English Conductor 

Kathleen Riddick, born in Epsom, Surrey, into a musical family, was a trailblazing conductor in a male-dominated profession. Both her parents were professional musicians, and her father conducted an amateur orchestra in Epsom. Riddick began studying cello at the age of 10 at the Guildhall School of Music, where she was taught by Arnold Trowell (1887–1966). She also took courses in composition.

Riddick’s first professional work was as the cellist for the Serre Trio, alongside Daphne Serre (piano) and Queenie Dyer (violin). The trio gained recognition for their regular BBC broadcasts in the early 1930s. In 1932, she founded the Surrey String Players in Leatherhead, assembling local amateur musicians. Later in the decade, Riddick received a recommendation from Robert Jaffrey Forbes, principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music, to study conducting under Nikolai Malko in Salzburg.

As one of the first women in Britain to establish a career in conducting, Riddick broke barriers in an era when it was considered “impossible” for women to succeed in the field. She initially built her career by founding and leading her own ensembles, including the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932 (which she conducted for 40 years), the London Women’s String Orchestra (later renamed the Riddick Orchestra) in 1938, and The London Opera Group Orchestra, which featured Miriam Morley as concertmaster.

Riddick’s talents eventually led her to guest-conduct prestigious ensembles such as the BBC orchestras and the London Symphony Orchestra. Alongside contemporaries like Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Iris Lemare, and Kathleen Merritt, and predecessors including Rosabel Watson, Florence Ashton Marshall, Gwynne Kimpton, and Ethel Leginska, Riddick was a pioneer in paving the way for women conductors in Britain.

She also inspired others, including Ruth Gipps, to pursue conducting careers. Like many women of her time, Riddick and her contemporaries often had to establish their own orchestras to create opportunities and build their reputations.