Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Sir (Joseph) West Ridgeway GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, GCMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

, KCSI

Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...

, PC

Privy Council of Ireland

The Privy Council of Ireland was an institution of the Kingdom of Ireland until 31 December 1800 and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801-1922...

 (16 May 1844 – 16 April 1930) was a British civil servant and colonial governor.

Military career

Educated at St Paul's School, London, Ridgeway was commissioned into the Bengal Infantry

Bengal Army

The Bengal Army was the army of the Presidency of Bengal, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia. Although based in Bengal in eastern India, the presidency stretched across northern India and the Himalayas all the way to the North West Frontier Province...

 in 1860. In 1869 he was selected for civil employment in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. In 1881 he married Carolina Ellen "Lina" Bewicke.

Colonial service

In 1884 Ridgeway was given command of the Indian section of a commission established by Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and the United Kingdom to determine the northern boundary of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. The following year he became Chief Commissioner. He was Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1887 to 1892, and Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man

The Lieutenant Governor is the representative on the Isle of Man of the Lord of Mann . He/she has the power to grant Royal Assent and is styled His Excellency. In recent times the Governor has either been a retired diplomat or senior military officer...

 from 1893 to 1895.

He was Governor of Ceylon

Governor of Ceylon

The British Governor of Ceylon was an official who ruled Ceylon during the British colonial period between 1798 and 1948....

 (now Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

) from 1896 to 1903. During that time, he was involved in bringing charges of sodomy

Sodomy

Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...

 and pederasty

Pederasty

Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...

 against Hector MacDonald

Hector MacDonald

Major-General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, also known as Fighting Mac , was a distinguished Victorian soldier....

, commander of the troops in Ceylon. Ridgeway advised MacDonald to return to London, his main concern being to avoid a massive scandal: "Some, indeed most, of his victims ... are the sons of the best-known men in the Colony, English and native", he wrote, noting that he had persuaded the local press to keep quiet in hopes that "no more mud" would be stirred up.

He later unsuccessfully stood twice for election to the House of Commons, in the City of London

City of London (UK Parliament constituency)

The City of London was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950.-Boundaries and boundary...

 and London University

London University (UK Parliament constituency)

London University was a university constituency electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1868 to 1950.-Boundaries, electorate and history:...

constituencies.