Anne Ridler
Anne Ridler was a prominent British poet and playwright, known for her contributions to literature in the mid-twentieth century. Born Anne Bradby in Rugby, Warwickshire, she received her education at Downe House School and later pursued journalism studies at King's College, London. Influenced by the lectures of Christian apologist Charles Williams, Ridler began her career in publishing, working with Oxford University Press and Faber and Faber, where she honed her editorial skills and published her first poetry collection, *Poems*, in 1939.
Ridler experienced significant life events during World War II, including her husband's military service and the challenges of raising their children during wartime. After the war, she returned to London and later moved to Oxford, where her husband took a position at the University of Oxford. Throughout her career, she published not only poetry but also plays and libretti, earning multiple awards for her literary work. Recognized as one of the leading British women poets of her era, Anne Ridler's legacy endures through her diverse contributions to the arts, and she passed away in 2001 in Oxford, England.
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Anne Ridler
Poet
- Born: July 30, 1912
- Birthplace: Rugby, Warwickshire, England
- Died: October 15, 2001
- Place of death: Oxford, England
Biography
Anne Bradby was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the daughter of Henry Christopher Bradby and his wife, Violet Alice Milford Bradby. Bradby was sent to Downe House School in Berkshire in the summer of 1925, shortly before her thirteenth birthday, and except for a brief homestay due to illness when she was fourteen, Bradby remained at Downe House School until 1930.
After leaving school, she spent six months in Italy with her parents where she enriched her studies by learning Italian, reading Dante, and immersing herself in history. After the trip, Bradby continued her studies at King’s College of the University of London, earning a diploma in journalism in 1933. While in London, she heard several lectures by Charles Williams, a Christian apologist whose teachings shaped her personal and religious philosophies.
After completing her studies at King’s, Bradby was commissioned by Williams to do editorial work for Oxford University Press; she also aided Lascelles Abercrombie in editing what was to become The Oxford Book of Modern Verse. Subsequently, in 1936, Bradby’s edition of Shakespeare Criticism, 1919-1935 was published by Oxford University Press.
In 1935, Bradby began working at Faber and Faber, Ltd., of London as a reader and secretary. In July, 1938, she married Vivian Ridler, an amateur painter, and, at the time of their marriage, manager of the Bunhill Press in London. The couple had four children: Jane, Alison, Benedict, and Colin. Bradby took her new husband’s name. Ridler’s first book of poetry, Poems, was published in 1939. She left full-time employment at Faber and Faber in 1940, although she continued to work as an occasional reader, serving as editor of A Little Book of Modern Verse (1941), which in its revised edition became The Faber Book of Modern Verse (1951).
Before the bombing of London began in 1940, Ridler, who was pregnant, had moved to her parents’ home, Ringshall End, in the Chiltern Hills near Ivinghoe Beacon. Her husband was called for military service and was sent north to the Orkney Islands. Ridler and baby Jane joined him there, but when he was ordered to West Africa, she and Jane returned to Ringshall End. After the war, in 1945, Anne Ridler returned to London, where she continued as occasional reader for Faber and Faber. In 1948, the Ridler family moved to Oxford, when Vivian Ridler was named assistant to the printer to the University of Oxford.
In addition to poetry, Anne Ridler also published nine plays in verse and was the author of several libretti for operas. She earned many awards, including the Oscar Blumenthal Prize in 1954 and the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Prize in 1955, both for poems published in Poetry. Ridler has been called one of the leading British woman poets of the middle twentieth century. She died on October 15, 2001, in Oxford, England.