The Right Reverend the Hon. Henry Dudley Ryder (21 July 1777 – 31 March 1836) was a prominent English Evangelical Anglican clergyman in the early years of the nineteenth century. He was the first Evangelical to be raised to the Anglican episcopate.

Life

Ryder was the fifth son of Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby

Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby

Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby was a British peer and Member of Parliament.Harrowby was the son of Sir Dudley Ryder, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He was elected to the House of Commons for Tiverton in 1756, a seat he held until 1776. On 20 May 1776 he was raised to the peerage as...

, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Terrick

Richard Terrick

Richard Terrick was a Church of England clergyman and bishop of London from 1764 to 1777.Terrick graduated with a BA from Clare College, Cambridge in 1729 and an MA in 1733. He was preacher at the Rolls Chapel from 1736 to 1757, and vicar of Twickenham from 1749...

, Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

. Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby

Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby

Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby, PC, FSA was a prominent British politician of the Pittite faction and the Tory party.-Background and education:...

 and the Hon. Richard Ryder

Richard Ryder (19th century politician)

Richard Ryder PC was a British Tory politician. He notably served as Home Secretary between 1809 and 1812.-Background:...

 were his elder brothers. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, and became vicar of Lutterworth

Lutterworth

Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, north of Rugby, in Warwickshire and south of Leicester. It had a population of 8,293 in the 2001 UK census....

 and of Claybrook. He was canon of Windsor in 1808.

He was successively Bishop of Gloucester

Bishop of Gloucester

The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...

, from 1815, and Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, from 1824. His kneeling statue by Francis Legatt Chantrey

Francis Legatt Chantrey

Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey was an English sculptor of the Georgian era. He left the Chantrey Bequest or Chantrey Fund for the purchase of works of art for the nation, which was available from 1878 after the death of his widow.-Life:Francis Leggatt Chantrey was born at Norton near Sheffield ,...

 is in Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...

.

John Henry Newman, in his Apologia Pro Vita Sua

Apologia Pro Vita Sua

Apologia Pro Vita Sua is the classic defence by John Henry Newman of his religious opinions, published in 1864 in response to what he saw as an unwarranted attack on him, the Catholic priesthood, and Roman Catholic doctrine by Charles Kingsley. The work quickly became a bestseller and has...

, speaks of the veneration in which he held Bishop Ryder.

Family

Ryder married Sophia, daughter of Thomas March Phillips, in 1802. Their second son George Dudley Ryder was the father of the Very Reverend Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder

Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder

Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Birmingham Oratory and controversialist.-Life:...

. Their fifth son was Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet

An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...

 Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder

Alfred Phillips Ryder

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder KCB was a Royal Navy officer and an active member of the Church of England Purity Society.-Biography:...

. Their sixth and youngest son Spencer Ryder was the ancestor of the soldier and politician Robert Ryder. Ryder died in March 1836, aged 58. His wife died in August 1862.