{{Short description|British archaeologist (1853–1926)}} {{for|the Irish barrister and law reporter|William Ridgeway (law reporter)}} {{Infobox academic | name = William Ridgeway | image = William Ridgeway.jpg | occupation = Classical scholar | honorific_prefix = Sir | honorific_suffix = {{Postnominals|country=GBR|FBA|FRAI}} | workplaces = {{plainlist|*Queen's College, Cork *University of Cambridge}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1853|08|06|df=yes}} | birth_place = Ballydermot, King's County, Ireland | education = {{plainlist| * Portarlington School * Trinity College, Dublin * Peterhouse, Cambridge * Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1926|08|12|1853|08|06|df=yes}} | signature = William Ridgeway Signature.jpg | alt = Ridgeway in formal dress, with a large, bushy moustache }} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} '''Sir William Ridgeway''' (6 August 1853 – 12 August 1926) was an Anglo-Irish classical scholar and the Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir William Ridgeway – A Scholar of Wide Range|work=The Times |date=13 August 1926 |page=12 }}</ref>
==Early life and education== Ridgeway was born 6 August 1853, in Ballydermot in King's County, Ireland,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a7682 |website=dib.cambridge.org}}</ref> the son of Rev. John Henry Ridgeway and Marianne Ridgeway.<ref name="times"/> He was a direct descendant of one of Cromwell's settlers in Ireland. He was educated at Portarlington School and Trinity College, Dublin, then studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge before entering Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he completed the Classical tripos in 1880.<ref name=Cambridge>{{acad|id=RGWY877W|name=Ridgeway, William}}</ref>
In 1883, Ridgeway was elected Professor of Greek at Queen's College, Cork, then Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 1892. He also held tenure as Gifford lecturer in Religion at Aberdeen University from 1909 to 1911 from which was published ''The Evolution of Religions of Ancient Greece and Rome''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/william-ridgeway|title=William Ridgeway|work=The Gifford Lectures|date=18 August 2014 }}</ref>
He contributed articles to the ''Encyclopedia Biblica'' (1903), Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) and wrote ''The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards'' (1892), and ''The Early Age of Greece'' (1901) which were significant works in Archaeology and Anthropology.{{fact|date=May 2026}}
Ridgeway was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute between 1908 and 1910 and was instrumental in the foundation of the Cambridge school of Anthropology.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Ridgeway, William|journal=Who's Who|year=1919|page= 2079|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015047639912;view=1up;seq=2121}}</ref>
Ridgeway received an honorary Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Dublin in June 1902.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=2 June 1902 |page=9 |issue=36783}}</ref> He was elected a Fellow of the British Association in 1904. For his research on horses he received in 1909 the Sc.D. of Cambridge.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Haddon, A. C.|author-link=Alfred Cort Haddon|title=Obituary. Sir William Ridgeway|journal=Nature|volume=118|pages=275–276|date=21 August 1926|doi=10.1038/118275a0|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Cambridge/> He was knighted in the 1919 Birthday Honours list.<ref>{{London Gazette|city= e|issue = 13440|page=1592|date = 2 May 1919}}</ref>
In 1880, Ridgeway married Lucinda Maria Kate Samuels in Rathdown, County Dublin. Their daughter Lucy Marion Ridgeway (1882–1958) married economist John Archibald Venn in 1906.{{fact|date=May 2026}}
==Selected publications== ===Articles=== *{{cite book|title=The Greek trade-routes to Britain|year=1899|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102159109}} *{{cite book|title=The date of the first shaping of the Cuchulainn saga|year=1905|publisher=Pub. for the British Academy by Henry Frowde |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102158924}} *{{cite book|title=Who were the Romans?|series=In British academy, London. Proceedings, 1907-1908 |year=1907|publisher=British Academy |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100199237}} *{{cite book|title=Minos the destroyer rather than the creator of the so-called 'Minoan' culture of Cnossus|year=1910|publisher=Oxford University Press (H. Frowde) |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005908561}}
===Books=== *{{cite book|title=Origin of metallic currency and weight standards|series=Origin of currency and weight standards |year=1892|publisher=University Press |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000571983}} *{{cite book|title=The early age of Greece|year=1901|volume=1|publisher=The University press |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009788468}}<ref>{{cite journal|author=Myres, J. L., William Ridgeway, and John L. Myres|title=Ridgeway's ''Early Age of Greece''.|journal=The Classical Review|volume=16|year=1902|pages=68–94|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010005742;view=1up;seq=82}} (The article consists of Myres's book review on pp. 68–77, a reply by Ridgeway on pp. 78–91, and a rejoinder by Myres on pp. 91–94.)</ref> *{{cite book|title=The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse|series=Cambridge biological series |year=1905|publisher=University Press |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006563947}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''The Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse'' by William Ridgeway|journal=The Athenaeum|issue= 4088|date=3 March 1906|pages=255–256|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rG_NVvvu5f8C&pg=PA255}}</ref> *{{cite book|title=The origin of tragedy, with special reference to the Greek tragedians|year=1910|publisher=University of Cambridge Press |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100114737}} *{{cite book|title=The dramas and dramatic dances of non-European races, in special reference to the origin of Greek drama|year=1915|publisher=The University press |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001181484}}
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon = Sable two wings conjoined Argent in chief a horse's head (Equus caballus Libieus Ridgewayi) cabossed in his Proper colours, Bay with a white star on the forehead. |crest = A dromedary couchant Argent the pack bridle and trappings Sable garnished Or |torse = Of the colours. |motto = Mihi Gravato Deus |notes = Confirmed 31 May 1916 by George James Burtchaell, Deputy Ulster King of Arms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529309/StaffViewMARC#tabnav |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. L |publisher=National Library of Ireland |accessdate=26 June 2022 |page=103}}</ref>}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Wikisource author-inline}} *[http://www.nahste.ac.uk/pers/r/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0933/ Ridgeway's correspondence and papers at NAHSTE] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223164737/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/pers/r/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0933/ |date=23 February 2005 }} *[https://www.academia.edu/6017470/William_Ridgeway_Evolution_and_Invasion_in_Ancient_Greece/ 'William Ridgeway's Two Models of Early Greece', Simon J. Cook, ''History of European Ideas'', 2014] * {{cite TIWW |article= Ridgeway, Sir William|page=218 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=Disney Professor of Archaeology, Cambridge University|years=1892–1926|before=George Forrest Browne |after=Sir Ellis Minns}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgeway, William}} Category:1853 births Category:1926 deaths Category:British archaeologists Category:British Anglicans Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Category:Academics of University College Cork Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Disney Professors of Archaeology Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Category:Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland