Cecil Guy Ridley

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(21 June 1885 – 15 November 1947) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and

Master in Lunacy The Commissioners in Lunacy or Lunacy Commission was a public body established by the Lunacy Act 1845 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in England and Wales. It succeeded the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy. Previous ...

. He was the son of the judge Sir Edward Ridley, and was educated at

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

and New College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. He was on the fringes of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

and was recruited to participate in the

Dreadnought hoax The ''Dreadnought'' hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked the Royal Navy into showing their flagship, the battleship HMS ''Dreadnought'', to a fake delegation of Abyssinian royals. The hoax drew atten ...

in 1910. In 1914 he published the short fantasy novel ''The Word of Teregor'', notable for being a novel of sentient trees, one called Enteth, who converse in moots. His only other known print publication is the highly patriotic poem "The Union Jack Club", published in Belloc's conservative Catholic magazine '' Land and Water'' for 16 November 1916. His CBE was awarded in 1918 for his important legal work during the First World War at Scotland Yard. He worked there as the Staff Officer to the Chief of the Special Constabulary. He was private secretary to Sir Edward Ward, 1st Baronet, of Wilbraham Place. In 1928, at age 45, he made a late marriage with the musical comedy star Cicely Debenham (1891-1955).''Variety'', August 1928.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Guy Cecil 1885 births 1947 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Harrow School Dreadnought hoax 20th-century English lawyers Masters of the High Court (England and Wales)