Ernest Rigby
Ernest Rigby enlisted at Chorley on the 27th September 1914, being wounded in the left arm at Serre on the 1st July 1916. After treatment at Reading he was eventually discharged from the Army on the 15th October 1917.
Born in Chorley on the 14th February 1893, he was the son of John and Elizabeth Rigby. The 1901 Census had them living at 7 Lorne Street in Chorley and Ernest was the youngest of six children – he had three sisters and two brothers. By 1911 he was recorded as working as a Weaver and living with his parents at 48 Devonshire Road in Chorley. He was known to work at Rice Mills and worship at St. Laurence’s.
Whilst there are a number of Ernest Rigbys getting married during or shortly after the war, local records showed one Ernest Rigby marrying Florrie Longworth at St. Laurence’s in 1920 (she died in 1922); he re-married, marrying Rachel Ashurst at St. George’s Church a year later and they had two sons, John and Tom. Ernest Rigby was a member of the Oddfellows in Chorley. He died on the 11th March 1959.
