RIDGLEY, THOMAS, D.D. (1667?–1734), independent theologian, was born in London about 1667. He was educated for the ministry in Wiltshire, presumably under John Davison at Trowbridge. In 1695 he was chosen assistant to Thomas Gouge (1665?–1700) [q. v.], pastor of the independent church at Three Cranes, Fruiterers' Alley, Thames Street, London. On Gouge's death he succeeded to the pastorate, which he held till his own death, being assisted by John Hurrion and (from 1732) by Samuel Parsons. On the death of Isaac Chauncy [q. v.] he was elected (1712) divinity tutor to the Fund Academy in Tenter Alley, Moorfields, established by the London congregational fund board in 1696. His coadjutor in classics and science was John Eames [q. v.] Ridgley had abundance of theological learning, and was a good instructor. His position as a teacher was that of a bulwark of dissenting orthodoxy against the prevalent tendencies to Arian and Arminian laxity. This duty he discharged with great ability and considerable individuality of treatment. Yet his scheme of the Trinity, denuded of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit, is essentially Sabellian, and in easing the difficulties of Calvinism he follows the Socinians in limiting the penalties of Adam's sin to death and temporal discomfort.
In 1719 he took the side of subscription in the Salters' Hall debates [see Bradbury, Thomas], thus ranging himself with the older presbyterians; while Hunt, Lowman, Lardner, and Jennings, his juniors among the learned independents, were for non-subscription. His lectures expository of the larger catechism of the Westminster divines constitute his ‘Body of Divinity,’ which, issued by subscription in 1731, became a textbook of moderate Calvinism, and gained him the diploma of D.D. from Aberdeen.
Ridgley died on 27 March 1734, aged 66, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. His portrait by Bartholomew Dandridge [q. v.] has been engraved by Vandergucht.
He published, besides single sermons, including funeral sermons for Gertrude Clarkson (1701), Elizabeth Bankes (1711), Nathan Hall (1719), Thomas Tingey (1729), John Hurrion (1732), and John Sladen (1733, two editions same year): 1. ‘The Unreasonableness of the Charge of … Creed-making,’ &c., 1719, 8vo. 2. ‘An Essay Concerning Truth and Charity,’ &c., 1721, 8vo (both these relate to the Salters' Hall controversy). 3. ‘The Doctrine of Original Sin,’ &c., 1725, 8vo; two editions same year (two lectures at Pinners' Hall, with postscript). 4. ‘A Body of Divinity,’ &c., 1731, fol. 2 vols. (portrait); 2nd edit. 1734; 3rd edit. Edinburgh, 1770, fol. 1 vol.; 4th edit. Pontefract, 1811–1814, 8vo.
[Wilson's Dissenting Churches of London, 1808, ii. 72 sq.; an Account of Mr. T. Ridgley (1708) is really a narrative of grievances by Sarah Peirce, a half-crazy spinster who pestered him with her attentions; Noble's Continuation of Granger, 1806, iii. 156; Bogue and Bennett's Hist. of Dissenters, 1833, ii. 156; Jones's Bunhill Memorials, 1849, pp. 230 sq.; Calendar of Associated Theological Colleges, 1887, p. 46.]
RIDLEY, GLOCESTER or GLOSTER (1702–1774), miscellaneous writer, born at sea in the Glocester East Indian in 1702, and consequently called ‘Glocester,’ was a collateral descendant of Bishop Nicholas Ridley [q. v.], and son of Matthew Ridley of Bencoolen, East Indies. He was educated at Winchester College, becoming scholar in 1718, when he was described as of St. Alban, Wood Street, London. He matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford, on 14 Oct. 1721, but was admitted a scholar of New College on 1 Sept. 1722, becoming fellow on 18 June 1724, before the usual two years of probation had been completed. He graduated B.C.L. on 29 April 1729, and the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by diploma on 25 Feb. 1767. While young he was fond of acting, and in 1728 he and four companions wrote the tragedy of ‘The Fruitless Redress,’ each of them contributing an act. He afterwards composed the play of ‘Jugurtha,’ but neither piece was produced on the public stage or printed. Theophilus Cibber, his contemporary at Winchester, is said to have called upon him at Poplar, and to have pressed him to adopt the stage as his profession. Verses and translations by him, apparently written while he was at college, are in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 28717.
Ridley was ordained in the English church, and was curate to William Berriman, D.D. [q. v.] He was afterwards Berriman's executor, and preached his funeral sermon. In 1733 he was appointed by his college to the small benefice of Weston Longueville, Norfolk, thereby vacating his fellowship in 1734. He was also chaplain to the East India Company at Poplar, where he chiefly resided, and lecturer at St. Ann's, Middlesex; and in 1751 he was presented by his college to the donative of Romford in Essex. When the Duke of Bedford was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1756, Ridley declined an offer of the first chaplaincy, although it was coupled with a promise of promotion in England. He remained without substantial preferment until May 1766, when he
