Editing Richard Ridgeway

{{Short description|Irish soldier}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix  = 
| name              = Richard Ridgeway
| honorific_suffix  = 
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  = 
| image             = Richard Kirby Ridgeway (1848–1924).png
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|df=yes|1848|08|18}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1924|10|11|1848|08|18}}
| birth_place   = [[Oldcastle, County Meath]], Ireland
| death_place   = [[Harrogate]], Yorkshire, England
| placeofburial = [[Lawnswood]] crematorium, [[Leeds]], Yorkshire
| placeofburial_label = 
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname      = 
| birth_name    = 
| allegiance    = United Kingdom
| branch        = [[British Indian Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1868–
| rank          = Colonel
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = 
| battles       = 
| battles_label = 
| awards        = [[Victoria Cross]]<br />[[Order of the Bath]]<!-- {{plainlist}} -->
| relations     = 
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}}
Colonel '''Richard Kirby Ridgeway''' {{post-nominals|VC|CB}} (18 August 1848 – 11 October 1924) was an [[Ireland|Irish]] recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces.

==Biography==
Ridgeway was born on 18 August 1848 in [[Oldcastle, County Meath]], Ireland. He was commissioned into the [[British Army]] on 8 January 1868, and promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 14 February 1870.<ref name=Hart00>Hart′s Army list, 1900</ref>

===Victoria Cross===
On 22 November 1879, he was 31 years old, and a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[Bengal Staff Corps]], 44th Gurkha Rifles (later 1/8th Gurkha Rifles), [[British Indian Army]], during the [[Naga Hills Expedition]]. On that date, during the final assault on [[Konoma]], Eastern Frontier of [[India]], under heavy fire from the enemy, Captain Ridgeway rushed up to a barricade and attempted to tear down the planking surrounding it to enable him to effect an entrance. While doing this he was wounded severely in the right shoulder.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=24843 |date=11 May 1880 |page=2968 }}</ref>

===Later career===
He was appointed [[assistant adjutant-general]] of the [[Peshawar Division|Peshawar district]], part of the [[British Indian Army|Punjab Command]], on 29 April 1895, and was promoted to the rank of [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] on 8 January 1898.<ref name=Hart00 /> After an extended furlough back home, he resigned in early 1900, and did not return to India.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS169272954/TTDA |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=26 March 1900 |page=10 |issue=36099 |access-date=2025-03-19 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref>

He died at the age of 76 in [[Harrogate]], [[Yorkshire]] on 11 October 1924.

==See also==
*[[List of Brigade of Gurkhas recipients of the Victoria Cross]]

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}
<!-- Listed in order of publication year -->
*''[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]]'' (1981, 1988 and 1997)
*{{cite journal|first=Brian D. H.|last=Clarke|title=A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men|journal=[[The Irish Sword]]|volume=XVI|issue=64|pages=185–287|year=1986}}
*''[[Ireland's VCs]]'' {{ISBN|1-899243-00-3}} (Dept of Economic Development, 1995)
*''[[Monuments to Courage]]'' (David Harvey, 1999)
*''[[Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross]]'' (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514041055/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/yorkshir.htm Location of grave and VC medal] (West Yorkshire)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgeway, Richard}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:Irish recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:Irish soldiers in the British Indian Army]]
[[Category:Bengal Staff Corps officers]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Tirah campaign]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Meath]]
[[Category:Burials in West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:19th-century British Army personnel]]
[[Category:British Army officers]]
[[Category:British colonels]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:People from Oldcastle, County Meath]]