Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley
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The Right Honourable The Viscount Ridley KG GCVO TD DL |
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|---|---|
Viscount Ridley in the robes of a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter
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| Lord Steward | |
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In office 1989–2001 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Northumberland |
| Succeeded by | The Duke of Abercorn |
| Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland | |
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In office 3 January 1984 – 25 August 2000 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Northumberland |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Riddell, Bt |
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Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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In office 25 February 1964 – 11 November 1999 Hereditary Peerage |
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| Preceded by | Matthew White Ridley |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Matthew White Ridley 29 July 1925 Blagdon Hall, Northumberland |
| Died | March 22, 2012 (aged 86) Blagdon Hall, Northumberland |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Anne Lumley |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards |
Knight of the Garter Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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| Service/branch |
 British Army
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| Years of service | 1944–1986 |
| Rank | Brevet Colonel |
| Unit | Coldstream Guards, Northumberland Hussars |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley KG GCVO TD DL (29 July 1925 – 22 March 2012), was a British nobleman. He notably served as Lord Steward of the Household from 1989 to 2001.
Ridley was the son of Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Viscount Ridley, and Ursula Lutyens, daughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens. His younger brother Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, was a prominent Conservative Party politician who served as a government minister for nearly all of Margaret Thatcher's years as Prime Minister.
Matthew Ridley was educated at Eton College and spent several months studying agriculture at King’s College, University of Durham (now Newcastle University). The Second World War interrupted his education and he joined the Coldstream Guards, serving in Normandy and Germany in 1944-45. He then studied at Oxford, graduating with a degree in Agriculture from Balliol College in 1948.
He then served as an aide-de-camp to Sir Evelyn Baring, then Governor of Kenya. During this time he furthered his interest in nature and science. In 1955, Ridley and zoologist Lord Richard Percy spent four months on an uninhabited island in the Seychelles studying the plight of the dwindling sooty tern.
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