[Index]

John RIGBY

Children	Self + Spouses	Parents	Grandparents	Greatgrandparents
Frances Mabella RIGBY	John RIGBY

Near Relatives of John RIGBY
Relationship	Person	Born	Birth Place	Died	Death Place	Age
Self	John RIGBY
Daughter	Frances Mabella RIGBY
Son in Law	Richardson TURKINGTON			bef 1837
Granddaughter	Catherine Eliza TURKINGTON
Granddaughter	Eliza Anne TURKINGTON	abt 1810	Armagh, Ireland	1884	Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England	74

Personal Notes:

Parliamentary Papers: 1780-1849, Vol 11, Part 2. Oct 21 1830. page 325, Richardson Turkington to the daughter of John Rigby, the same person as appears Jan 14, 1802 ***************************** http://www.johnrigbyandco.com/history.html 1735 - Unofficial start date of John Rigby & Co In the latter part of the 19th Century, Rigby advertisements claimed his business dated to 1735. However, the John Rigby who founded the company was born in 1758 and opened his gunmaking business in Dublin, Ireland in 1775. Either an older company was bought out and the name changed or it was simply a printing error. We now use the 1775 date which places us as the third oldest gunmaking firm in the world still operating. 1758 - The founding John Rigby is born The founding John Rigby was born 1758. 1775 - Official founding date of John Rigby & Co In the latter part of the 19th Century, Rigby advertisements claimed his business dated to 1735. However, the John Rigby who founded the company was born in 1758 and opened his gunmaking business in Dublin, Ireland in 1775. Either an older company was bought out and the name changed or it was simply a printing error. We now use the 1775 date which places us as the third oldest gunmaking firm in the world still operating. 1798 - Irish rebellion From Rigby 'A Grand Tradition' 'Although Rigby was an upstanding member of Dublin’s merchant class, the police, led by the notorious Town-Major Henry Sirr, raided the premises during the short-lived Irish Rebellion of 1798. A record, possibly by John Rigby’s daughter Frances, noted: “Wagons under military escort seized his stock of arms and those entrusted to him by country gentlemen without warning and took them to Dublin Castle. They were retained there for a long time and, when returned, much was worthless and a good deal missing. No compensation was paid.' 1816 - The second John Rigby joins the firm The founding John Rigby takes his son into partnership with him and the company name was changed to “John Rigby & Son.” His other son ‘John’ began working for the company at age 21 in 1818. The company name changed to W&J Rigby as early as 1823. 1818 - William and John Rigby The founding John Rigby dies and the firm is passed to his son William. In the early 1820s he invites his brother John to join him and the business continues to grow. 1851 - Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of 1851 was the idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband to showcase inventions and art from across the world. The exhibition was held in the 773,000 square foot Crystal Palace that had been specially constructed for the event in London’s Hyde Park. Many firearms makers had displays including Rigby. The following is from the exhibition catalog - 236. RIGBY, WILLIAM and JOHN, 24 Suffolk Street, Dublin — Manufacturers. Complete Indian or Highland outfit, consisting of a double rifle, double shot gun, and pair of extra barrels, forming, when required, twin double guns, with additional rifle barrels, and the locks, stocks, etc., all adjusted to one fit. Double rifle with extra shot barrels, back-action locks, and single removable hair trigger, with cases and equipments. Bar-lock double rifle, single trigger, cases and equipments complete, with or without telescope attached. Double-shot gun, with bar locks attached. Double gun, back-action locks, and double rifle on improved plan, with cases complete. All constructed with continuous mountings, lift-out triggers, and solid slide-bolts. Bar-lock double gun, without ramrod. Bar-lock single rifle and back-action; cases complete. Double-rifle pistol for bison shooting, with single hair trigger and cases. Small horizontal double pistol and case; and various other pistols. Improved six-shot revolving pistols, with detachable barrels, safety-bolt, and other improvements, in case, etc. Cavalry officer's holster pistols in case. Bar-lock single rifle, in unfinished state, prepared for adjusting in the field. Different parts of a gun in preparatory states. Specimens of bullet moulds, with improved mould, in which a solid bullet can be cast. Single gun, back-action locks, in case. 1858 - Rigby and J. Needham begin their collaboration on cartridge guns Rigby, an early proponent of breech-loading guns using fixed cartridges began production of Joseph Needham's bolt-action needlefire design in 1858. In 1862 he adopted Needham's break-action for use with pinfire cartridges and a short while after in 1866 for centre-fire cartridges. 