Private means

38

Married

28 Winckley Square, Preston, Lancashire

WSPU

Evades

Edith was born in Preston in 1872 and was the eldest child of Dr and Mrs Rayner. She attended Preston High School for Girls before becoming a pupil at Penrhos College in North Wales. Following the completion of her education Edith returned home and married Dr Charles Rigby and set up home in Winckley Square. She was a women's rights campaigner, who, despite being middle class, fought for better working conditions on behalf of the working women in the mills and factories in her hometown of Preston. She even set up an evening school for the young women of the mills so they would have a place to learn how to read, write, dance, and have fun. It was a natural step for Edith to make when she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) after attending a meeting at the home of Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester. She was an active campaigner and took part in many rallies in Westminster and back home in the north. She threw a black pudding at one MP whilst he was giving a speech in Manchester and tried to disrupt a meeting involving Winston Churchill at the Public Hall in Preston. She also detonated a small explosive device at the Cotton Exchange in Liverpool and burned down the bungalow of Lord Lever at Rivington, Lancashire. She evaded the 1911 census by joining others at a house party in Manchester (probably Dennison House – see Jessie Stephenson). She was imprisoned on several occasions and was force fed and then released under the Cat and Mouse Act, evading recapture by fleeing to Ireland. When the WSPU disbanded at the start of the First World War, Edith decided to form a Preston branch of the IWSPU (Independent) and it was decided they would campaign peacefully whilst helping with the war effort. Edith grew fruit and vegetables at her home and sold them cheaply at market, barely covering her costs. She formed the first Women’s Institute branch in Lancashire and often contributed to local good causes. Following the death of her husband in 1926 she relocated to North Wales with her younger sister where she died in 1950 aged 77. Sources: Phoebe Hesketh, My Aunt Edith (Lancashire County Books, 1992); Beverley Adams, The Rebel Suffragette: The Life of Edith Rigby (Pen and Sword, 2021); Lancashire Archives; Lancashire Post. Contributed by Beverley Adams author of ‘The Rebel Suffragette: The Life of Edith Rigby (above). See news blog 9.12.21.