Maurice Roy Ridley (25 January 1890 – 12 June 1969), known professionally as M. R. Ridley, was a writer and poet, and Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford.
Early life
editRidley was the son of William Dawson Ridley, a Church of England clergyman, Rector of Orcheston St Mary, Wiltshire, and his wife Jane Elizabeth Rutherford. He was educated at Clifton College, Bristol, and Balliol College, Oxford.[1][2]
His grandfather, Thomas Dawson Ridley, a civil engineer of Coatham, Yorkshire, died in 1898, leaving a substantial fortune.[3] His father died in 1899 in Bordighera.[4]
Career
editFrom 1920 to 1945, Ridley was a Fellow and Tutor of Balliol. He spent 1930–1931 as a visiting professor at Bowdoin College under the auspices of the Tallman Foundation. He was a lecturer at Bedford College, University of London, from 1948,[1] where he earned a Doctorate of Humane Letters.
On 23 September 1922, he married Katherine Scott in Cleveland, Ohio.[5]
In popular culture
editDorothy L. Sayers based the physical description of her character Lord Peter Wimsey (the archetypal British gentleman detective) on that of Ridley after seeing him read his Newdigate Prize-winning poem "Oxford" at the Encaenia ceremony in July 1913.[6][7]
Awards
edit- Newdigate Prize, 1913
Works
edit- Keats' Craftsmanship: A Study in Poetic Development. Oxford: Clarendon. 1933.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Leicester: Edmund Ward. 1944.
- Studies in Three Literatures. English, Latin, Greek. Contrasts and Comparisons. London: Dent. 1962. ISBN 0313201897.
- Shakespeare's Plays: A Commentary.
- Abraham Lincoln.
- On Reading Shakespeare.
References
edit- ^ a b Pine, L. G. (ed.), The Author's and Writer's Who's Who, 4th edn, 1960, p. 330
- ^ "Marriages", in Morning Post (London), Saturday 21 August 1886, p. 1: "The Rev. William Dawson Ridley, third son of Thomas Dawson Ridley, to Jane Elizabeth, second daughter of James Rutherford, of the Old Hall, Kirkleatham."
- ^ "RIDLEY Thomas Dawson of Coatham Redcar Yorkshire civil-engineer died 13 January 1898 Probate York 30 March to John Hindmarch Ridley Thomas William Ridley and Charles Alfred Ridley contractors Effects £40,599 1s. 3d." in Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1899 (1898)
- ^ "RIDLEY the reverend William Dawson of the rectory Orcheston St Mary Wiltshire clerk died 24 February at Bordighera Italy Probate London 10 May to Jane Elizabeth Ridley widow Effects £6250 8s." in Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1899 (1900), p. 294 (subscription required)
- ^ "M. Roy Ridley" in Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013
- ^ Moira Davison Reynolds, Women Authors of Detective Series (2017), p. 41
- ^ Eric Sandberg, Elizabeth Foxwell, Dorothy L. Sayers: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (2022), p. 199
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