The Honourable
''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...
Jane Ridley
FRSL
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...
(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 species; as well as the ...
,
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
The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...
at the
University of Buckingham.
Ridley won the
Duff Cooper Prize in 2002 for ''The Architect and his Wife'', a biography of her great-grandfather
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
.
Early life
Born in
Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
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 and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
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
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
, was a daughter of the
Earl of Lytton,
Viceroy of India
The governor-general of India (1833 to 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 in their capacity as the Emperor of ...
in the 1870s. His parents were the novelists
Edward
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
and
Rosina Bulwer Lytton. Her cousins include the economist
Sir Adam Ridley.
Ridley was educated at
Cranborne Chase School, an independent
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
for girls, since closed, then occupying
New Wardour Castle, near the village of
Tisbury in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
, and later at
St Hugh's 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 ...
, 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 specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...
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 history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians.
Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
with her sport of fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...
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
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...
'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 form of British political conservatism and a variant of paternalistic conservatism. It advocates the "preservation of established institutions and traditional pri ...
, 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 her great-grandfather Edwin 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 to work on her biography of King Edward VII,[ 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 political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'', 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 and lives in Dorset Square, Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...
.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 History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
''
*''George V: Never a Dull Moment'' (Vintage Publishing, 2021)
Honours
* Duff Cooper Prize, 2002[
*]Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of 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 800 Fellows, elect ...
, 2007
References
External links
*
*, 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