Anne Barbara Ridler OBE (née Bradby) (30 July 1912 – 15 October 2001) was a British poet and Faber and Faber editor, selecting the Faber ''A Little Book of Modern Verse'' with T. S. Eliot (1941). Her ''Collected Poems'' ( Carcanet Press) were published in 1994. She turned to libretto work and

verse play Verse drama is any drama written significantly in verse (that is: with line endings) to be performed by an actor before an audience. Although verse drama does not need to be ''primarily'' in verse to be considered verse drama, significant portio ...

s; it was later in life that she earned official recognition, receiving an OBE in 2001.

Early life

Ridler was the daughter of Henry Bradby, housemaster at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

, England, where she was born. Her mother, Violet Bradby, born Milford, wrote popular children's stories and was the sister of

Humphrey S. Milford Sir Humphrey Sumner Milford (8 February 1877 – 6 September 1952) was an English publisher and editor who from 1913 to 1945 was publisher to the University of Oxford and head of the London operations of Oxford University Press (OUP). Overview In ...

, Publisher to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. One of her great-grandfathers was

Charles Richard Sumner Charles Richard Sumner (22 November 179015 August 1874) was a Church of England bishop. Life Charles Sumner was a brother of John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury. Their father was Robert Sumner and their mother was Hannah Bird, a first co ...

, Bishop of Winchester, a brother of

John Bird Sumner John Bird Sumner (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862) was a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury. Early life John Bird Sumner was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, on 25 February 1780. He was the eldest son of the R ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury. Her uncle, G. F. Bradby, was the author of ''The Lanchester Tradition'' (1919), while her aunt Barbara Bradby was the joint author of ''The Village Labourer'' (1911). Her cousins included

Letitia Chitty Letitia Chitty (15 July 1897 – 29 September 1982) was an English engineer who became a respected structural analytical engineer, achieving several firsts for women engineers, including becoming the first female fellow of the Royal Aeronautica ...

, structural analytical engineer and first female fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, ...

, composer

Robin Milford Robin Humphrey Milford (22 January 1903 – 29 December 1959) was an English composer and music teacher. Biography Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School ...

and the Rev. Dick Milford, vicar of the

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of u ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Life

Anne Bradby was educated at

Downe House School Downe House School is a selective independent girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11–18. The ''Good Schools Guide'' described Downe House as an "Archetypal traditional girls' full ...

and later published a biography of her headmistress,

Olive Willis Olive Margaret Willis (26 October 1877 – 11 March 1964) was an English educationist and headmistress. She founded Downe House School and was its head for nearly forty years, from 1907 to 1946. Early life Willis was born in 1877 at 65 Thistl ...

. After six months in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, she took a diploma in journalism at King's College London. In 1938, she married

Vivian Ridler Vivian Hughes Ridler, CBE (2 October 1913–11 January 2009), was a printer, typographer and scholar in Britain. He was Printer to the University of Oxford at Oxford University Press from 1958 until his retirement in 1978; and also establishe ...

, the future Printer to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

(1958–78), but then the manager of the Bunhill Press,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and they had two daughters and two sons. She edited ''Charles Williams: The Image of the City and other Essays'' (1958) and ''Charles Williams: Selected Writings'' (1961). A Christian and friend and correspondent of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

, she was on the edge of the

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who pr ...

group. Also closely associated with T. S. Eliot, she wrote a short but powerful poem, "I Who am Here Dissembled", full of allusions to images in Eliot's own poems, for the anthology ''T. S. Eliot: A Symposium'' in honour of his sixtieth birthday. For a short time in the 1940s, Ridler was also a successful verse dramatist, writing such plays as ''Cain'' (1943) and ''Shadow Factory: A Nativity Play'' (1945). ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'' awarded her in 1954 the Oscar Blumenthal Prize and in 1955 the Union League Civic and Arts Poetry Prize. In 1998 she was one of four poets who received the

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has be ...

from the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. , it represents over 12,000 members and ass ...

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited obituary

Poetry Archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridler, Anne 1912 births 2001 deaths People educated at Downe House School Alumni of King's College London English women poets Officers of the Order of the British Empire English opera librettists English women dramatists and playwrights People from Rugby, Warwickshire 20th-century English women writers Women librettists 20th-century English poets 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights