lord Salisbury's interim government of 1885 to 1886. In 1895, after the fall of Lord Rosbery's ministry, and having already failed in April of that year to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, Ridley became Home Secretary, and held this post until his retirement in 1900. He was that same year created Viscount Ridley and Baron Wensleydale, of Blagdon and Blyth in the County of Northumberland.

Family

Lord Ridley married Mary Georgiana Marjoribanks (1850 – 14 March 1909), daughter of Dudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth and his wife Isabella Weir-Hogg, on 10 December 1873. They were parents to five children:

• Matthew White Ridley, 2nd Viscount Ridley (6 December 1874 – 14 February 1916)
• Cecilia Marjorie Ridley (1879 – 16 August 1896)
• Hon. Stella Ridley (born 1884), married Rupert Gwynne
• Hon. Sir Jasper Nicholas Ridley (6 January 1887 – 1 October 1951). He was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
• Hon. Grace Ridley (1889 – 22 September 1959), married Roundell Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne.

Lord Ridley died aged 62 at his Blagdon home, and was buried there.

References

• (subscription or UK public library membership required)
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Ridley

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Matthew Ridley, Bt Lord Henry Percy	Member of Parliament for North Northumberland 1868–1885 With: Earl Percy	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Hon. Frederick Stanley	Member of Parliament for Blackpool 1886–1900	Succeeded by Henry Wilson Worsley-Taylor
Political offices
Preceded by Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, Bt	Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1878–1880	Succeeded by Arthur Peel
Preceded by Sir Henry Holland, Bt	Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1885–1886	Succeeded by William Jackson
Preceded by H. H. Asquith	Home Secretary 1895–1900	Succeeded by Charles Ritchie
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Matthew Ridley	Baronet (of Blagdon)  1877–1904	Succeeded by Matthew White Ridley
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Ridley 1900–1904	Succeeded by Matthew White Ridley
Business positions
Preceded by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, Bart	Chairman of the North Eastern Railway 1902–1904	Succeeded by Sir Edward Grey, Bart