John Ridley (26 May 1806 – 25 November 1887) was an English/Australian farmer and inventor of a threshing machine. is the 146th day of the year (147th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine (or simply thresher), was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. ...

Early life

Ridley was born near West Boldon, Durham, England. His father and mother, John and Mary Ridley, were first cousins. John Ridley Senior was a miller who died when his son was five years old. His widow carried on the business and when Ridley was 15 years of age he began to share in its management. He had come across an encyclopaedia soon after he was able to read, and took the greatest interest in the scientific articles which he read again and again. Science and theology were to be the great interests of his life. Ridley's mother died in 1835^[1].In September 1835 Ridley married Mary Pybus, in November 1839 sailed for South Australia with his wife and two infant children. Durham (IPA: locally, in RP) is a small city and main settlement of the City of Durham district of County Durham in North East England. ... Capital Adelaide Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Premier Mike Rann (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 11  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $59,819 (5th)  - Product per capita  $38,838/person (7th) Population (End of September 2006)  - Population  1,558,200 (5th)  - Density  1. ...

Career in Australia

Immediately after Ridley's arrival in South Australia he obtained a piece of land at Hindmarsh, South Australia close to Adelaide. There he built a flour-mill and installed the first steam engine in South Australia able to cut wood and grind meal. In 1842 he had a well-stocked farm of 300 acres (120 hectares), but finding the management of his mills took tip too much of his time, let the farm on the shares system. Being much interested in mechanical inventions he spent some time on a horizontal windmill to be used for raising water. It was said of him at this period that if his child cried in the night his first thought would be how to make an apparatus for rocking the cradle. Hindmarsh is a suburb of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, in the Charles Sturt. ... Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth largest city in Australia, with a population of over 1. ... An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units and United States customary units. ... A hectare (symbol ha) is a unit of area, equal to 10 000 square metres, commonly used for measuring land area. ...

There was some shortage of labour and Ridley gave much time to the problem of devising a mechanical method of harvesting the wheat. Other people were working on the same problem. In 1843 the corn exchange committee offered a prize of £40 to anyone submitting a model or plans of a reaper of which the committee would approve. On 23 September 1843 it was reported that several models and plans had been submitted, but no machine had been exhibited which the committee felt justified in recommending for general adoption. Ridley had not exhibited any plans or model but he had been constructing a machine, and on 18 November 1843 the Adelaide Observer announced that "a further trial of Mr Ridley's machine has established its success". This machine, which both reaped and threshed corn, has been of inestimable benefit to Australia. Though no doubt it was improved in detail as the years went by, no substantial advance was made on it until Hugh Victor McKay constructed his harvester some 40 years later. Ridley not only declined to patent his machine, but refused all suggestions of reward. is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1843 (MDCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Hugh Victor (H V) McKay (1865-1926) was an Australian inventor and industrialist. ...

Return to England

Early in 1853 Ridley returned with his family to England. He was in comfortable circumstances, partly by the success of his mills and partly by fortunate investments in copper-mining. He travelled for some years in Europe and then settled down in England. He did some inventing but finished nothing of great importance. He retained his interest in scientific and religious questions and spent much of his income on charity. He was greatly worried in his later years by a claim made by J. Wrathall Bull that he was the real inventor of Ridley's reaping machine. Mr Bull's claims are set out in his volume Early Experiences of Colonial Life in South Australia. He was one of the men who had sent in models that were rejected by the committee, and his contention was that Ridley had seen his model and constructed his machine on its principles. Ridley, who was a man of the greatest probity, denied this, and his denial is borne out by the fact that his machine had had two successful trials within two months of the models being exhibited. In those days a machine could be constructed in Adelaide only by primitive methods, and it would have been quite impossible to make a machine, overcome all the practical difficulties of adjustment, and have it in working order in so short a period. In his final letter to the Adelaide Register written in 1886 Ridley said that the first suggestion of his machine had come from a notice of a Roman invention given in London's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, and that "from no other source whatever did I receive the least help or suggestion".

Late life

In his last days Ridley spent much money and time in distributing literature relating to temperance and religious questions. He died on 25 November 1887 and was survived by two daughters. A silver candelabrum presented to him by old South Australian colonists in 1861 is now at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute; there is a scholarship in his memory at the Roseworthy Agricultural College; and in 1933 the John Ridley Memorial Gates at the Agricultural Showground, Adelaide, were opened. ^[2]. is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Roseworthy Agricultural College was established in 1883, the first agricultural college in Australia. ...

References

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Ridley, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 

1. ^ H. J. Finnis (1967). Ridley, John (1806 - 1887). Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2 p. 379. MUP. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
2. ^ Fred Johns, An Australian Biographical Dictionary

Additional resources listed by the Australian Dictionary of Biography: The Dictionary of Australian Biography, first published in 1949, is a reference work by Percival Serle containing information on notable people associated with Australian history. ... The Dictionary of Australian Biography is a reference work containing information on notable people associated with Australian history. ... Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne (Australia). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

• A. E. Ridley, A Backward Glance (London, 1904)
• G. L. Sutton, ‘The Invention of the Stripper’, Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Western Australia, Sept 1937

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.