1866 - John Rigby & Co opens a shop in London Rigby opens a London shop on 72 St James's street, continuing to work between its Dublin and new London premises From an 1866 edition of The Field. Rigby remained at 72 St. James’s Street until 1908. The Dublin office at 24 Suffolk Street was closed in 1897. 1873/74 - Match rifles With the founding of the British National Rifle Association in 1859, a new emphasis was given to accurate long range rifle shooting. Their inaugural match at Wimbledon was held in 1860 with Queen Victoria firing the first shot. John Rigby won the individual prize in 1864 and the Irish Team, using Rigby rifles and with him as its captain, won the Elcho Shield match in 1873. The Irish team then challenged the Americans to a match at their new Creedmoor range in New York. The American team won, what is now the Leech Cup, on the last shot. A few days later, the Irish team won the Bennett Cup with Rigby having the high individual score. The Leech Cup match is held annually at Camp Perry, Ohio and is the oldest competition in US shooting sports. 1879 - Rising Bite guns and rifles Between 1879 and 1910 approximately 1,000 guns and rifles were built using the Rigby Bissell patent action (1141 of 1879). Rigby described the action as their “vertical bolt” but it’s better known as the ‘Rising Bite.’ It was the basis for ‘best guns’ and was renowned for its strength but the cost of the hand fitting required for manufacture was likely the reason Rigby switched to the ‘screw grip’ just before World War I. 1887 - Rigby appointed Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory Rigby’s expertise was well known and in 1887, he was appointed Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock. His job was to transition their military rifle from single shots using black powder cartridges to smokeless powder bolt-action repeaters. 1897 - Rigby collaborates with Mauser The company's entire operation is moved to London where it stays until the 1990s at various addresses. During his time at Enfield, John Rigby had become very familiar with bolt-action rifles. After leaving, he began negotiations with Mauser in Orderndorf, Germany. He was awarded a 12 year exclusive distributorship to import and distribute all Mauser made rifles, actions, barreled actions and components into the United Kingdom and British Colonies. Rigby sold its first Mauser rifles in 1897. According to Jon Speed in Original Orberndorf Sporting Rifles: "Some of the first Rigby-Mauser sporters were made on the rare pre-98 Transition actions left over from the 1895-1902 German military rifle tests which had resulted in the adoption of the Gewehr 98.” The rifle pictured has an 1897 receiver date and carries Rigby No.1059 and Mauser 10. 1897 - The Dublin office at 24 Suffolk Street closes The Dublin office at 24 Suffolk Street was closed in 1897. 1898 - .450 NE 3 1/4" developed In 1889, shortly after the development of smokeless powder, Rigby began work with the Curtis and Harvey gunpowder company on what became the .450 3 ¼” Nitro Express. When it debuted, almost a decade later, testing by Kynoch revealed that with 70 grains of Cordite it could drive a 480-grain bullet at 2200 feet per second producing 5186 foot-pounds of energy. The new cartridge was the ‘beginning of the end’ for the 8 and 4-bore black powder stopping rifles and would change big game hunting to the present day. 1898 - Winston Churchill buys from Rigby In September 1898, Winston Spencer Churchill (under the command of Lord Kitchener) was armed with a Rigby-Mauser pistol when he participated in the battle of Omdurman (Sudan). In a letter to his mother describing the battle he wrote: “ I am sorry to say I shot 5 men for certain and two doubtful. The pistol was the best thing in the world.” Churchill was also armed with a Rigby-Mauser pistol the next year when he was captured during the Boer War in South Africa. 1900 - The birth of the magnum Mauser action In 1899, Rigby asked the engineers in the Mauser Sporting Arms Department to make a special action that would handle their popular rimmed .400/350 cartridge. When completed c.1900 it was the ‘birth’ of the magnum action which, in turn, provided the ideal platform for dangerous game cartridges like the .375 H&H, .416 Rigby and the .505 Gibbs. 