RIGBY, Alexander I (1594-1650), of Middleton Hall in Goosnargh, Kirkham, Lancs.

Family and Education

bap. 9 July 1594, 1st surv. s. of Alexander Rigby of Wigan, Lancs. and 1st w. Alice, da. of Leonard Ashawe of Shaw Hall, Flixton, Lancs.Flixton par. reg.; Vis. Lancs. 1664-5 ed. F.R. Raines (Chetham Soc. o.s. lxxxviii), 245. educ. St John’s, Camb. Easter 1610, BA 1614, MA 1615.Al. Cant. G. Inn 1 Nov. 1610.G. Inn Admiss. 124. m. (1) by 1620, Lucy (bur. 5 Mar. 1644), da. of Sir Urian Legh of Adlington, Cheshire, 3s. (inc. Alexander*, Edward†) 1da.; (2) Anne (bur. 12 Feb. 1676), da. and coh. of John Gobert of Market Bosworth, Leics. and Coventry, Warws. and wid. of Colonel Thomas Legh of Adlington, s.p.Preston, Lancs. par. reg.; Vis. Lancs. ed. Raines, 245-6; Prestbury Reg. Bk. ed. J. Croston (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. v), 186, 226; Earwaker, E. Cheshire, ii. 213, 243, 252. suc. fa. 20 Apr. 1621.Lancs. IPM ed. J. P. Rylands (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. xvii), 460. d. 18 Aug. 1650.Desiderata Curiosa ed. F. Peck (1735), ii. lib. xiv, p. 23.

Offices Held

Legal: called, G. Inn 19 Nov. 1617; ancient, 4 May 1638; Lent reader, 1643.PBG Inn, i. 229, 330, 350. Sjt.-at-law, 9 June 1649–d.C231/6, p. 151; Baker, Serjeants at Law, 189, 400. Bar. exch. 12 June 1649–d.CJ vi. 222a; C231/6, p. 152.

Local: clerk of peace, Lancs. 1621–7.Lancs. RO, DDKE/1/14, 16, 17, 19, 26; Duchy of Lancaster Office-Holders ed. R. Somerville, 107. Commr. subsidy, 1641; further subsidy, 1641; poll tax, 1641;SR. disarming recusants, 30 Aug. 1641;LJ iv. 385a. contribs. towards relief of Ireland, 1642;SR. assessment, 1642, 24 Feb. 1643, 18 Oct. 1644, 21 Feb. 1645, 23 June 1647, 16 Feb. 1648, 7 Apr., 7 Dec. 1649.SR; A. and O. Dep. lt. by 9 June 1642–?d.CJ ii. 615a. Member, Lancs. co. cttee. June 1642–?d.CJ ii. 625b; LJ v. 137a; Gratton, Lancs. 79. Commr. sequestration, 27 Mar. 1643; levying of money, 7 May, 3 Aug. 1643; Northern Assoc. 20 June 1645; defence of Lancs. 29 Aug. 1645.A. and O. J.p. by Aug. 1646–d.Lancs. RO, QSC/42–52. Commr. Westminster militia, 15 Jan. 1648;CJ v. 433a; LJ ix. 663a. militia, Lancs. 2 Dec. 1648.A. and O. Custos rot. 10 May 1649–d.C231/6, p. 150.

Civic: freeman, Preston by 1622–d.;Preston Guild Rolls ed. W. A. Abram (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. ix), 86, 102. Wigan by 1628–d.Sinclair, Wigan, i. 197, 215; ii. 3, 53.

