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Edith Rigby

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Edith Rigby (1872–1948) was an English suffragette. She founded a 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

Arrests and Imprisonments

In 1907 Edith Rigby formed the Preston branch of the Women's Social and Political Union, the leading militant organisation campaigning for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, 1903–1917. Her suffragist activity included two London deputations in 1907 and 1908 in concert with Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst. On both occasions she was arrested and served two weeks and four weeks in prison respectively for obstruction. She was arrested in Preston in 1909 when she took part in a protest at a meeting addressed by Winston Churchill and again when, on her release, she followed Churchill to Waterloo in Liverpool, where she smashed a window at the local police station. For this she was sentenced to two weeks in prison where she went on hunger strike and was forcibly fed. She was again arrested in London on 21 November 1911 when, together with a large group of women armed with bags of stones and hammers supplied to them at the WSPU shop, she set out to break windows at Government offices and business premises. Windows were smashed at The Home Office, Local Government Board, The Treasury, the Scottish Educational Office, Somerset House, National Liberal Federation, the Guards' Club, two hotels, the Daily Mail and Daily News, Swan and Edgar, J. Lyons & Co., and Dunn & Co., as well as at a chemist's, a tailor's, a bakery, and other small businesses. Some two hundred and twenty women and three men were arrested including Edith who served three weeks in Holloway prison.

Other alleged offenses include the planting a small bomb in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building on 5 July 1913 for which, although it was later stated in court that ‘no great damage had been done by the explosion’, she was found guilty and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labour.[6] She again went on hunger strike, but was soon released under the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913. Commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act, this law allowed for the early release of prisoners considered to be severely weakened and in mortal danger from hunger striking: once their health had recovered, they were recalled to prison, where the whole process would begin again.[7] However, the incident that brought Edith fame and notoriety was without doubt her claim to have caused the destruction of one of Sir William Lever's homes; Roynton Cottage in Rivington on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.

Later life

According to Elizabeth Ashworth in Champion Lancastrians, Rigby was the first lady to ride a bicycle in Preston.[4] During World War I, she bought a cottage near Preston named Marigold Cottage and used it to produce food for the war effort.[5] With short hair and wearing men's clothes, she grew fruit and vegetables and kept animals and bees, following the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.[4] She had a happy marriage with her husband, who retired and lived with her at her cottage.[4] They adopted a son called Sandy.[4] In the 1920s Rigby was a founding member and the president of the Hutton and Howick Women's Institute.[5]

In 1926, shortly after the death of her husband, Rigby moved to North Wales.[4] She continued to follow Steiner's work, forming an "Anthroposophical Circle" of her own, and visiting one of his schools in New York.[4] Into old age she enjoyed a healthy lifestyle, bathing in the sea, fell walking and meditating in the early hours of every morning.[4] She eventually suffered from Parkinson's disease and died in 1948 near Llandudno, Wales.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2001). The Women's Suffrage Movement: a reference guide, 1866–1928. Routledge. pp. 598–599. ISBN 0-415-23926-5.
  2. ^ Hesketh, Phoebe (1966) My Aunt Edith. London: Peter Davies; p. 2
  3. ^ Roberts, Marian. "Biography of Mrs Edith Rigby". WinckleySquare.org.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ashworth, Elizabeth (2006). Champion Lancastrians. Sigma Leisure. pp. 79–82. ISBN 1-85058-833-3.
  5. ^ a b c Oldfield, Sybil (1994). This Working-day World: women's lives and culture(s) in Britain, 1914–1945. Taylor & Francis. p. 29. ISBN 0-7484-0108-3.
  6. ^ The Explosion At Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building, The Times, 31 July 1913, p. 8
  7. ^ Parliamentary Archives, HL/PO/PU/1/1913/3&4G5c4, "1913 Cat and Mouse Act" : [Accessed 28 Jan 2017: http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/case-study-the-right-to-vote/the-right-to-vote/winson-green-forcefeeding/cat-and-mouse-act/]
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