Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley (29 July 1925 – 22 March 2012), was a British nobleman. He notably served as Lord Steward of the Household from 1989 to 2001.

Background, education and military service

Ridley was the son of Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Viscount Ridley, and Ursula Lutyens, daughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens. His younger brother Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, was a prominent

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician who served as a government minister for nearly all of Margaret Thatcher's years as Prime Minister. Matthew Ridley was educated at Eton College and spent several months studying agriculture at King's College, University of Durham (now Newcastle University). The Second World War interrupted his education and he joined the Coldstream Guards, serving in Normandy and Germany in 1944–45. He then studied at Oxford, graduating with a degree in Agriculture from Balliol College in 1948. He then served as an '' aide-de-camp'' to Sir Evelyn Baring, then Governor of Kenya. During this time he furthered his interest in nature and science. In 1955, Ridley and zoologist

Lord Richard Percy Lord Richard Percy (11 February 1921 – 23 December 1989) was an English zoologist with an aristocratic and military background, best known for his specialist research on lampreys. He had a long association with Newcastle University and the fiel ...

spent four months on an uninhabited island in the Seychelles studying the plight of the dwindling

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

. Later he joined the Territorial Army, reaching the rank of

Brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

Colonel in the

Northumberland Hussars The Northumberland Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, transferred to the Royal Artillery for the duration of the Second World War. It was disbanded as an independent Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when the strength of t ...

: he became Honorary Colonel of that unit in 1979.

Public life

Ridley succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1964. He was Chairman of Northumberland County Council from 1967 to 1979. He chaired several companies and societies, before serving as Chancellor of the University of Newcastle from 1988 to 1999, as Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland from 1984 to 2000, and as Lord Steward of the Household from 1989 to 2001. He was succeeded by the Duke of Abercorn as Lord Steward in 2001. He was made a Knight Companion of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...

in 1992 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1994. He retired in 1999 and did not stand for election as a hereditary peer after the House of Lords Act.

Marriage and children

Ridley was married on 3 January 1953 to Lady Anne Katharine Gabrielle Lumley (born 16 November 1928, died 2006), daughter of

Lawrence Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough Lawrence Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough, (27 July 1896 – 29 June 1969) was a British Conservative politician and British Army general. Background Lumley was the son of Brigadier General Osbert Lumley (1857-1923), youngest child and so ...

. They had four children together: * Hon. Cecilia Anne Ridley (born 1 December 1953) * Hon. Rose Emily Ridley (13 August 1956 – 24 June 2020), married

Owen Paterson Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...

in 1980 and had two sons and a daughter *

Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, (born 7 February 1958), is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics and has been a regular contributor to ''Th ...

(born 7 February 1958) * Hon. Mary Victoria Ridley (born 30 November 1962) Ridley died on 22 March 2012 and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his only son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Matthew Ridley, 4th Viscount 1925 births 2012 deaths Military personnel from Northumberland British colonels Knights of the Garter Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Lord-Lieutenants of Northumberland Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II Coldstream Guards officers People associated with Newcastle University Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Northumberland Hussars officers

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

Lutyens family People educated at Eton College