RIDLEYS OF BURY ST. EDMUND'S, ENGLAND.
467
Rev. William Ridley (2), second son of William (1), was born at
Hartford End, Essex, Eng., Sept. 14, 1819; married Isabella, daughter of
the Rev. Joseph-Rogerson Cotter, rector of Donoughmore, and senior
prebendary of Cloyne Cathedral, County Cork, Ireland, April 11, 1850,
and by that lady had issue eight children, of whom hereafter. Mr. Ridley
received his education at King's College, London, his father having
intended him for the legal profession. For some time after taking his
degree he continued his legal studies with great success, but he met with
conscientious difficulties which caused him to abandon that profession.
On one occasion he caught a thief in the act of stealing his purse, and
turned him over to the authorities, but when the case came before the
court he refused to be sworn, on conscientious grounds, and incurred a
heavy fine for his so-called contumacy. After this he determined to
devote himself to missionary work, and applied to the London Missionary
Society, wishing to go to the Pacific Islands. His services were declined,
but soon after, however, in 1849, he met Dr. Lang in London, and ac-
cepted an offer to become one of the professors in the Australian College.
He went to Australia with Dr. Lang in the "Clifton," arriving at his
destination early in 1850. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church
by Dr. Lang, in connection with the synod of New South Wales, and
became professor of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Aided by an able staff
of professors, the new college flourished, and many citizens of Sydney
remember with gratitude Mr. Ridley's conscientious tuition. Whilst
fulfilling the duties of his professorship he devoted much of his time to
the work of the ministry. He took charge of a new church at Balmain,
holding two services every Sabbath; at the same time he was active in
the church-extension work in various parts of the colony. When the
Australian College ceased to occupy its high position, he assumed the
pastoral care of Brisbane, Portland Bay, and Manning River, successively.
Then he resolved to devote himself fully to missionary work, which had
been the dream of his youth. He accordingly went among the aborigi
nes of the north-west of the colony, and of southern Queensland, partic-
ularly among the Namoi tribes. He seems to have been a natural linguist,
and acquired a complete mastery of many dialects, and in later years
published a grammar of the Kamilaroi tongue, with one on other
languages, which received the approval of the most distinguished philolo-
gists in Europe; and an edition of this work was published by the
government for the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876. His self-denying
labors were not without fruit of a moral and religious character. He so
endeared himself to the aborigines, among whom he preached the gospel,
that to this day (1878) the blacks of Namoi show the most enthusiastic
demonstrations of joy at the mention of Mr. Ridley's name. During his
missionary tours through the colony, he found many families from the
Highlands of Scotland, who could not understand an English discourse,
and with characteristic energy he acquired so good an acquaintance with
the Gaelic as to be able to preach the gospel to them. The cares of an
increasing family now caused the withdrawal of Mr. Ridley from his field
of usefulness among the natives, and he returned to Sydney, where he
became connected with the Empire newspaper. He was for many years
a valued contributor to the newspapers published in Sydney, and was at
one time principal editor of the Evening News. Notwithstanding the
pressing duties of a journalist's position, he was unremitting in his atten-
tion to his ministerial profession. He was the founder of a station at
