Richard Rigby MP of Mistley Hall

MP and paymaster-general (1768-1782). Son of Richard Rigby (d. 1730, a factor for the South Sea Company) and Anne Perry, an Antigua heiress. He has an entry in the ODNB as 'politician'. His heir was his nephew Francis Hale, later Francis Hale Rigby, MP for Mitchell 1779-1784.

1. The extent and nature of Richard Rigby's involvement in slave-ownership have not been fully established by LBS. In a codicil to his father's will, his father provided £1000 from moneys due to him in the West Indies to his widow to complete Mistley Hall, and Vere Langford Oliver firmly identifies Richard Rigby the father as the Provost Marshal of Jamaica in the early 1700s. In 1745 Richard Rigby [the son] was party to an indenture by which he and his family sold the estate in St Mary Antigua which had belonged to his maternal grandfather John Perry of Antigua. Vere Langford Oliver shows a private Act of Parliament of 1801 to deal with Rich. Rigby's estate 'part of which was the Plantain Garden River plantation Jamaica worth £1400 p.a.' Papers at Essex Record Office suggest that representatives of Richard Rigby deceased were hiring enslaved people to from Plantain River Garden estate in 1789-1792. Local history material suggests of Richard Rigby the son: 'He had income from interests in slave plantations in Antigua, Grenada and Jamaica. He traded in sugar, cocoa and coffee.'

Thorne, Roland. 2008 "Rigby, Richard (1722–1788), politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 20 Sep. 2018. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-23647; https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/rigby-richard-1722-88 [accessed 20/08/2018].

1. Will of Richard Rigby of Mistley Essex proved 19/11/1730, PROB 11/641/118; History of Antigua Vol. III pp. 21-23; Caribbeana Vol. II p. 348; Essex Record Office D/DHw A73A, 'Relates to Rigby estate in Jamaica, and includes amounts received for hire of slaves from [sic] Plantain Garden River Estate, 1786-1791, and slaves from the estate of Richard Rigby, 1789-1791', https://secureweb1.essexcc.gov.uk/SeaxPam/result_details.aspx?DocID=131056 [accessed 20/09/2018]; e.g. 'The Notorious Second Richard Rigby', http://www.manningtree-museum.org.uk/Rigby%20Walk.pdf [accessed 20/09/2018]