Herbert Edward Ryle

Anglican
Anglican
Parents	J. C. Ryle
Spouse	Nea Hewish Adams (m. 1883)
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge

Herbert Edward Ryle

Anglican bishop, successively serving as the Bishop of Exeter, the Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Westminster

.

Early life

Ryle was born in

John Charles Ryle (1816–1900), the first Bishop of Liverpool, and his second wife, Jessie Elizabeth Walker. Herbert Ryle was three years old when his mother died, and in 1861 his father married Henrietta Clowes, who was a loving mother to her stepchildren. Ryle and his brothers and sisters were brought up in their father's country parishes in Suffolk, first at Helmingham and after 1861 at Stradbroke.^[1]

After attending school at Hill House, in Wadhurst, Sussex, Ryle went to Eton College in 1868. In 1875, he won the Newcastle scholarship, and in the same year he proceeded to King's College, Cambridge, as a classical scholar.^[2] A football accident in 1877 prevented him from further involvement in athletics and he took an Aegrotat degree in 1879. Between 1879 and 1881, however, he won every distinction open at Cambridge to students of theology, including a first class in the theological tripos.

Career

Ryle was elected a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, in April 1881, and began a career of twenty years as a teacher. He was ordained deacon in 1882 and priest in 1883. On 15 August 1883 he married Nea Hewish Adams. They had three sons, the eldest of whom died at birth. The youngest, aged only eight, died in 1897.^[3]

From September 1886 to March 1888 Ryle was

Hulsean Professor of Divinity. During these years Ryle published a number of books connected with his academic interests, including The Early Narratives of Genesis (1892), The Canon of the Old Testament (1892), and Philo and Holy Scripture (1895). After his election as President of Queens' College, Cambridge in 1896 Ryle found little time for writing. He was, however, responsible for the edition of Genesis in the Cambridge Bible (1914), when he was Dean of Westminster.^[1]

Ryle was appointed Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria in March 1896,^[5] and in December 1898 a Chaplain-in Ordinary to Her Majesty,^[6] from which post he resigned in early January 1901.^[7]

In December 1900 Ryle was appointed

consecrated at Westminster Abbey in January 1901. In early October 1902 he was among the principal guests at the 75th anniversary of St. David's College in Lampeter, Wales, where he had been a Principal 15 years earlier.^[8] He became Bishop of Winchester in the spring of 1903. In 1909 he was chairman of the commission sent to Sweden by the Archbishop of Canterbury to investigate the possibility of closer relations between the English and Swedish churches.^[3]

Dean of Westminster

Vanity Fair

in 1912

In December 1910 Ryle was appointed Dean of Westminster. He was installed in Westminster Abbey in April 1911, at a time when the building was being prepared for the coronation of King George V. He was created CVO in 1911. Under his guidance and with the help of his advisers, the dignity of the abbey services was notably increased, and his work was commemorated by the Dean Ryle Fund, a sum of £170,000 raised for the maintenance of the abbey in response to an appeal issued by him in 1920.

During World War I Ryle used to take the midday service of intercession personally, and he was responsible for the many special services held in wartime.

The idea of a Tomb of

British soldier from the battlefields in France be buried with due ceremony in Westminster Abbey "amongst the kings" to represent the many hundreds of thousands of Empire dead. The idea was strongly supported by Ryle and the then Prime Minister David Lloyd George. There was initial opposition from King George V (who feared that such a ceremony would reopen the wounds of a recently concluded war) and others but a surge of emotional support from the great number of bereaved families ensured its adoption. The inscription on the tomb was composed by Ryle.^[9]

Ryle withheld permission for the remains of Lord Byron to be interred in the abbey on the grounds that he considered Byron to be an inappropriate person for such an honour.^[10]

Ryle was created

Wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

.

He had never been strong and had a history of heart trouble. In the autumn of 1924 his health broke down. After five months in a nursing home at Bournemouth he returned in May 1925 to the deanery, where he died on 20 August. He was buried on 25 August in Westminster Abbey in a spot close to the tomb of The Unknown Warrior. His wife survived him.

