Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby

Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby, PC (22 December 1762–26 December 1847), was a prominent British politician of the Pittite faction and the Tory party. Born in London, Ryder was the eldest son of Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby, and his wife Elizabeth (née Terrick). Sir Dudley Ryder was his grandfather and Richard Ryder his younger brother. Educated at Harrow School and St John's College, Cambridge, he was elected to his father's old Parliament seat of Tiverton in 1784. Ryder's administrative career began with an appointment to be Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1789. In 1791 he was appointed co-Paymaster of the Forces, having been made Vice-President of the Board of Trade in 1790. He resigned the positions and also that of Treasurer of the Navy when he succeeded to his father's barony in June 1803. In 1804 he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and in 1805 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under his intimate friend William Pitt; in the latter year he was sent on a special and important mission to the emperors of Austria and Russia and the king of Prussia. In 1809 he was honoured when he was made Viscount Sandon, of Sandon in the County of Stafford, and Earl of Harrowby, in the County of Lincoln. From 1812 to 1827 he served as Lord President of the Council under Lord Liverpool. After George Canning's death in 1827, Ryder refused to serve George IV as prime minister. Ryder never held office again, although he continued to take part in politics, being especially prominent during the deadlock which preceded the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. Harrowby's long association with the Tories did not prevent him from assisting to remove the disabilities of Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters, or from supporting the movement for electoral reform; he was also in favour of the emancipation of the slaves. Lord Harrowby married Lady Susan-Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, in 1795. He died at his Staffordshire residence, Sandon Hall, aged 85, being, as Charles Greville says, "the last of his generation and of the colleagues of Mr Pitt, the sole survivor of those stirring times and mighty contests." He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Dudley.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
• www.thepeerage.com