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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

Parlimentarian

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

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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