Eliza and Isabella Riddel

Eliza (1831–1924) and Isabella Riddel (1836–1918) were sisters who are best known for Riddel Hall in Stranmillis, Belfast, Northern Ireland, which they established in 1913 as a university hall of residence for women.[2]

Riddel Hall, endowed in 1913 (opened 1915) by Eliza and Isabella Riddel as a residence for female students at Queen's University Belfast.[1]
Vents at Riddel Hall celebrating the endowment of the building
Extension of the site (2011) and relocation of Queen's Management School

Background

Eliza and Isabella were the youngest two members of the wealthy Riddel family of ten children. The family made its money in the hardware business, established in 1803 by their father John Riddel (1783–1870). On the death of Samuel Riddel, the last of Eliza and Isabella's bachelor brothers, the sisters inherited over £400,000, which was a large fortune at that time.[1]

Ruth Duffin, the first warden of Riddel Hall, noted in her writings that the sisters were devoted Unitarians, strongly charitable, and that their habits were simple and Victorian. The sisters preferred to ride in their old one-horse brougham long after motor cars became commonplace.[1]

The Riddel sisters never took an active role in the family business[1] or had the opportunity for third-level education themselves.[2] Their family home at Beechmount, Falls Road is now an Irish-speaking school, Coláiste Feirste.[1]

Philanthropy

Other beneficiaries of the sisters' charity were the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, the Midnight Mission, the Society for Providing Nurses for the Sick Poor, and their own Rosemary Street congregation's Domestic Mission for the Poor of Belfast.[1]

Riddel Hall

The Misses Riddel donated £35,000 for the building and endowment of a halls of residence, with the understanding it was to be used for the female students of Queen's University.

This was an unusually large and generous amount for the education of women. When funds were raised, it was normally by a piecemeal combination of ladies' halls committees, local subscriptions and grants from bodies such as the Carnegie or Pfeiffer Trusts. At the time, only Emma Holt of the Liverpool University Women's Hall was giving on a similar scale.[1]

In return, Eliza Riddel, the eldest sister, was made a member of the senate of Queen's University in 1912.

Both were appointed founder members of Riddel Hall's permanent committee. Governors of the permanent committee included the mayor of Belfast, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and five elected 'lady graduate governors' including F W Rea, one of the earliest women lecturers at Queen's, and Marion Andrews and Elizabeth Bell, two of the earliest women to qualify in medicine in Ireland.[1]

A £14m redevelopment in 2011 added two additional buildings, extending the available teaching facilities and office space. Following the redevelopment Queen's Management School (incorporating the William J Clinton Leadership Institute) was relocated to the site and officially opened by Mary McAleese [3] in 2012.

Endowment

In addition to the women's hall, a fund was set up to subsidise needy students. The endowment exists to this day[1] although Riddel Hall itself was turned into offices in 1975.[4]

gollark: I think it actually says something about learning about the "dark web" under the program descriptiony thing.
gollark: Really? Hmm.
gollark: They are very minimal. I only really found someone saying that they used a few cybersecurity-y tools I heard about.
gollark: Some of https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/uploads/Student%20Points%20Comfortable%20Stay.pdf seems vaguely worrying.
gollark: Oh, for the course thing.

See also

References
  1. McClelland, Gillian (2005) Pioneering Women: Riddel Hall and Queen's University Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast
  2. Queen's University Belfast, February 2012, News, Old scholars give Riddel Hall revamp ‘the once over’ Archived 2013-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Belfast Telegraph, October 2012 McAleese opens new business school
  4. UTV report, Riddel Hall
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