1907 - Jim Corbett is presented a .275 Rigby Jim Corbett is presented a .275 Rigby rifle by Sir J. P. Hewitt, Lieutenant governor of the united provinces in India for his killing of a man-eating tigress at Champawat. The female Bengal tiger is thought to have killed an estimated 430 people before Corbett tracked it down and shot it. 1908 - Rigby develops the .350 No.2 and the .350 Magnum 1911/1912 - The famous .416 Rigby is developed and the first rifle sold Following the success of Rigby's .350 rifles on the magnum Mauser action, there was demand for a bigger and more powerful cartridge to be built on the same platform. With other makers already producing larger bore magazine rifles on the standard length Mauser action, Rigby and Mauser collaborated to produce what is perhaps the firms most famous calibre, the .416 Rigby. The first rifle was supplied to Col Sir A Wools Sampson on 29 August 1912 and is listed in the ledgers as a Mauser sporting "Big Game". Between 1912 and the Second World War an estimated 189 rifles were built to the original design and today are both rare and highly desirable. The modern Rigby company is once again working with Mauser of Germany to produce large calibre rifles built to the pre-war pattern and on the magnum Mauser action. 1912 - Rigby opens at 43 Sackville Street, London J Rigby & Co moves premises to 43 Sackville Street, London. 1912 - 1940 Guns and rifles continue to be produced under Rigby family ownership Rigby continue to produce several thousand guns and rifles that go on to be used around the world in the British empire. Despite losing the Mauser agency in 1912, Rigby continues to supply hunters worldwide with excellent sporting weapons 1913 - Bell orders two .416 Rigby rifles W.D.M Bell orders the 21st and 22nd .416 Rigby rifles made. Both are entered into the ledgers 4 months apart 1914 - Rigby develops .322 cartridge John Rigby had other plans for his .416 cartridge case. When World War I began in June 1914, he was working with Kynoch to develop the Rigby .322 Nitro cartridge. It was intended to use a .330 diameter bullet weighing 250 grains. The velocity should have been about 3000 feet per second which would have produced more than 5000 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. Completion of the project was delayed until after the war but with John Rigby’s death in 1916 all development ceased. In the 1950s, American arms designer Roy Weatherby added a belt to the .416 Rigby cartridge case for a number of his proprietary rounds. In the early 1980s, an American company called Research Armament, working with the Finnish ammunition maker Lapua, developed the .338 Lapua Magnum. Using the 416 Rigby case and a 250 grain .338 diameter bullet – it was almost identical to what John Rigby had conceived seven decades earlier. The .338 is generally considered the ‘ultimate’ for long range sniper needs. 1916 - The third John Rigby dies From the 1 December 1916 issue of Arms & Explosives: 'He was a remarkably fine target shot, and he added to this important qualification a special turn of mind which made him a master of mathematics of rifle and bullet behavior. As a gunmaker he was able to cater for an important clientele amongst target shooters and big game hunters.' 1922 - Bell orders one of his many Rigby rifles A .275 S/N: 4890 is ordered by W.D.M Bell, one of his many Rigby rifles in various calibres. 1951 - Last family owner of Rigby dies Theo Rigby dies, the last member of the Rigby family to own the company. 1968 - David Marx buys John Rigby & Co David Marx buys John Rigby & Co. 1970's - J. Roberts & Son contracted to build rifles for Rigby J. Roberts & Son founded in the 1950s are contracted to build guns and rifles for Rigby. This relationship would later lead to Paul Roberts buying the name and Rigby ledgers. 1984 - Paul Roberts buys Rigby Paul Roberts buys the company name and ledgers for Rigby from David Marx. 1995 – .450 Rigby rimless created Following an Elephant hunting trip with a .416, Paul Roberts develops and releases the first Rigby cartridge for over 80 years. Using the same case as the .416 but with a larger 480gr .458 calibre bullet, the .450 Rigby is born. 1997 – John Rigby & Co goes to the USA John Rigby & Co is bought by Neil Gibson, a gentleman from Texas who moves production to California. 2010 - Rigby bought by Dallas-based investment group 2010 - Following several investors coming and going, Rigby is sold to a Dallas-based investment group and rifle production is moved back to London. Paul Roberts of J. Roberts and Son once again is contracted to produce rifles. 