Alexander Rigby

Alexander Rigby (1594 – 18 August 1650) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1650. He was a colonel in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.

Life

Rigby was the son of Alexander Rigby and his wife Ann Asshaw of Wigan and was baptised on 9 July 1594 in Flixton, a village that was historically within the boundaries of Lancashire. He was a member of the Puritan branch of the Rigby family seated at Middleton in Goosnargh near Preston. He was admitted to Gray's Inn in 1610 and became a lawyer.

In April 1640, Rigby was elected Member of Parliament for Wigan in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Wigan in November 1640 for the Long Parliament and sat until his death in 1650. He was Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire in 1641 and became a colonel in the Parliamentary army in 1643. Also in 1643 he purchased the Plough Patent for land in Lygonia, Maine between Cape Porpoise and Kennebec River, which includes the area occupied by today's town of Portland.