Ruffy Ridley is one of those mid-ranking Chartist activists who seem to appear in the movement out of nowhere and to disappear comprehensively as it fades. He led the procession taking the 1842 petition to Parliament, and could always be relied upon when meetings needed a speaker or London Chartists were looking for a convention delegate. But that seemed to be the extent of it.
However, thanks to a chance mention in the Northern Star that
he sometimes went under the name Daniel Ruffy (picked up but not probed further
by historians with bigger fish to fry), I have been able with the help
of a little research on Ancestry and in contemporary newspapers to uncover his
origins as the descendent of Huguenot refugees, add more colour to his life
story, and trace his final days in Australia. There is even a portrait of him.
None of this will be new to Ruffy’s descendants, who have
assiduously researched his life on Ancestry and elsewhere; but I think it is new
to those of us with an interest in Chartism.
I must admit I have no idea why Ruffy switched identities.
Possibly he hoped to separate Ruffy Ridley, the outspoken advocate not just of
Chartism but of socialism, from Daniel Ridley the rising man of business.
But if so, he did a pretty poor job of maintaining the dividing line. As often
when I begin investigating Chartist lives, Ruffy’s story is far more
interesting than I might have anticipated.
Read the full story of Daniel Ruffy Ridley on the Chartist
Ancestors website.
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