2013 - Company bought by the L&O Group 2013 - January 2013, John Rigby and Co is bought out by the L and O group who own Blaser, Sauer and Mauser gunmaking companies 2013 - Rigby and Mauser reunited ********************** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rigby_%26_Company The company was founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1735, and is known to have traded as W. & J. Rigby during the period 1820 - 1865 during the flintlock and percussion eras. In its early days, Rigby's was particularly well known for producing high-grade duelling pistols. Around 1880, John Rigby became superintendent of the government Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, and was in charge of development of the British service issue .303 British calibre rifle. He was a distinguished rifleman who had competed at international level with the Irish team, and was mainly responsible for bringing Rigby's name to the fore in riflemaking. Rigby landmarks include the 1897 introduction of the .450 calibre Nitro Express Double Rifle; the 1899 production of the Rigby .275 calibre (7x57 Mauser) built on the Mauser action and the Rigby .350 calibre Express Rifle; and the 1900 introduction of the .350 Mauser actioned rifles. In 1907 the Rigby .470 became Rigby's main big game double rifle, and in 1912 the .416 Rigby calibre magazine rifle was introduced. Between 1900 and 1960, the Rigby Mauser System was predominantly made in calibres .275, .350 and .416 Rigby, with some .303 calibre rifles in the early days. After that period a wider range of calibres were manufactured. Rigby also made boxlock and sidelock shotguns throughout this entire period. After Theodore Rigby's death in 1951, the Company was owned by Vernon Harris, whose widow sold the business to David Marx in 1968. Marx later partnered with J. Roberts & Son. In 1995, Paul Roberts introduced the .450 Rigby magnum Rimless, based on the Rigby .416. The company was sold in 1997 to Mr. Neil Gibson, and began manufacturing in the US. In 2010, a group of US businessmen purchased the Rigby assets, discontinuing the manufacture of Rigbys in California. Rigby returned manufacturing to London with J. Roberts & Son, and published the book “Rigby: A Grand Tradition”.[1] Rigby later ended various trademark disputes,[2] and re-acquired the historic Rigby archives from a private owner.[3] In 2013 Rigby was sold to Mauser/Blaser, which has historic ties to Rigby including a collaboration prior to World War I on the development of the Magnum Mauser action for the Rigby .416 cartridge. Historic Addresses Dublin Era - 19 and 24 Suffolk St., Dublin 72 St. James's St.- 1866 to 1907 43 Sackville St.- 1908 to 1955 32 King St., St James's - 1956-1963 28 Sackville St. - 1963-69 13 Pall Mall - 1969-1985 5 King St., Covent Garden 1985-1987 66-68 Great Suffolk St., Southwark 1987+ 22 Wyvil Road to 1997, and from 2013 Royal Warrant Rigby has been gun or rifle makers by royal appointment (holders of the royal warrant) to: King George IV (d. 1820) King Edward VII (d. 1910) King George V (d. 1935) King George VI (d. 1952) Queen Elizabeth II The warrant to Queen Elizabeth II was revoked after production moved to the USA in the late 1990s. ************************* http://sportingclassicsdaily.com/issue/august-2014/article/intensely-satisfactory The first John Rigby was born in Dublin, apprenticed in the Irish gun trade, and set up in business on his own in 1775, at premises in Suffolk Street, Dublin. By the turn of the century, when his sons William and John Jason joined the company, Rigby owned a wide reputation for fine-quality rifles and duelling pistols. Succeeding generations maintained both the level of craftsmanship and the company’s specialty as a riflemaker—particularly William Rigby’s son John, who took over upon his father’s death in 1858. Under his guidance, Rigby rifles dominated British match shooting for nearly three decades. An astute businessman, John Rigby also understood the value of a presence in the prestigious London gun trade, so in 1866 he established the first of Rigby’s London shops, at 72 St. James’s Street. In 1887 John Rigby was appointed superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, charged with overseeing development and production of the Lee-Enfield .303 military rifle. His son Ernest managed the London business and presumably looked after the company’s affairs in Dublin as well. With John’s younger son Theo not yet ready to take part, the family soon found itself spread a bit thin and in 1893 sold off the Dublin branch to the gunmakers Truelock & Harris. From then on, Rigby was based solely in London. The company moved its front shop to new premises at 43 Sackville Street in 1908. The workshops were at 12 Ham Yard, off Great Windmill Street, just north of Piccadilly Circus; demand was such that about 1910 the factory expanded into No. 13 Ham Yard as well. Both front shop and factory were at those addresses when the rifle you see here was built. Although Rigby’s built a fair number of guns over the years, it has always been known primarily for its rifles—and like most English riflemakers of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the company developed a number of proprietary cartridges. The earliest was the .450 Rigby Match, invented about 1875; the most famous is the .416 Rigby, developed in 1911 and still widely used today. In between, the company introduced its .275 Rimless (or .275 High Velocity) in 1907 and its .350 Rimless Magnum in 1908, along with a rimmed version known as the .350 No. 2 Rigby. Major Thomas Sloan of the United States Army specified the latter cartridge when he ordered this double rifle from Rigby’s in 1922. It was completed in 1923, as No. 17939, its 26-inch barrels regulated for the .350 No. 2 factory load of a 225-grain bullet that left the muzzle at 2,625 feet per second. It is a typical best-quality rifle, from the leather-covered Silver’s recoil pad and Rigby’s distinctive mutton-leg lockplates to the quarter rib and rear sights comprising a standing bar and two folding leaves. Like most rifles of its kind, it’s fitted with a stalking safety—a little lever that when engaged blocks the safety thumbpiece in the SAFE position. As a gun-bearer customarily holds a double rifle muzzle-forward on his shoulder and follows close upon a hunter’s heels, a stalking safety is a substantial asset to one’s peace of mind. Ballistically, the .350 Rigby is equivalent to the .35 Whelen—fine for plains game, adequate for heavier, more dangerous animals when all the conditions are right, but nobody’s notion of a stopping rifle. By the 1940s it was extremely popular among African hunters. John Taylor, in his book African Rifles and Cartridges, admits to some misgivings about its relatively lightweight bullet, but once he got hold of a Mauser-action bolt rifle cambered for the .350 Rigby Rimless, he found himself “most agreeably surprised.” It is, he writes, “an intensely satisfactory weapon.” Thus spake Pondoro, who effectively extended the .350 Rigby’s lifespan, though the old cartridges ultimately became obsolete. John Rigby & Company (Gunmakers), however, did not. In 1955 the company moved its front shop from Sackville Street to 32 King Street and, in 1963 back to Sackville Street, at No. 28. In 1924 the factory moved from Ham Yard to Crown Yard, off Stanhope Street, and to 100 St. Martin’s Lane in 1973. As the hard times of the mid-twentieth century continued to bedevil the London trade, Rigby’s moved again and again—to 13 Pall Mall in 1969, to 5 King Street in 1985, to 66-68 Great Suffolk Street, in Southwark, in 1987. Now, Rigby is an American company, based in southern California. What hasn’t changed in the 225 years since the first John Rigby took both a wife and a business of his own at age eighteen is the intention that its guns and rifles should remain intensely satisfactory. +++ This story originally appeared in the January/February 2001 issue of Sporting Classics and in Gamefield Classics by Michael McIntosh & Bill Headrick, available here. ************ http://www.intelius.com/people/Kent-Porter/0chvsv14r69 However, the first John Rigby was born only in 1758, and by 1775 he was working in the Dublin gun trade. When he struck out on his own, he may have taken over another gunmaking house and its founding date, in which case 1735 could be valid. If the date was 1775, he may have decided to use the year he set up shop under his own name. Whatever the date, his surviving business ledgers begin in 1781 and show that under his own name he was then making shotguns, rifles, muskets, spring guns, carbines, blunderbusses and pistols, often to clients' specifications, and at a wide range of prices. These were high-quality arms- a focus that has never changed-and, despite a setback caused by the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the firm prospered. In the centuries that followed, John Rigby & Company earned five coveted Royal Warrants, which confirm that the holder supplies goods to royal personages, and its sales ledgers became a who's who of the international hunting community. The company also developed big-game rifles and cartridges to levels never surpassed. Rigby's elder son William, born in 1787, joined the business in 1816, two years before John died. Around 1825, William invited his younger brother, John Jason Rigby, into the firm and together they too prospered. In the late summer of 1830, "Gun Manufacturers William and John Rigby" proudly announced to "the nobility, gentry and their friends in general" that they had relocated to larger premises at No. 24 Suffolk Street in Dublin. John Jason, although the younger brother by 10 years, died in 1845, so that when William died, in 1858, it was his son, also named John and then 29 years old, who took over the business.

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