RIDLEY, rld'11,.Nicholas, English ecclesi astic and martyr: b. about 1500; d. Oxford, 16 Oct. 1555. He was graduated from Cambridge in 1521-22, later studied at the Sorbonne, Pans, and at the University of Louvain. Returning to Cambridge he was made proctor to the uni versity, and as such advocated the claims of King Henry VIII to the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the realm. Through the patron age of Archbishop Cranmer he became one of the king's chaplains; in 1540 he was appointed master of Pembroke Hall, in 1541 canon of Canterbury, and in 1545 an additional canonry of Westminster was conferred upon him. In 1547 he was elevated to the see of Rochester. In 1550, on the deposition of Bonner, Ridley was made bishop of London, and distinguished himself by his tempered zeal in favor of Prot estantism, and especially by his liberality and kindness toward the family of his predecessor. In 1553 in a sermon before Edward VI he made an appeal for the destitute London poor, and as a result of subsequent conferences the king and corporation of London determined to build Christ's Hospital, Saint Thomas' Hospital and Bethlehem Hospital. On the death of Edward
he was induced to listen to those who attempted to secure the Protestant ascendency by placing the Lady Jane Gray upon the throne. The defeat of this scheme, the active part he had taken in the establishment of the new discipline and the construction of the . liturgy,. together with his connection with Chintzier, marked Rid ley out •a3 one of the most•pcominerit opponents of Queen Mary. He was arrested and sent to the Tower 20 July 1553. In the spring of 1554 he was removed to Oxford, and being brought before the royal commissioners and refusing to recant he was excommunicated. Hii further trial progressed slowly. The next year Parlia ment passed penal laws against. heretics and under these he was summoned to trial. His condemnation followed upon his admitting the truth of the principal charges against him, and he was burnt at the stake in company with Hugh Latimer.