Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rigby, Alexander
RIGBY, ALEXANDER (1594–1650), parliamentary colonel and baron of the exchequer, born in 1594, was eldest son of Alexander Rigby of Wigan, by his wife Alice, daughter of Leonard Asshawe or Asshal, of Shaw Hall, near Flixton. Joseph Rigby [q. v.] was his brother. The father's will was proved on 26 April 1632. In it he left very considerable property to Alexander, his heir, who was admitted to Gray's Inn on 1 Nov. 1610. In 1639 he was living near Rigby, a hamlet of the parish of Kirkham, and had a dispute with the vicar about his pew; but the court of Chester decided against him (Hist. of Kirkham, p. 101). On 17 March 1639–40 he was returned member for Wigan borough to the Short parliament (Sinclair, Hist. of Wigan, i. 226), in which he was one of the most active committee men, being on the committees for recusants, for Prynne's case, for the consideration of the canons of 1640, and for the abuses in Emmanuel College, Cambridge (cf. Commons' Journal, i. 55). A speech in which he denounced Lord-keeper Finch was twice reprinted in 1641 (see Harl. MSS. 813, 7162; Lansd. MS. 493; Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 306). On 24 March 1641–2 he was nominated one of the deputy-lieutenants of Lancashire (Commons' Journal, ii. 495; Civil War Tracts, p. 2, Chetham Soc.; Memoirs of James, Earl of Derby, Chetham Soc. p. lxxiv). In June 1542 he was sent to Lancashire to put in execution the ordinance of the militia (Commons' Journal, ii. 619). His letter to the speaker (Civil War Tracts, pp. 325–30) gives an account of his actions against Lord Strange and Sir Gilbert Houghton. Before Strange's attack he seems to have returned to London (Lancashire Lieutenancy, p. 277; Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. p. 47), and for the next few months was active at Westminster (Commons' Journal, ii. 806). After the raising of the siege of Manchester he was appointed colonel for Leyland and Amounderness. On 1 April 1643 he was nominated a member of the Lancashire committee (Husband, Ordinances, p. 13, Civil War Tracts, p. 90, and Farrington Papers, p. 96, Chetham Soc.)
Before summer 1643 he went to Lancashire to raise forces for the parliament, and undertook the siege of Sir John Girlington's castle of Thurland. After defeating Colonel Huddleston at Dalton in Furness, he reduced the castle (October 1643; Robinson, Discourse of the War in Lancashire, pp. 40–3), recounting his victory in a letter to the speaker dated from Preston, 17 Oct. 1643 (Civil War Tracts, p. 148; Whitelocke, p. 77; West, Furness, p. lii). He was on the committee for scandalous ministers for the county (Husband, Ordinances, p. 131), and is credited with the origination of the idea of selling into slavery the bishops or heads of houses at Cambridge (see Life of Barwick, p. 42; Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, i. 58; Dugdale, Short View, p. 577; Querela Cantabr. p. 184).
In February 1644 Rigby engaged in the siege of Lathom House, held by the Countess of Derby. On the departure of Sir William Fairfax he was left in sole command; but on 27 May he was obliged to raise the siege and retire before the advance of Prince Rupert (see Memoirs of the Earl of Derby, Chetham Soc.; Warburton, Prince Rupert, ii. 427–9). He himself narrowly escaped with his life at the sack of Bolton, immediately after. He joined Waller in the west, but in July 1644 was again in attendance at Westminster (Commons' Journal, iii. 559). The committee for sequestrations for Middlesex was charged to find him a house, and some months later the commons allowed him 4l. weekly (25 March 1655). The order was discharged on 20 Aug. 1646 (Commons' Journal, v. 141, 649). On 11 July 1646 he was one of the commissioners for the conservation of peace between England and Scotland (Husband, p. 905; Rushworth, iv. 1, 313; Thurloe, i. 79). It was not Rigby, but his son Alexander, who raised Lancashire against Hamilton in May 1648, and who persecuted Derby after his capture. Rigby signed the remonstrance against the treaty with the king on 20 Dec. 1648 (Walker, Indep. ii. 48), and was nominated one of the judges for the king's trial. In 1649 he was named a commissioner for draining the fens, and was also governor of Boston (Scobell, p. 38; Commons' Journal, vi. 218; Walker, Indep. i. 171). In the following June he was appointed one of the barons of the exchequer (1 June 1649; Commons' Journal, vi. 222, 229; Whitelocke, p. 405). He seems to have presided at an assize at Lancaster in September following, and on 1 April 1650 was named a commissioner in the act for establishing the high court of justice (Proceedings of the Council of State, under date). Rigby's last appearance was at an assize at Chelmsford in August 1650. He fell sick, and the assizes were adjourned. He removed to Croydon, and then to London, but died almost immediately after (Vicar, Dagon Demolished), on 18 Aug. 1650. After lying in state at Ely Place, Holborn, he was buried at Preston on 9 Sept. (Peck, Desid. Cur. p. 532; Fishwick, Hist. of Goosnargh, p. 147; Fuller, Church History, iv. 402; for the tradition of his poisoning see ib. and Cavalier's Notebook, p. 291). In the ‘Reliquary,’ xi. 247, there is a portrait of Rigby, and a miniature is engraved in Croston's ‘Nooks and Corners of Lancashire.’
Rigby married, about 1619, Lucy, second daughter of Sir Urian Legh of Adlington, Cheshire, by whom he appears to have had four children—Alexander, Urian, Edward, and Lucy (cf. Palatine Notebook, iii. 111, 143, 187). The eldest son became a lieutenant-colonel in the parliamentary army, and is the cause of some confusion with his father. His wife was buried at Preston on 5 March 1643–4.
In 1643 or 1644 Rigby purchased a lapsed patent, known as the Plough patent, of the suzerainty of the province of Lygonia, part of the province (now state) of Maine in America. He held the sovereignty and fee till his death, when the title fell to his eldest son (cf. Palatine Notebook, iii. 181, and authorities there given).
[State Papers, passim and generally, as in text; Palatine Notebook, iii. 137, and Visitations of Lancashire (Chetham Soc.)]