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'''Sir Edward Ryan''' [[Privy Councillor|PC]] [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (28 August 1793 – 22 August 1875) was an English lawyer, judge, reformer of the [[British Civil Service]] and patron of science. He served as [[Chief Justice of Bengal]] from 1833–43.

==Early life==
Ryan was the second son of William Ryan. He graduated from [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] in 1814 and while at Cambridge, he became friends with [[John Herschel]], [[Charles Babbage]], and [[George Peacock]]. Ryan took his [[Oxbridge MA|MA]] in 1817 and was [[called to the bar]] by [[Lincoln's Inn]] in the same year.<ref name="Venn">{{acad|id=RN810E|name=Ryan, Edward}}</ref> It was Herschel's sharing of his scientific interests and enthusiasms that encouraged Ryan to join the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1820.<ref name="ODNB">Prior (2006)</ref>

He practised on the [[Oxford Circuit]] and published a volume of [[law report]]s jointly with [[William Oldnall Russell]] titled {{anchor|Russ & Ry}} ''Crown cases reserved for consideration; and decided by the Twelve judges of England, from the year 1799 to the year 1824''<ref name="Reserved1825">{{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=William Oldnall |last2=Ryan|first2=Edward |title=Crown cases reserved for consideration: and decided by the Twelve judges of England, from the year 1799 to the year 1824|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJE0AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2011|year=1825|publisher=J. Butterworth and son}}</ref> before being appointed a [[puisne judge]] in the [[Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William|Calcutta supreme court]] in [[Bengal]], then an English colony (''see: [[Company rule in India#Justice system|Company Rule in India, 1757–1857: Justice system]]''), an appointment which carried the customary [[knighthood]].

However, he would complete another book, this time with William Moody, titled ''Reports of cases determined at Nisi Prius, in the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas: and on the Oxford and Western circuits from the sittings after Michaelmas term, 4 Geo. IV. 1823 to the sittings after Trinity term, 7 Geo. IV. 1826, inclusive'' before he left for India.<ref name="ODNB" />

==India==
Ryan arrived in India in 1827 and soon established something of a [[salon (gathering)|salon]]. [[Victor Jacquemont]] was a visitor in 1829. Ryan was a keen patron of science, presiding over agricultural and horticultural societies, and a supporter of the [[Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge]].<ref name="ODNB" />

[[Secretary to the Board of Control]] [[Thomas Babington Macaulay]] had drafted a [[criminal code for India]] and Ryan's support won him Macaulay's affection. [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]] [[Lord William Bentinck]] was also well-disposed and when [[William Oldnall Russell]], his old law-report collaborator, died in 1833, Ryan was appointed [[Chief Justice of Bengal]] in his stead.<ref name="ODNB" />

He took sides with Macaulay and [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]] in their campaign that education in India should be improved by the widespread teaching of English to give the population access to the educational and instructional materials of the English-speaking world. From 1835, the three served together on the general committee of public education until Macaulay and Trevelyan left for England in 1838 when Ryan took over as president of the committee.<ref name="ODNB" />

==England==
Ryan resigned as Chief Justice and returned to England in January 1843 with the intention of acting as [[assessor (law)|assessor]] to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] on [[appeal (law)|appeal]]s from the Indian courts. Consequently, he was sworn a [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Councillor]].<ref name="ODNB" />

He went on to hold offices including:
*Permanent member of the Judicial Committee (1850–1865);<ref name="ODNB" />
*Member of a [[Royal Commission]] on English [[criminal law]] (1845);<ref name="ODNB" />
*[[Railway Commissioner]] (1846–?);<ref name="ODNB" />
*Assistant [[Controller of the Exchequer]] (1851–1862).<ref name="ODNB" />

In 1850, Trevelyan campaigned along with [[Charles Hay Cameron]] for the opening of the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]] to the native population and championed the appointment of [[Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty]] to the Bengal medical service.<ref name="ODNB" />

==Civil Service Commission==
The [[Northcote–Trevelyan Report]] in 1854 had characterised the [[British Civil Service]] as riddled with [[cronyism]] and hampered by the inefficiencies of [[patronage]]. The report had recommended access to the higher ranks of the service by open competition and public [[exam]]ination. Ryan became the inaugural [[First Civil Service Commissioner]] in 1855 with the task of implementing the reforms, and immediately faced the establishment backlash. However, Ryan was both intelligent and tactful and managed to supervise the trialling, evaluation and gradual introduction of universal tests by 1870. The commission also supervised exams for admission to the Indian Civil Service and the British Army.<ref name="ODNB" />

==Family==
On 13 December 1814, Ryan married Louisa Whitmore (1789–1866) the daughter of William Whitmore and Frances Barbara Lyster.<ref name="ODNB"/> His friend [[Charles Babbage]] married her sister, Georgiana (1792–1827), in the same year.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Wilkes| first = M. V. | title= Charles Babbage and his world | journal= Notes and Records of the Royal Society | year=2002 | volume=56 | issue=3 | pages=353–365 | doi= 10.1098/rsnr.2002.0188 | s2cid = 144654303 }}</ref> The Ryans had eight sons and three daughters:<ref name="ODNB" />
*Edmund Burke Ryan (1815–1850)
*Frances Hanway Ryan (1817–)
*Lousia Ryan (1818–1906)
*John Cavendish Ryan (1819–1822)
*Wolryche Whitmore Ryan (1821–1867)
*Mary Ann Ryan (1822–)
*Colonel Edward Moody Ryan (1824–), of the [[Bengal]] army<ref name="ODNB" />
*Robert Henry Ryan (1825–)
*Fredrick York Ryan (1827–1829)
*Sir [[Charles Lister Ryan]] (1831–1920), comptroller and auditor-general<ref name="ODNB" />
*Colonel William Cavendish Bentinck Ryan (1833–1894) also of the Bengal army, named for the Governor-General of India<ref name="ODNB" />
Ryan died on 22 August 1875 at [[Dover]].<ref name="ODNB" /> and is buried at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]], London.<ref name=Paths>{{cite book|title=Paths of Glory|date=1997|publisher=Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery|page=87}}</ref>

==Honours and offices==
*Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]], (1820);<ref name="ODNB" />
*[[Bencher]] of Lincoln's Inn, (1844);<ref name="ODNB" />
*Fellow of the [[Royal Geographical Society]], (1846);<ref name="ODNB" />
*Member of the [[senate]] of the [[University of London]], (1846–1875);<ref name="ODNB" />
**Vice-chancellor, (1871–1874);<ref name="ODNB" />
*Member of the council of [[University College London]];<ref name="ODNB" />
*Member of the [[Council of Legal Education]], (1852);<ref name="ODNB" />
*[[Fellow of the Royal Society]], (1860).<ref name="ODNB" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Obituary:
**''[[The Times]]'', 25 August 1875, 1, 7; 8 October 1875
*Prior, K. (2006) "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24385 Ryan, Sir Edward (1793–1875)]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, online edn, accessed 19 August 2007 {{ODNBsub}} {{DNBfirst|wstitle=Ryan, Edward (1793-1875)}}

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[[Category:1793 births]]
[[Category:1875 deaths]]
[[Category:English barristers]]
[[Category:English judges]]
[[Category:British civil servants]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:British East India Company people]]
[[Category:English scientists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Presidents of The Asiatic Society]]
[[Category:British India judges]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
[[Category:19th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn]]
[[Category:19th-century British judges]]

Edward Ryan (barrister) - Revision history

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