Life

The only son of John Ryland (1753–1825), by his second wife, he was born at Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 on 5 May 1798. His early years were spent in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, and he was educated at the Baptist college, over which his father presided, and at Edinburgh University, where he was a pupil of Dr. Thomas Brown.

For a time he was mathematical and classical tutor at Mill Hill College, and for a short period he taught at Bradford College. He later moved to Bristol, and in 1835 went to Northampton, where he remained for the rest of his life. The degree of M.A. was in 1852 conferred upon him by Brown University, Rhode Island.

He died at Waterloo, Northampton, on 16 April 1866. On 4 January 1828 he had married Frances, daughter of John Buxton of Northampton.

Works

He mostly edited and translated the works of others. His earliest compositions were inserted in the ‘Visitor’ (Bristol, 1823); he was a writer in the Baptist Magazine, and he edited vols. ix.–xii. of the fifth series of the Eclectic Review.

He wrote for John Kitto

John Kitto

John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.-Biography:Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three...

's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, and he published in 1856 a ‘Memoir’ of Kitto. In 1864 he produced ‘Wholesome Words; or One Hundred Choice Passages from Old Authors.’ To the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ he contributed memoirs of John Foster

John Foster (essayist)

John Foster was an English essayist, son of a weaver, born in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, and educated for the ministry at the Baptist college in Bristol. After serving as a minister for several years, he chose to devote himself to literature. He contributed nearly 200 articles to the...

, Andrew Fuller

Andrew Fuller

Andrew Fuller was an eminent Baptist minister, born in Cambridgeshire, and settled at Kettering.Fuller was a zealous controversialist in defence of the governmental theory of the atonement against Hyper-Calvinism on the one hand and Socinianism and Sandemanianism on the other, but he is chiefly...

, John Kitto, Robert Robinson, Schleiermacher

Schleiermacher

Schleiermacher is the name of:* Friedrich Schleiermacher - German theologian and philosopher* Ruth Schleiermacher - speedskater* Steffen Schleiermacher - composer...

, and Schwartz, and the articles on Northampton and Northamptonshire.

Translations by Ryland included Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...

's ‘Thoughts on Religion,’ Bernard Jacobi on the ‘General Epistle of St. James,’ Felix Neff

Felix Neff

Felix Neff , Swiss Protestant divine and philanthropist, was born at Geneva. Originally a sergeant of artillery, he decided in 1819 to devote himself entirely to evangelistic work. He was ordained to the ministry in 1822, and soon afterwards settled in the valley of Freissinières, where he labored...

's ‘Dialogues on Sin and Salvation,’ Ernst Sartorius's ‘Lectures on Christ,’ Karl Gottlieb Semisch's ‘Life of Justin Martyr,’ François Gaussen's ‘Canon of the Holy Scriptures,’ August Tholuck's ‘Guido and Julius,’ Tholuck's ‘Old Testament and the New,’ Christian Gottlob Barth's ‘Weaver of Quelbrunn,’ Johann Peter Lange

Johann Peter Lange

Johann Peter Lange , was a German Calvinist theologian of peasant origin.-Biography:...

's ‘Life of Christ’ (vol. ii.), two treatises by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Herrmann Hengstenberg , was a German Lutheran churchman and neo-Lutheran theologian.He was born at Frondenberg, a Westphalian village, and was educated by his father, who was a minister of the Reformed Church and head of the Frondenberg convent of canonesses...

, and several volumes by Augustus Neander on the ‘History of the Church and its Dogmas.’

Ryland edited the ‘Pastoral Memorials’ of his father (1826–8), and the ‘Life and Correspondence of John Foster’ (1846, 2 vols.) He also edited collections of Foster's ‘Essays’ and ‘Lectures.’