Stuart Oliver Ridley
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Stuart Oliver Ridley (1853–1935) was an English cleric and zoologist.


Early life

He was born in 1853, the son of the Rev. Oliver Matthew Ridley and his first wife Laura Pole Stuart (died 1858), daughter of Sir William Stuart;
Henry Nicholas Ridley Henry Nicholas Ridley CMG (1911), MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S. (10 December 1855 – 24 October 1956) was an English botanist, geologist and naturalist who lived much of his life in Singapore. He was instrumental in promoting rubber trees i ...
was a younger brother. For the first years of his life his father was rector of
West Harling West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
in Norfolk, moving to
Cobham, Kent Cobham () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. The village is located south-east of Gravesend, and just south of Watling Street, the Roman road from Dover to London. The parish ...
in 1860. He was educated at
Haileybury College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...
.Edward J. Salisbury, ''Henry Nicholas Ridley. 1855-1956'', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society Vol. 3 (Nov., 1957), pp. 141-159, at p. 142. Published by: Royal Society Ridley matriculated at
Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...
in 1872. He moved in 1873 to Exeter College, where he graduated B.A. in 1875 (1st class in Natural Sciences), M.A. in 1881. He also studied under
Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...
. He taught at
Friars School, Bangor is a school in Bangor, Gwynedd, and the second oldest extant school in Wales. History 1557 Establishment The school was founded by Geoffrey Glyn who had been brought up in Anglesey and had followed a career in law in London. A friary had be ...
, and worked in 1878 at the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
as an assistant.


Clerical career

In 1887 Ridley was ordained deacon, and in 1888 priest at Carlisle. He was a curate at
Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...
1887 to 1890, then at
Wareham, Dorset Wareham ( ) is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parishes in England, civil parish, in the England, English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome, Dorset, River Frome southwest of Poole. Situa ...
1891 to 1895. He was curate at Milborne Port in Somerset 1895 to 1897, where he gave a
magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...
talk on the voyage of HMS ''Challenger''; and was vicar of
Staverton, Wiltshire Staverton is a village and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, about north of the centre of Trowbridge and east of Bradford on Avon. History Staverton developed near a crossing point of the Bristol Avon, on a road b ...
from 1897 to 1905. At Milborne Port and Staverton, his parish work was supported by his sister Miss Ridley. He had two sisters, of his father's first marriage, one of whom was a
deaconess The ministry of a deaconess is a ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek ...
of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. Miss Ridley, described as "sister of the well-known Singapore botanist" (i.e. Henry Nicholas Ridley), was a botanist, and resided for a time in the Peppard ward of
Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...
, where she was in 1910. Ridley became vicar of
Scarisbrick Scarisbrick () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Lancashire, England. The A570 road, A570, the main road between Ormskirk and Southport, runs through Scarisbrick, and much of the village lies along it. As a result ...
, where he was from 1905 to 1911, succeeding his brother Charles William Ridley (1856–1905); and of
Compton Bishop Compton Bishop is a small village and civil parish, at the western end of the Mendip Hills in the English county of Somerset. It is located close to the historic town of Axbridge. Along with the village of Cross and the hamlets of Rackley and ...
, near
Axbridge Axbridge is a town in Somerset, England, on the River Axe, near the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Its population according to the 2011 census was 2,057. History ''Axanbrycg'' is suggested as the source of the name, meaning a bridge over ...
in Somerset, where he was from 1911 to 1916. Ridley in 1917 was curate of St John's Church, Reading, where he was in 1929.


Later life

In later life Ridley was a naturalist, and he was a herbarium curator at
Reading Museum Reading Museum (run by the Reading Museum Service) is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing ...
. He joined the
Botanical Society of the British Isles The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is a scientific society for the study of flora, plant distribution and taxonomy relating to Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The society was founded as the Botani ...
in 1929. He died in 1935.


Works

In 1881 Ridley published a zoological paper on the expedition of HMS ''Alert'' off the coast of South America. In 1883 his paper was one of a number arising from
Francis Day Francis Talbot Day (2 March 1829 – 10 July 1889) was an army surgeon and naturalist in the Madras Presidency who later became the Inspector-General of Fisheries in British Raj, India and British rule in Burma, Burma. A pioneer ichthyologist, ...
's collection on the 1882 survey cruise of HMS ''Triton'' off Scotland. He published on the genus '' Lophopus'' of bryozoa in 1886. Also in 1886, he published a paper in ''
The Zoologist ''The Zoologist'' was a monthly natural history magazine established in 1843 by Edward Newman and published in London. Newman acted as editor-in-chief until his death in 1876, when he was succeeded, first by James Edmund Harting (1876–1896 ...
'' with his brother Henry Nicholas Ridley, ''Animal Life in High Latitudes on the Norway Coast''. Ridley worked on the report of the ''Challenger'' expedition. He was succeeded in his position in the Zoological Department of the British Museum in 1887 by
Arthur Dendy Arthur Dendy (20 January 1865, in Manchester – 24 March 1925, in London) was an English zoologist known for his work on Sponge, marine sponges and the terrestrial invertebrates of Victoria, Australia, notably including the "living fossil" ''Per ...
. They published joint papers on the expedition's
sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...
specimens, and then Dendy and Ridley wrote for the ''Challenger'' report Part LIX (Volume XX.), ''Report on the Monaxonida'' (1887). The ''Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names'' (BEMON) lists under Dendy's name 14 species named for Ridley. Ridley's main duties at the British Museum were in the area of sponges. He was an early contact there of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the makers of glass models. After his departure, the correspondence was taken up by
Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther , also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3October 18301February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive reptile tax ...
.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridley, Stuart 1853 births 1935 deaths English zoologists