John Ryder (bishop)

John Ryder (c. 1697 – 4 February 1775) was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Connor, from 1743 to 1752, and then Archbishop of Tuam, from 1752 to his death in 1775.

The Most Reverend John Ryder D.D.
Archbishop of Tuam Bishop of Ardagh
Church	Church of Ireland
Archdiocese	Tuam
Appointed	19 March 1752
In office	1752-1775
Predecessor	Josiah Hort
Successor	Jemmett Browne
Orders
Ordination	14 May 1721 by Edmund Gibson
Consecration	21 February 1742 by John Hoadly
Personal details
Born	c. 1697 Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England
Died	4 February 1775 Nice, Kingdom of France
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	Dudley Ryder
Spouse	Alice Wilmot Frances Hutchinson
Children	2
Previous post	Bishop of Killaloe (1742–1743) Bishop of Down and Connor (1743–1752)
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge

Life

The son of Dudley Ryder, haberdasher, he was born at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, about 1697. His grandfather was another Dudley Ryder (died 1683), an ejected rector of Bedworth. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1715, MA in 1719, and DD in 1741.[1]

In 1721 Ryder was appointed as vicar of Nuneaton and held the living until his appointment as Church of Ireland bishop of Killaloe by letters patent of 30 January 1742. He was consecrated in St Bridget's, Dublin, on 21 February. Only a year later he was translated to the see of Down and Connor, and was further promoted, in March 1752, to be archbishop of Tuam and bishop of Ardagh. His views were evangelical.

Ryder spent his later years at Nice, where he died on 4 February 1775 from the effects of a fall from his horse. He was buried on 6 February in a ground near the shore, purchased for Protestant burials by the British consul. The area was later eroded by the sea.

His daughter Catherine married a John Hamilton and, travelling on the Continent, met and became a dear friend of Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova, a major figure of the Russian Enlightenment. Princess Dashkov came to Ireland and spent time with the family. Two of John Ryder's relations, Martha and Katherine Wilmot went to Russia to renew the friendship.[2]

References

1. "Ryder, John (RDR712J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
2. An Irish Peer on the Continent, 1801–03 by Catherine Wilmot (1920)

• "Ryder, John (1697?-1775)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Ryder, John (1697?-1775)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.