Alfred Ryder (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder KCB (27 June 1820 – 30 April 1888) was a Royal Navy officer and an active member of the Church of England Purity Society.

Biography
Ryder was the son of Rt. Rev. Hon. Henry Ryder and Sophia March Phillipps. His father had been Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. He married Louisa Dawson, daughter of Henry Dawson of Launde Abbey, on 29 June 1852.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1833. He was the captain of the frigate, HMS Dauntless, from 1853 to 1857, during the Crimean War. He went on to be Second in Command of the Channel Squadron and Naval attaché in Paris. He became Commander-in-Chief of the China Station in 1874 and finally Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1879. He retired in 1882.

Ryder was an active member of the Church of England Purity Society which was an organisation founded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ryder wrote letters under the nom de plume of XYZ objecting to the practise of men and women both painting life models together.

He was decorated with the award of Knight, Order of the Medjidie. He gained the rank of Admiral of the Fleet. He was invested as a Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) Ryder died on 30 April 1888 at age 67 after falling into the river Thames at the Vauxhall steamboat pier.

Legacy
Ryder has a stained glass window to his memory in St Anns Church in Portsmouth. The window is by a very similar memorial window paid for by Ryder to his brother, Charles Dudley Ryder, and nephew.

The son of Admiral Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder and Louisa Dawson was Edward Lisle Ryder who was born in 1853 and lived until 28 September 1877

Illustrated letters to his son Eddy depicting life in the Royal Navy may be found at https://sites.google.com/site/ryderarchives/home/admiral-sir-alfred-ryder/what-is-genealogy

Publications

 * A treatise on economy of fuel: showing how it may be attained on board men-of-war steamers, 1852
 * Methods of ascertaining the distance from ships at sea
 * A Letter on the National Dangers which Result from the Great Deterioration in the Seamen of the Mercantile Marine; with Reasons for the Adoption of an Apprentice System
 * A Paper on the purity and the Prevention of the Degradation of Women and Children, 1888