Richard Rigby
Encyclopedia
Richard Rigby was an English
civil servant and politician. He served as Secretary of Ireland
and Paymaster of the Forces
. Rigby accumulated a fortune serving the Crown and politician wheeler-dealers in the dynamic 18th century parliament, and this money eventually ended up endowing the Pitt Rivers Museum
.
and the Middle Temple
. He was elected Member of Parliament
for Castle Rising
in 1745, transferring to Sudbury
at the next general election, and was initially a partisan of Frederick, Prince of Wales
. Subsequently, he transferred his allegiance to the Duke of Bedford
, sitting as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bedford pocket borough of Tavistock
and eventually becoming the Bedford Whigs'
permanent "man of business" in the House of Commons
. In December 1755 he became a junior minister as one of the Lords of Trade, and in 1757, he retained a seat in the Irish House of Commons
for Old Leighlin
, which he held until 1761. When Bedford was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1758, in a time of relative peace
, Rigby accompanied him as Secretary
; the following year he was appointed Master of the Rolls there. In 1762 Rigby was seriously considered for promotion to Secretary at War
, but he preferred to remain in lucrative sinecures rather than to accept more substantive office, and instead was made in 1765 joint Vice Treasurer of Ireland.
In 1768, Rigby was transferred to the 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".
Rigby spent much of his fortune reinvesting in the family seat
s 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 daughter who married General Hale, and ultimately to the Pitt-Rivers
family, whose members endowed the museum of that name
, a treasurehouse of anthropological exotica, at Oxford University.
as the site of their manor, but was descended from the Rigby of Burgh family. Richard's father and immediate ancestors made a fortune as merchant drapers
in the City of London
, as merchants and colonial officers in the West Indies, and as speculators in the South Sea Bubble.
Richard Rigby's father also had the same name, and was significant in the history of Jamaica
, serving as its Secretary, the Provost Marshal
, and a member of the Royal Assembly in the late 17th and early 18th century. He was also part-owner of a plantation in Antigua
and a slave trader. His elder brother James also served as a colonial officer on the island.
Richard and James Rigby were sons of Edward Rigby of Mistley Hall, a London draper and landowner based in Covent Garden
, and Anne Hyde, a close cousin of Queen Anne (Hyde), Queen Anne
, Queen Mary
, and the Earl of Clarendon
. Edward and Ann had a London town house in the parish of St Andrews High Holborn
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
civil servant and politician. He served as Secretary of Ireland
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...
and Paymaster of the Forces
Paymaster of the Forces
The Paymaster of the Forces was a position in the British government. The office, which was established 1661 after the Restoration, was responsible for part of the financing of the British Army. The first to hold the office was Sir Stephen Fox. Before his time it had been the custom to appoint...
. Rigby accumulated a fortune serving the Crown and politician wheeler-dealers in the dynamic 18th century parliament, and this money eventually ended up endowing the Pitt Rivers Museum
Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed through that building.The museum was...
.
Biography
Rigby was educated at Corpus Christi College, CambridgeCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
and the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
. He was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Castle Rising
Castle Rising (UK Parliament constituency)
Castle Rising was a parliamentary borough in Norfolk, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act...
in 1745, transferring to Sudbury
Sudbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Sudbury was a parliamentary constituency which was represented in the British House of Commons. A parliamentary borough consisting of the town of Sudbury in Suffolk, it returned two Members of Parliament from 1559 until it was disenfranchised for corruption in 1844...
at the next general election, and was initially a partisan of Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
. Subsequently, he transferred his allegiance to the Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, FRS was an 18th century British statesman. He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey...
, sitting as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bedford pocket borough of Tavistock
Tavistock (UK Parliament constituency)
Tavistock was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Devon between 1330 and 1974. Until 1885 it was a parliamentary borough, consisting solely of the town of Tavistock; it returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, when its...
and eventually becoming the Bedford Whigs'
Bedfordite
The Bedfordites were an 18th century British political faction, led by John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Other than Bedford himself, notable members included John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower; Richard Rigby, who served as principal Commons manager for the...
permanent "man of business" in the House of Commons
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
. In December 1755 he became a junior minister as one of the Lords of Trade, and in 1757, he retained a seat in the Irish House of Commons
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords...
for Old Leighlin
Old Leighlin (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
Old Leighlin was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons to 1800.Following the Act of Union 1800 the borough was disfranchised.-Boundaries and Boundary Changes:...
