Richard Rigby
Richard Rigby | |
---|---|
Chief Secretary for Ireland | |
In office 1757–1761 | |
Preceded by | Henry Seymour Conway |
Succeeded by | William Gerard Hamilton |
Richard Rigby
Background and education
The Rigby family took Mistley Hall in
He was also part-owner of a plantation in
Political career
Rigby was elected Member of Parliament for
In December 1755 he became a junior minister as one of the
In 1768, Rigby was transferred to perhaps the most lucrative of all government posts, Paymaster of the Forces, which he held for the next 16 years. He took a prominent part in opposing John Wilkes, and later led objections to a public funeral for Pitt the Elder. When he died in 1788, he was said to have left "nearly half a million of public money".
Wealth
Rigby spent much of his fortune reinvesting in the family seats of Mistley and Manningtree, employing the top architects and landscape artists of the day to build a port and a spa. The latter endeavour failed, but the ruins of Mistley Towers survive as a tourist destination. Though other members of the family continued to bear the Rigby name and arms, the bulk of Richard Rigby's wealth fell to his sister Martha who married General Bernard Hale, and ultimately to the Pitt-Rivers family. Richard had an illegitimate daughter called Sarah by Sarah Lucas (widow), of Ipswich.
References
- ^ "Rigby, Richard (RGBY738R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Sources
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930)
- Lewis Namier & John Brooke, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754–1790 (London: HMSO, 1964)
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs