Emily Rigby 1852-1922
Emily Rigby, or in reality Sarah Emily Rigby was born in Pennington, Leigh in 1854, the daughter of William Rigby, a watchmaker, and his wife. After her mother died in 1882, Emily and her father moved to Southport. At the time of the 1891 census they were living at 135, Hampton Road. In 1893, Emily, along with Hannah Cheetham, having heard of the “experiences and triumphs of other centres” at the 1893 Summer meeting at Cambridge decided to start a Students Association in Southport with a view to “putting enthusiasm and drive” into the work of University Extension Lectures in the town. They pressured the Literary & Philosophical Society to offer two courses a year, and were so persistent that the Council of the Society said “If you want the lectures so much organize them yourselves”.
In her own words “The thought of such a venture was a fearful joy to a little Association like ours. What if it failed? What if the financial losses were greater than our balance in the bank?” A course of six lectures on “The Liberation of Italy” by J H Rose of Cambridge University was organised, and in the words of Hannah Cheetham, the President of the Students Association “the experiment was …daring and successful”. The course proved popular and successful so that in the Autumn of 1896 the Southport and Birkdale University Extension Society was formed. Emily was the Hon. Secretary of the Society from its inception in 1896 until 1919. One report describes her as follows:
“She possessed the power of inspiring others with her own enthusiasm and sense of responsibility for work…Her personality and selfless labours evoked a deep respect, not unmixed with awe”.
She took part in many of the Extension courses and twice was awarded the Gilchrist medal for her work. Her essay on “Marlowe’s Influence in Shakespeare’s thought and style” was subsequently published by The University Extension Journal in 1901. As well as being interested in education Emily also took an active part in the Women’s Suffrage campaign as a member of the pacifist section, an interest she shared with James Stewart the “founder” of the Extension Movement, and she was a member of the Southport branch of the Women’s Liberal Association.
Increasing deafness and ill health meant she withdrew from active work for these various causes after the War. When she died, at home, on August 23rd 1922 she left £1,000 to Newhnam College Cambridge for an Emily Rigby Scholarship for the “daughters of Congregational ministers whose means are not sufficient to defray the cost of their college career” and £1,000 to Milton Mount College, Crawley, for a scholarship to one of the colleges for women at Cambridge or Oxford University.
After Emily died, the students of the Southport Society formed the Emily Rigby Memorial Fund which was used to fund a placement at the Oxford & Cambridge Summer school and also an Emily Rigby Book Prize.
Mary Ormsby