Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley

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Matthew White Ridley, 1st Viscount Ridley (July 25, 1842 - November 28, 1904) was a British Conservative politician and statesman. He was the eldest son of Matthew White Ridley, 4th baronet and his wife Cecilia Anne Parke. His maternal grandparents were James Parke, Baron Wensleydale and his wife Cecilia Arabella Frances Barlow.

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Biography

Ridley was born in London and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating BA in 1865, he was a Fellow of All Souls for nine years. In 1868, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for North Northumberland, and held this seat for seventeen years before being returned as member for the Blackpool Division of North Lancashire in 1886.

Having been Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department for two years in Disraeli's administration, Sir Matthew Ridley (as he became when he succeeded his father as fifth baronet in 1877) was Financial Secretary to the Treasury in Lord Salisbury's interim government of 1885 to 1886. In 1895, after the fall of Lord Rosbery's ministry, and having already failed in April of that year to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons, Ridley became Home Secretary, and held this post until his retirement in 1900. He was that same year created Viscount Ridley and Baron Wensleydale, of Blagdon and Blyth in the County of Northumberland.

Lord Ridley died aged 62 at Blagdon home, and was buried there.

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Marriage and children

On December 10, 1873, Rimley married Mary Georgiana Marjoribanks (1850 - March 14, 1909. His wife was a daughter of Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth and his wife Isabella Weir-Hogg. They were parents to five children:

Preceded by:
Herbert Henry Asquith 		Home Secretary
1895–1900 		Followed by:
Charles Thomson Ritchie
Preceded by:
New Creation 		Viscount Ridley Followed by:
Matthew White Ridley
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