Background
Richard Ryder was born on 5 July 1766, the son of Nathaniel Ryder, first Baron Harrowby, and his widow, Elizabeth Terrick.
Richard Ryder was born on 5 July 1766, the son of Nathaniel Ryder, first Baron Harrowby, and his widow, Elizabeth Terrick.
He was educated at Harrow and at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and then became a student in law at Lincoln’s Inn in February 1788, being called to the bar in November 1791.
He entered Parliament as M.P. for Tiverton in a by-election in 1795, retaining the seat until his retirement from politics in 1830. He acted as a Welsh judge between 1804 and 1807 until he took office under the Duke of Portland in 1807, becoming lord commissioner of the Treasury. He was quickly admitted to the Privy Council and promoted to judge advocate general in November 1807. Subsequendy, when Spencer Perceval became prime minister in 1809, he was promoted to the post of secretary of state for the Home Department (home secretary), with responsibility for social control at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. He held this position until June 1812, a month after the assassination of Spencer Perceval. Thereafter he continued his distinguished legal career with less active involvement in politics. He died on 18 September 1832.