Edith Rigby

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Edith Rigby
Rigby in 1900
Born18 October 1872
Preston, Lancashire, England
Died23 July 1950 (1950-07-24) (aged 77)
Llanrhos, Wales
EducationPenrhos College
Political partyLabour Party
SpouseCharles Rigby
Children1

Edith Rigby (née Rayner) (18 October 1872 – 23 July 1950) was an English suffragette who used arson as a way to further the cause of women’s suffrage. She founded a night school in Preston called St Peter's School, aimed at educating women and girls. Later she became a prominent activist, and was incarcerated seven times and committed several acts of arson. She was a contemporary of Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst.

Biography

Born Edith Rayner on St Luke's Day (18 October) in 1872 in Preston, Lancashire, she was one of seven children of Dr Alexander Clement Rayner and was educated at Penrhos College in North Wales.[1][2]

She married Dr Charles Rigby and lived with him in Winckley Square in Preston. From an early age she questioned the differences between working-class and middle-class women and after she was married she worked hard to improve the lives of women and girls working in local mills. In 1899, she founded St Peter's School, which allowed these women to meet and continue their education which otherwise would have stopped at the age of 11.[3][4] At home, she was critical of her neighbours' treatment of their servants. The Rigbys had servants themselves, but allowed them certain unconventional freedoms such as being able to eat in the dining-room and not having to wear uniforms.[5]

Activism

In 1907 she formed the Preston branch of the

Houses of Parliament in London with Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst in 1908. Fifty-seven women, including Rigby, were arrested and sentenced to a month in prison.[4] In 1909 she was arrested again for obstruction during a visit by Winston Churchill. She was taken to court with Grace Alderman, Catherine Worthington and Beth Hesmondhalgh. They went to prison for seven days except for Rigby as her father paid the fine claiming that she was just in bad company of "hired women". Edith's brother Arther was reported to have pointed at another suffragette, Margaret Hewitt, saying that it was all due to "that painted jezebel".[9]

During her subsequent sentences, (seven in total) Rigby took part in hunger strikes and was subjected to force-feeding.[4][5] Her activism included planting a bomb in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange on 5 July 1913,[10] and although it was later stated in court that ‘no great damage had been done by the explosion’, Mrs Rigby was found guilty and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labour.[4][11][12]

Rigby had been given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.

She also claimed to have set fire to the bungalow of Sir William Lever, Bt (later Lord Leverhulme) on 7 July 1913.[13][14] The property, near Rivington Pike on the West Pennine Moors, contained a number of valuable paintings and the attack resulted in damage costing £20,000.[11] Afterwards she said:

I want to ask Sir William Lever whether he thinks his property on Rivington Pike is more valuable as one of his superfluous houses occasionally opened to people, or as a beacon lighted to King and Country to see here are some intolerable grievances for women.[5]

Rigby disagreed with the WSPU's decision not to campaign on suffrage issues during World War I. She joined the Independent Women's Social and Political Union split, forming a branch in Preston.[15]

Later life

Edith Rigby's house in Preston
Edith Rigby plaque in Winckley Square, Preston, featuring incorrect year of death[8]

According to Elizabeth Ashworth in Champion Lancastrians, in 1888, Rigby was the first woman in Preston to own a bicycle.

Howick Women's Institute.[5] Rigby became a vegetarian.[1]

In 1926, Charles Rigby retired and the couple built a new house, called Erdmuth, outside

fell walking and meditating in the early hours of every morning.[4] She eventually suffered from Parkinson's disease and died in 1950 at Erdmuth.[16][4]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-415-23926-5
    .
  2. ISBN 1-871236-12-6
    .
  3. ^ Roberts, Marian. "Biography of Mrs Edith Rigby". WinckleySquare.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-85058-833-3
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-7484-0108-3
    .
  6. ^ "Avenham Walks – Stop 7 – Edith Rigby". Avenham Walks. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  7. ISBN 9781408844069
    .
  8. ^ a b c Gilroy Wilkinson, Peter. "Edith Rigby: the later years" (PDF). Prestonhistoricalsociety.org.uk. Preston Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  9. ISBN 978-1-4088-4405-2
    .
  10. ISBN 978-1135434021
    .
  11. ^ a b Mrs Rigby committed to trial, The Times, 18 July 1913, page 14, column c.
  12. ^ ‘The Explosion At Liverpool Exchange’, The Times, 31 July 1913, p. 8.
  13. ^ "A Desperate Woman. Suffragette Confesses to Deeds of Violence, Says She Fired Sir W. Lever's Bungalow". The Nottingham Evening Post. 10 July 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  14. ^ Rivington Bungalow Fire, Confession by a Doctor’s Wife’, Bolton Evening News, 13 July 1913, p. 4
  15. ISBN 978-1408228234
    .
  16. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50080. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)

External links
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