, which he held until 1761. When Bedford was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1758, in a time of relative peace
Ireland 1691–1801
Ireland 1691–1801 was marked by the dominance of the so-called Protestant Ascendancy. These were the descendants of British colonists who had settled in the country in the wake of its conquest by England and colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland...
, Rigby accompanied him as Secretary
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...
; the following year he was appointed Master of the Rolls there. In 1762 Rigby was seriously considered for promotion to Secretary at War
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. It was occasionally a cabinet level position, although...
, but he preferred to remain in lucrative sinecures rather than to accept more substantive office, and instead was made in 1765 joint Vice Treasurer of Ireland.
In 1768, Rigby was transferred to the perhaps the most lucrative of all government posts, Paymaster of the Forces
Paymaster of the Forces
The Paymaster of the Forces was a position in the British government. The office, which was established 1661 after the Restoration, was responsible for part of the financing of the British Army. The first to hold the office was Sir Stephen Fox. Before his time it had been the custom to appoint...
, which he held for the next 16 years. He took a prominent part in opposing John Wilkes
John Wilkes
John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician.He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives...
, and later led objections to a public funeral for Pitt the Elder
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...
. When he died in 1788, he was said to have left "nearly half a million of public money".
Rigby spent much of his fortune reinvesting in the family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
s of Mistley
Mistley
Mistley is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex. It is around 11 miles northeast of Colchester and is east of, and almost contiguous with, Manningtree. The parish consists of Mistley and New Mistley, both lying beside the Stour Estuary, and Mistley Heath a...
and Manningtree
Manningtree
Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It adjoins built-up areas of Lawford to the west and Mistley to the east and the three parishes together are sometimes referred to as "Manningtree".Manningtree is a claimant for the...
, 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
Mistley Towers
Mistley Towers are the twin towers of the now demolished Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Mistley in Essex. The original Georgian parish church on the site had been built in classical style early in the 18th century following the death of Richard Rigby Esquire...
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 daughter who married General Hale, and ultimately to the Pitt-Rivers
Pitt-Rivers
-People:* William Horace Pitt-Rivers, 3rd Baron Rivers . Born William Beckford, he adopted the name on inheriting the title from his brother-in-law George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers.* George Pitt-Rivers, 4th Baron Rivers...
family, whose members endowed the museum of that name
Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed through that building.The museum was...
, a treasurehouse of anthropological exotica, at Oxford University.
Family
The Rigby family took Mistley Hall in EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
as the site of their manor, but was descended from the Rigby of Burgh family. Richard's father and immediate ancestors made a fortune as merchant drapers
Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London; it has the formal name of The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London but is more usually known...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, as merchants and colonial officers in the West Indies, and as speculators in the South Sea Bubble.
Richard Rigby's father also had the same name, and was significant in the history of Jamaica
History of Jamaica
Jamaica, the 3rd largest Caribbean island, was inhabited by Arawak natives when it was first sighted by the 2nd voyage of Christopher Colombus on 5th May 1494. bob marley. christian. asmin. david...
, serving as its Secretary, the Provost Marshal
Provost Marshal
The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...
, and a member of the Royal Assembly in the late 17th and early 18th century. He was also part-owner of a plantation in Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
and a slave trader. His elder brother James also served as a colonial officer on the island.
Richard and James Rigby were sons of Edward Rigby of Mistley Hall, a London draper and landowner based in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, and Anne Hyde, a close cousin of Queen Anne (Hyde), Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
, Queen Mary
Mary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
, and the Earl of Clarendon
Earl of Clarendon
Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1661 for the statesman Edward Hyde, 1st Baron Hyde...
. Edward and Ann had a London town house in the parish of St Andrews High Holborn
St Andrew, Holborn
St Andrew, Holborn is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without.-Roman and medieval:Roman pottery was found on the site during 2001/02 excavations in the crypt...
.