Central: member, cttee. of navy and customs by 5 Aug. 1642;‘Supra, ‘Committee of Navy and Customs’; CJ ii. 393a. cttee. for examinations, 10 Sept., 18 Oct. 1642.CJ ii. 762a, 825b. Commr. conserving peace betw. England and Scotland, 20 May 1643, 7 July 1646, 28 Oct. 1647;LJ vi. 55b; CJ iv. 606a; LJ viii. 411a; ix. 500a. court martial, 16 Aug. 1644. Member, cttee. for excise, 6 June 1645; Star Chamber cttee. of Irish affairs, 1 July 1645; cttee. for foreign plantations, 21 Mar. 1646; cttee. for indemnity, 21 May 1647;A. and O. cttee. for plundered ministers, 27 Dec. 1647;CJ v. 407a. cttee. for the army, 15 Dec. 1648,LJ x. 631b. 17 Apr. 1649. Commr. high ct. of justice, 6 Jan. 1649,A. and O. 2 Apr. 1650;CJ vi. 392a. Gt. Level of the Fens, 29 May 1649.A. and O.

Military: col. of ft. (parlian.) c.June 1643-c.Apr. 1645.SP28/10, f. 366; SP28/236, pt. 2, unfol. (accts. of George Pigott); Warr in Lancs. 40, 41; Gratton, Lancs. 194, 195, 292. Gov. Bolton by Sept.1648–?d.[C. Walker*], Hist. of Independency (1648), 171 (E.463.19).

Religious: elder, seventh Lancs. classis, 1646.LJ viii. 511.

: of Middleton Hall in Goosnargh, Lancs., Kirkham.

Likenesses

Likenesses: engaving, unknown, 1882.J. Croston, Nooks and Corners of Lancs. and Ches. (Manchester and London, 1882), 333.

Volume

Commons 1640-1660

Web Title

RIGBY, Alexander I (1594-1650), of Middleton Hall in Goosnargh, Kirkham, Lancs.

Will

admon. 26 Aug. 1650.PROB6/25, f. 135.

Estates

in 1618, fa. purchased an estate at Middleton for £1,000.Long, ‘Lancs.’, 54. In 1621, Rigby inherited capital messuages of Middleton Hall and Eyves Hall (Goosnargh), messuages and lands in Goosnargh, Ince-in-Makerfield and Poulton-le-Fylde and a moiety of a pension issuing out of vicarage of Preston, Lancs.Lancs. IPM ed. Rylands, 456-60; Lancs. RO, WCW, will of Alexander Rigby of Wigan, 1622; Earwaker, ‘Col. Alexander Rigby’, 137-8. In 1628-31, purchased property in Goosnargh for £595.Lancs. RO, QDD/36/1; QDD/39/1. In 1640, family estate worth c.£500-£600 p.a.Long, ‘Lancs.’, 155. By 1643, he owned a house in Preston.CSP Dom. 1644, p. 28. In 1643, purchased so-called Plough Patent, granting him the ‘province of Lygonia’, in Maine, New England.Jnl. of John Winthrop ed. R.S. Dunn, J. Savage, L. Yeandle (Cambridge, MA, 1996), 495-6, 619; H. Farber, ‘The rise and fall of the province of Lygonia, 1643-58’, New England Q. lxxxii. 503. By 1650, owned tithes of Barton (par. Preston), worth £40 p.a. and tithes of Poulton-le-Fylde, worth £90 p.a.Lancs. and Cheshire Church Surveys ed. H. Fishwick (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. i), 145, 150. In 1650, purchased, for £126, a fee farm rents in Lancs. worth £14 p.a.SP28/288, f. 7.

Oxford 1644

Addresses

in or near Gray’s Inn, Mdx. (from 1629);SP28/131, pt. 3, f. 97; Lancs. RO, DDKE/9/8/13; HMC Kenyon, 52; Lancs. Lieutenancy under the Tudors and Stuarts ed. J. Harland (Chetham Soc. o.s. l), 277; Mercurius Politicus no. 11 (15-22 Aug. 1650), 163 (E.610.3). Sir Thomas Fanshawe’s house, Warwick Lane, London (from Oct. 1644);Bodl. Nalson XIV, f. 221v. the deanery, Westminster Abbey (by 1647);J.P. Earwaker, ‘Col. Alexander Rigby, MP for Wigan 1640-50’, Palatine Note-Bk. iii. 281. Serjeants’ Inn, London (1649).J. Lilburne, Strength out of Weaknesse (1649), 22 (E.575.18).

Religion

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