Dean Ryle Street in Westminster is named after him.^[11]

Publications

On the Church of England, Macmillan and Co. 1904
Psalms of the Pharisees, commonly called the Psalms of Solomon, Cambridge University Press 1891
The Canon of the Old Testament, Macmillan and Co. 1892
Philo and Holy Scripture, Macmillan and Co. 1893
On Holy Scripture and Criticism, Macmillan and Co. 1904
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, Oxford University Press 1911
The Early Narratives of Genesis, Macmillan and Co. 1900
Remember the Days of Old, Oxford University Press 1913
Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah

References

^ ^a ^b M. H. FitzGerald, 'Ryle, Herbert Edward (1856–1925)', rev. Joanna Hawke, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
^ "Ryle, Herbert Edward (RL875HE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ ^a ^b M. H. Fitzgerald, A memoir of Herbert Edward Ryle (1928)
^ Malden Richard (ed) (1920). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn). London: The Field Press. pp. 1317/8.
^ "No. 26717". The London Gazette. 3 March 1896. p. 1268.
^ "No. 27032". The London Gazette. 13 December 1898. p. 8045.
^ "No. 27263". The London Gazette. 4 January 1901. p. 81.
^ "The Primate in Wales". The Times. No. 36889. London. 3 October 1902. p. 8.
^ "UK Memorials". Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2008. UK Memorials
^ Guardian – Greeks honour fallen hero Byron with a day of his own
^ [1] Dean Ryle Street on LondonTown.com

External links

Ryle and The Unknown Warrior on the Westminster Abbey website
Ryle on the Westminster Abbey website
Ryle and The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
Ryle and The Unknown Warrior in The Daily Telegraph 8 November 2008

Church of England titles
Preceded by Edward Bickersteth	Bishop of Exeter 1900–1903	Succeeded by Archibald Robertson
Preceded by Randall Davidson	Bishop of Winchester 1903–1911	Succeeded by Edward Talbot
Preceded by Armitage Robinson	Dean of Westminster 1911–1925	Succeeded by William Foxley Norris
Academic offices
Preceded by Francis Jayne	Principal of St David's College 1886	Succeeded by Charles Edmondes
Preceded by F. J. A. Hort	Hulsean Professor of Divinity 1887–1901	Succeeded by William Emery Barnes
Preceded by William Campion	President of Queens' College, Cambridge 1896–1901	Succeeded by Frederic Chase

[ODNB-1] M. H. FitzGerald, 'Ryle, Herbert Edward (1856–1925)', rev. Joanna Hawke, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

[2] "Ryle, Herbert Edward (RL875HE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[ryle-3] M. H. Fitzgerald, A memoir of Herbert Edward Ryle (1928)

[4] Malden Richard (ed) (1920). Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn). London: The Field Press. pp. 1317/8.

[5] "No. 26717". The London Gazette. 3 March 1896. p. 1268.

[6] "No. 27032". The London Gazette. 13 December 1898. p. 8045.

[7] "No. 27263". The London Gazette. 4 January 1901. p. 81.

[8] "The Primate in Wales". The Times. No. 36889. London. 3 October 1902. p. 8.

[9] "UK Memorials". Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2008. UK Memorials

[10] Guardian – Greeks honour fallen hero Byron with a day of his own

[11] [1] Dean Ryle Street on LondonTown.com

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v t e Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity
Norrisian Professors	John Hey (1780) James Fawcett (1795) Thomas Calvert (1815) John Hollingworth (1824) George Corrie (1838) Harold Browne (1854) Charles Swainson (1864) J. Rawson Lumby (1879) Armitage Robinson (1893) Handley Moule (1899) Frederic Chase (1901) Francis Crawford Burkitt (1905)
Hulsean Professors	Charles Ellicott (1860) J. B. Lightfoot (1861) John Perowne (1875) F. J. A. Hort (1878) Herbert Edward Ryle (1887) William Emery Barnes (1901)
Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity	Francis Crawford Burkitt (1934) C. H. Dodd (1935) Herbert Henry Farmer (1949) Donald M. MacKinnon (1960) Nicholas Lash (1978) Denys Turner (1999) Sarah Coakley (2007) Catherine Pickstock (2018)

