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NAME TYPE MATERIAL DATE Henry Ryder Bas-relief bust Marble 1836

Ryder's bust is on a white marble tablet above which is the inscription: Sacred to the memory of the Honourable and Right Reverend Henry Ryder DD Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry Youngest son of Nathanial Lord Harrowby and Rector of Lutterworth from 1801-1814. In the discharge of his pastoral duties in this place he was himself taught of God so deeply the ruin of man and the love of his Saviour that what things were given to him he thenceforth counted lost for Christ and consecrated his time, his talents and his influence to His Glory. Eminently endued with that Charity which bareth all things, believeth all things hopeth all things, endureth all things while he testified to all men repentance towards God and faith towards Our Lord Jesus Christ. He preached them by his life and commitment to love and do good works giving no offence to anything that the Ministry might not be blamed. As a Chief Pastor of the Flock of Christ his praise is in all the churches, but to perpetuate his memory as a parochial minister in a place which was dear to him as the scene of his earthly labours and amongst a people whom he affectionally loved and never ceased to remember in his prayers this tablet is erected by his widow. He died at Hastings on the 31st of March 1836 aged 58 testifying to the last that in Christ alone he sought both righteousness and strength. Henry Ryder was born in 1777 at Strantham, Surrey. After attending Harrow School he went up to St John's College, Cambridge where he got his MA in 1798 and DD in 1813. After being ordained deacon in May 1801, the following August he was presented by the Crown to the Rectory of Lutterworth. In 1802 Ryder, described as a model parish priest, married Sophia, the daughter of Thomas March Philips of Garendon Park, Leicestershire. From 1805 to 1815 Ryder was vicar of the neighbouring parish of Claybrooke. As Canon of St George's Chapel Windsor his sermons were admired by King George III. In 1812 he was appointed Dean of Wells where he introduced Sunday evening services, an idea that was considered 'a sure sign of Methodism'. In 1815, much to the dismay of the conservative churchmen, who disapproved of his evangelical ideas, Ryder was appointed Bishop of Gloucester, during which time he rarely preached less than two sermons each Sunday. In 1816 Ryder established the Gloucester Diocesan Society for the Education of the Poor and the Wells National School. In 1824 he was translated to the See of Lichfield where, according to the diocesan historian Walter Beresford, he 'startled everybody by plunging into evangelical work in all directions'. During his period at Lichfield he opened twenty new churches and saw ten more being built. There is a monument, by Chantry, to Ryder's memory in Lichfield Cathedral. Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Text copyright Max Matthews 2002. Selected text copyright Bob Trubshaw 2025–6. Images copyright Max Matthews 2002 or Bob Trubshaw 2002, 2025–6. No copying or reproduction without prior written permission. Published by Heart of Albion Press Back to top of this page This website does not gather or store any visitor information.