Jane Ridley (born 15 May 1953) is an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

, author and broadcaster, and Professor of Modern History at the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chanc ...

. Ridley won the

Duff Cooper Prize The Duff Cooper Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or occasionally poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, ...

in 2002 for ''The Architect and his Wife'', a biography of her great-grandfather Edwin Lutyens.

Early life

Born in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Ab ...

in the northeast of England on 15 May 1953, Ridley is the eldest daughter of the former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Cabinet minister Nicholas Ridley (1929–1993) and a granddaughter of Matthew, 3rd Viscount Ridley, by his marriage to Ursula Lutyens. Her father married Clayre Campbell (1927–2015), a daughter of Alistair, 4th Baron Stratheden and Campbell. They had three daughters, Jane (1953), Susanna (1955), and Jessica (1957), and were divorced in 1974. Her great-grandmother Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), who dismayed her parents by marrying the architect Lutyens, was a daughter of the

Earl of Lytton Earl of Lytton, in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the diplomat and poet Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton. He was Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880 and British Ambassad ...

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

in the 1870s. His parents were the novelists

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

and

Rosina Bulwer Lytton Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton, (née Rosina Doyle Wheeler; 4 November 1802 – 12 March 1882) was an Anglo-Irish writer who published fourteen novels, a volume of essays and a volume of letters. In 1827 she married Edward Bulwer-Lytton, ...

. Her cousins include the economist Sir Adam Ridley. Ridley was educated at Cranborne Chase School, an independent boarding school for girls, since closed, then occupying

New Wardour Castle New Wardour Castle is a Grade I listed English country house at Wardour, near Tisbury in Wiltshire, built for the Arundell family. The house is of Palladian style, designed by the architect James Paine, with additions by Giacomo Quarenghi, wh ...

, near the village of Tisbury in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

, and later at St Hugh's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, as an Exhibitioner in History. She took a first class honours degree in 1974, then was a research student at

Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology ...

until 1978, graduating D. Phil. in 1985 with a thesis entitled ''Leadership and Management in the Conservative Party in Parliament 1906–1914''.Professor Jane Ridley
at buckingham.ac.uk, accessed 6 March 2014

Academic career and work

In 1979, Ridley was appointed a lecturer in history at the University of Buckingham, where she was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1994, to Reader in 2002, to Senior Tutor responsible for student discipline the next year, and finally to Professor in 2007. At Buckingham she continues to serve as Senior Tutor and to teach history and has been in charge of the university's Master of Arts course in biography since establishing it in 1996. This was the first such postgraduate course. Ridley's first book was ''The Letters of Edwin Lutyens'' (1985), a collection of her great-grandfather's letters, edited jointly with her mother, Clayre Percy. She combined

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

with her sport of

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of h ...

to produce ''Fox hunting: a history'' (1990), which begins with the words "Fox hunting isn't strictly necessary." In 1995, Ridley's ''The Young Disraeli'' was published, dealing with Benjamin Disraeli's early years. She disputes that he should be considered the father of

one-nation conservatism One-nation conservatism, also known as one-nationism or Tory democracy, is a paternalistic form of British political conservatism. It advocates the preservation of established institutions and traditional principles within a political democ ...

, writing that "Disraeli didn't use the expression and nor did he want to create a classless society... The legend of Disraeli was created largely by the Conservative party, which needed a hero on whom to pin its ideas about making the party electable in a democracy." Ridley's biography of Lutyens, ''The Architect and his Wife'', won the Duff Cooper Prize for 2002.Past Winners
at theduffcooperprize.org, accessed 6 March 2014 In 2008, Ridley was given a

Leverhulme Research Fellowship The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

to work on her biography of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

, and this was finally published as ''Bertie: A Life of Edward VII'' in 2012. In reviewing the work for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'', A. N. Wilson called it "profoundly learned and a cracking good read" and gave his opinion that "After this irreverent new life of Edward VII, royal biography will never be the same again."

Personal life

In 1986, Ridley married Stephen Francis Thomas, a writer, the younger son of Sir William Cooper Thomas, by his marriage to Freida Dunbar Whyte. They have two sons, Toby (born 1988) and Humphrey (born 1991). Ridley is a member of the committee of the

London Library The London Library is an independent lending library in London, established in 1841. It was founded on the initiative of Thomas Carlyle, who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the British Museum Library. It is located at 14 St James' ...

and lives in

Dorset Square Dorset Square is a garden square in Marylebone, London. All buildings fronting it are terraced houses and listed, in the mainstream (initial) category. It takes up the site of Lord's (MCC's) Old Cricket Ground, which lasted 23 years until the ...

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it m ...

.Ridley, Jane 1953–
at encyclopedia.com, accessed 6 March 2014

Major publications

*''The letters of Edwin Lutyens to his wife Lady Emily'', ed. with Clayre Percy (Collins, 1985) *''Fox Hunting: a history'' (Collins, 1990) *''The Letters of Arthur Balfour and Lady Elcho'', ed. with Clayre Percy (Hamish Hamilton, 1992) *''The Young Disraeli'' (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995) *''The Architect and his Wife: a life of Edwin Lutyens'' (Chatto & Windus, 2002) *''Bertie: A Life of Edward VII'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 2012) **''The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince'' (New York: Random House, 2012) *''Queen Victoria: a short life'' (Penguin, 2014) *contributions to the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' *''George V: Never a Dull Moment'' (Vintage Publishing, 2021)

Honours

, 2002 *

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

, 2007

References

External links

Jane Ridley CV
at buckingham.ac.uk * *, Swan and Pen Club lecture by Jane Ridley in June 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Jane 1953 births Living people Academics of the University of Buckingham Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford English biographers English historians Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fox hunters Fox hunting writers People educated at Cranborne Chase School Jane Ridley Daughters of life peers Lutyens family