v t e Bishops of Winchester
Early Medieval 634–1006	Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester Agilbert, Bishop of Dorchester Wine Leuthere Hædde Daniel Hunfrith Cyneheard Æthelheard Ecgbald Dudd Cyneberht Ealhmund Wigthegn Herefrith (disputed) Eadmund (disputed) Eadhun Helmstan Swithun Ealhferth Tunbeorht Denewulf Frithestan Beornstan/Byrnstan Ælfheah I Ælfsige I Beorhthelm Æthelwold I Ælfheah II	Arms of the Bishop of Winchester
High Medieval 1006–1304	Cenwulf Æthelwold II Ælfsige II Ælfwine Stigand Walkelin William Giffard Henry of Blois Richard of Ilchester Godfrey de Luci Richard Poore Peter des Roches Ralph Neville William de Raley Aymer de Valence Andrew of London William de Taunton John Gervais Nicholas of Ely Robert Burnell Richard de la More John of Pontoise
Late Medieval 1305–1501	Henry Woodlock John Sandale Rigaud of Assier John de Stratford Adam Orleton William Edington William of Wykeham Henry Beaufort William Waynflete Peter Courtenay Thomas Langton
Early Modern 1501–1820	Richard Foxe Thomas Wolsey Stephen Gardiner John Ponet Stephen Gardiner John White Robert Horne John Watson Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Day Thomas Bilson James Montague Lancelot Andrewes Richard Neile Walter Curle Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Brian Duppa George Morley Peter Mews Jonathan Trelawny Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly John Thomas Brownlow North
Late Modern 1820–current	George Pretyman Tomline Charles Sumner Samuel Wilberforce Harold Browne Anthony Thorold Randall Davidson Herbert Ryle Edward Talbot Theodore Woods Cyril Garbett Mervyn Haigh Alwyn Williams Falkner Allison John Taylor Colin James Michael Scott-Joynt Tim Dakin Philip Mounstephen

v t e Bishops of Exeter
Bishops of Crediton	Werstan (bishop at Tawton) Putta (bishop at Tawton) Eadwulf Æthelgar Ælfwold I Sideman Ælfric Ælfwold II Ælfwold III Eadnoth Lyfing of Winchester Leofric see translated to Exeter
High Medieval	Leofric Osbern FitzOsbern William Warelwast Robert Warelwast Robert of Chichester Bartholomew Iscanus John the Chanter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Briwere Richard Blund Walter Branscombe Peter Quinel Thomas Bitton
Late Medieval	Walter de Stapledon James Berkeley John Godeley John Grandisson Thomas de Brantingham Edmund Stafford John Catterick Edmund Lacey John Hales George Neville John Booth Peter Courtenay Richard Foxe Oliver King Richard Redman
Early modern	John Arundel Hugh Oldham John Vesey Myles Coverdale John Vesey James Turberville William Alley William Bradbridge John Woolton Gervase Babington William Cotton Valentine Cary Joseph Hall Ralph Brownrigg Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) John Gauden Seth Ward Anthony Sparrow Thomas Lamplugh Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bt Ofspring Blackall Lancelot Blackburne Stephen Weston Nicholas Clagett George Lavington Frederick Keppel John Ross William Buller Reginald Courtenay
Late modern	John Fisher George Pelham William Carey Christopher Bethell Henry Phillpotts Frederick Temple Edward Bickersteth Herbert Edward Ryle Archibald Robertson Lord William Cecil Charles Curzon Robert Mortimer Eric Mercer Hewlett Thompson Michael Langrish John Ford (acting) Nick McKinnel (acting) Robert Atwell

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