Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 50.djvu/67

 pension in respect of his services prior to 1804.

Ryland, a somewhat prejudiced Englishman, set himself to establish in Canada the supremacy of the crown and the church of England, and to anglicise the French Canadians. He was the fountain-head of the opposition to Archbishop Joseph Octave Plessis [q. v.]; in constant fear of ‘demagogues’ and ‘sedition,’ he advised the seizure of the reactionary press in March 1810. Soon afterwards he was despatched to England on a special mission, the objects of which were to obtain an alteration of the constitution of Lower Canada, to appropriate to the use of the crown the revenues of the jesuits' estates, and to induce the government to seize the patronage of the Roman catholic bishop of Quebec. On 31 July 1810 he arrived at Plymouth, and was admitted to a meeting of the cabinet on the subject of his mission on 22 Aug.; but after about two years' delay he returned unsuccessful to Canada, arriving at Quebec on 19 Aug. 1812. Meanwhile Sir James Craig had retired, and Sir George Prevost (1767–1816) [q. v.] took his place. The new governor did not approve Ryland's views, and, though Ryland came back with a recommendation from Lord Liverpool and with the honour of a seat in the legislative council, he did not retain his old position of secretary more than a few months, resigning in April 1813.

Henceforth Ryland's influence was chiefly felt in the legislative council; but after 1820 he appeared little in public life. He died at his seat, Beauport, near Quebec, on 20 July 1838. He was married, and left children settled in Canada. A son, George Herman Ryland (d. 24 Sept. 1883), was clerk of the legislative council.

[Morgan's Sketches of Celebrated Canadians; Christie's History of Canada, especially vol. vi.; Rogers's History of Canada.] 

RYLAND, JOHN (1717?–1798), friend of Dr. Johnson, was born in London, but spent his early years at Stratford-upon-Avon. Though bred for the law, he took to business, and for many years was a West India merchant on Tower Hill, London. As a young man he spent much of his time with John Hawkesworth [q. v.], and subsequently married his sister. Through this relationship he contributed to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ and during Hawkesworth's occasional absences from London he saw the periodical through the press. He died at Cooper's Row, Crutched Friars, London, on 24 June 1798, aged 81.

Ryland was acquainted with Dr. Johnson for many years, and was the last surviving friend of his early life. He belonged to the old club that met weekly in 1749 at the King's Head in Ivy Lane and was broken up about 1753, and he was one of the four surviving members that dined together in 1783. He also belonged to the Essex Head Club, which Johnson formed at the close of his life. He constantly visited the doctor in his last illness, he supplied Nichols with several of the particulars which are inserted in the article in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for 1784 (p. 957), and attended the funeral. Several of Dr. Johnson's letters to him are included in the correspondence edited by Dr. G. B. Hill, but he is seldom mentioned by Boswell, possibly because these letters were withheld from publication in Boswell's ‘Life.’ In religion a dissenter, in politics a staunch whig, Ryland was a good scholar, and expressed himself well both in speech and in writing; he saw many aspects of life and owned a rich fund of anecdote.

[Boswell's Johnson, ed. Hill, i. 242, iv. 360, 435–6; Gent. Mag. 1798, ii. 629–30; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 500–2.] 

RYLAND, JOHN (1753–1825), baptist minister, son of John Collett Ryland [q. v.], was born at Warwick on 29 Jan. 1753. He learnt Hebrew when only five years old, and Greek when under nine, and before he was fifteen began teaching in his father's school. On 13 Sept. 1767 he was baptised in the river Nen, near Northampton, and, after preaching at small gatherings of baptists from 1769, was formally admitted into the ministry on 10 March 1771. Until his twenty-fifth year he assisted his father in his school at Northampton, and in 1781 was associated with him in the charge of his church. On his father's retirement in 1786, he was entrusted with the sole charge of the congregation.

In December 1793 Ryland became minister of the Broadmead chapel at Bristol, combining with the post the presidency of the baptist college at Bristol. These positions he retained until his death. He joined, on 2 Oct. 1792, in founding the Baptist Missionary Society, and acted as its secretary from 1815 until his death at Bristol on 25 May 1825. On 2 June he was buried in the ground adjoining Broadmead chapel, and on 5 June Robert Hall, who succeeded him in his church, preached a memorial sermon (published separately in 1825, and included in Hall's ‘Works,’ i. 369–414). Portraits of Ryland, painted by J. Russell and J. Burgniss, were engraved respectively by R. Houston (1775) and J. Thornthwaite. There are other engravings