Sir Dudley Ryder (1691-1756) was an English lawyer, writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733, was appointed Attorney General in 1937 followed by Chief Justice of the King's Bench in 1754, a post he held until his death.

William Matthews (1906-1975) was an authority on British and American diaries, medieval literature and the history of the English language. He was born in London and educated at the University of London, where he received his doctorate in 1934. He went to the USA in 1938 and taught for a year at the University of Wisconsin before joining the UCLA faculty.