In the October 1900 ‘khaki election’, Liberals barely improved on their disastrous 1895 ‘The Strange Case of Mr Rigg’ performance. Facing the Unionists’ ruthless playing of the patriotic card,1 the party could not even find a candidate in 139 English constituencies and only in Wales did its share of the vote increase. A few formerly safe seats like Derby and Lancaster were regained in close fights, but the net gain was a mere six, and the party remained hopelessly outgunned in both Houses of Parliament. But through the gloom shone one utterly unexpected shaft of Liberal sunlight: the capture of North Westmorland, a rural fastness of valleys, fells, lakes and sheep, which had known only Tory n the old county town of Coming early among the MPs since Napoleonic Appleby the sitting Con- English county declarations, times. Yet the new servative3 suffered the what The Times deemed a ‘rather humiliation of seeing his remarkable victory’ caused ‘great MP did not behave as 17.4 per cent majority dis- excitement’.5 In remote Langdale Isolve into a losing margin of 11.4 the arrival of the result by tel- expected. Andrew per cent,4 a defeat all the more egraph from Appleby aroused Connell tells ‘the embarrassing for being at the ‘consternation and dismay, exor- hands of a youthful Liberal can- bitant joy and humiliating grief’, strange story of Mr didate selected barely a month the Conservative Westmorland Rigg’. 2 before polling day. Gazette reported, adding: ‘As a

14 Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 ‘The Strange Case of Mr Rigg’

political omen North Westmor- challenge of James Whitehead by and the circumstances of the land proves absolutely nothing.’6 just 10 votes in the new single- 1900 election might have been This assessment seemed amply member constituency of North expected further to boost his borne out both by the outcome Westmorland. A decade later the vote in a locality with a strong of the 1900 general election, seat looked much less marginal. military tradition, well repre- and by Westmorland’s rever- Gladstone’s commitment to Irish sented among the servicemen in sion within a decade to another home rule was a vote-loser in an South Africa. But ‘in vain did century of Toryism. But I shall area in which Roman Catholi- the Tory leaders invoke the aid argue that this was no mere freak cism was regarded as alien and of Khaki, claiming Bobs, Buller result; North Westmorland Lib- sinister, and owner-occupier and B.-P. as their own particu- erals had stumbled on the ideal farmers, who outnumbered lar possessions’;11 Sir Joseph was candidate who, but for a mys- tenants,9 were suspicious of the sensationally unseated. terious aberration, might have merest hint of compulsory land The explanation, the York- served as a role model for a type purchase. By 1895, with 5,023 shire Post lamented, lay in ‘petty, of Liberal MP equipped to resist votes cast in the usual high turn- personal and local questions’,12 the almost total annexation of out, the Conservative majority issues of probity no more than rural England by the Conserva- had swollen to 873. delicately alluded to on Liberal tives from 1910 onwards. The winner did not even bear platforms, but ‘discussed among the customary name. In 1891 farmers and tradesmen in the ~ William Lowther had surprised freer intercourse of the market his constituency party by telling or tavern’. Some looked askance For two centuries Westmorland them he would not stand again, at their MP’s involvement in elections were dominated by the and with no other family mem- two protracted court cases, county’s largest landowners, the ber available,10 the Conservatives one concerning a quarry near Lowther family; through them adopted Sir Joseph Savory, a car- Kirkby Stephen, the other the local Conservatism acquired its petbagger London goldsmith City Electric Light Company in distinctive pale yellow favours and former Lord Mayor. Rotund London; but the really damag- while Liberals wore blue. From and balding, a dull speaker ing allegation was that he was 1774 until 1892 the county seat with limited local connec- enriching himself by robbing was represented in every parlia- tions, Savory was an eminently local farmers. Near Appleby ment by at least one Lowther, and undistinguished figure whose Left: The lies Brackenber Moor, a large from 1832 to 1880 no election increased majorities in 1892 and bridegroom area of common upland pasture was even contested.7 But Non- 1895 demonstrated the extent and the bride: which was – and still is – used conformity was strong among to which Westmorland men of Richard and for military manoeuvres. Com- local voters newly enfranchised modest property were deserting Gertrude Rigg; pensation from the War Office by the 1884 Reform Act,8 and in Liberalism. He seemed destined Kendal Mercury, was due to all with common 16 September October 1885 the Hon. William to remain backbench lobby rights, but rumour persisted that 1904 Lowther beat off the Liberal fodder for as long as he chose, Sir Joseph, who had sought to

Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 15 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

boost his local standing by buy- The Lib- member, his niece recorded, dark-moustached young hero ing up land and manorial lord- the Rigg family were ‘pillars charmed meeting after meeting ships, had pocketed most of it. eral press of Conservatism’;16 certainly in with his ‘courtesy, amiability His protestations that this was exulted as 1892 the Misses Rigg of Winder- and effective speeches … His ‘absolutely false’, that the money mere adorned a Primrose League very youth, coupled with his had all gone to a committee of their hand- gathering,17 and in the 1895 elec- marvellous grasp of political commoners, and ‘not one penny tion John Rigg supplied coaches principles and facility for their has passed through my hands’,13 some, dark- to convey Conservative voters eloquent and popular expres- were greeted with scepticism. on polling day.18 The timing of sion, render him infinitely more North Westmorland Conserva- moustached and reasons for his son’s conver- qualified to represent the needs tives braced themselves for a young hero sion to Liberalism, apparently of a constituency like North reduced majority; but in the with parental blessing, remain Westmorland than a goody- prevailing patriotic climate it charmed obscure. Lady Carlisle would goody and fossilised antedilu- was inconceivable that the seat subsequently tell her biographer vian like Sir Joseph Savory.’25 would fall to an inexperienced meeting son-in-law that Richard saw the From the platform Rigg, who opponent with threadbare Lib- light while up at Oxford;19 but had volunteered for service in eral credentials. after meet- in fact he went to Gonville & South Africa but was not called The shock victor, Richard ing with his Caius, a Cambridge college not up because of his parliamen- Rigg, thirty-four years younger renowned for radicalism. And tary candidacy, denounced not than Savory, was a native of ‘courtesy, although local press reports in the war itself but the way it was Windermere, where the family September 1900 stated he had being managed. Patricia Lynch had a coaching business and his amiability left university in 1898, Caius’ has suggested that Liberals in father John owned the handsome records show that he matricu- 1900 ‘who adopted a moder- hotel that overlooks the railway and effective lated in 1897, passed two parts of ate imperialist stance … ran station. Educated across the lake speeches …’ the Law tripos in 1898 and 1899 the risk of appearing to neglect at Hawkshead Grammar School, and took his degree the follow- the party’s traditions of social he passed his Cambridge Locals ing year.20 reform’, these being ‘mutually before he was fourteen14 and in By 1900 he had been called exclusive alternatives’.26 Not January 1892 transferred to the to the Bar of the Inner Tem- so for Rigg, whose ‘vigorous nearest public school, Sedbergh, ple, though he was never to exposition of advanced Lib- but stayed only one term. The practise,21 and was an instruc- eral views’ The Times remarked school register, generally explicit tor in musketry in the Volun- on;27 he supported state pensions, about departures under a cloud, teers, with the rank of captain. Lords reform, one man one vote, simply records Rigg as hav- Like other socially conscien- and greater public control over ing been ‘withdrawn’; plausible tious middle-class men, he pat- voluntary schools. The simple explanations are the outbreak ronised Friendly Societies, his message of his posters was: ‘Vote of scarlet fever in the school most durable connection being for Rigg, the local candidate: and the coincidental prolonged with the Oddfellows, for whom Unity of Empire and Old Age absence through ill-health of the he acted as treasurer.22 With an Pensions.’ celebrated headmaster Henry evident predilection for com- ‘To say that Mr Rigg has Hart, whose muscular Chris- mittees, he was also president taken the electorate by storm tianity had transformed Sed- of a cycling club, captain of a is to put it mildly’, remarked bergh’s reputation, though not Boys’ Brigade battalion, mem- the normally apolitical Lakes its sanitary arrangements.15 How ber of the Westmorland Foot- Herald on polling day. The Rigg spent the next five years, ball Association, Conservator of Westmorland Gazette published other than in part-time soldiery the River Kent Fishery District, an anxious appeal to its Con- as a commissioned officer in the an enthusiastic freemason23 and servative readers. The Liberals Second Volunteer Battalion of churchwarden in his home par- were a divided party, not to be the Border Regiment, which he ish of St Mary’s Applethwaite. trusted with the ‘destinies of the joined in 1896, is unclear. There His faith was evangelical, and he Empire’; and voters must realise is no evidence of extensive was an impassioned teetotaller. that they could not ‘choose their travelling. Possibly he assisted Early in September 1900, a member because of his quali- his uncle in the running of the few days after his twenty-third ties, or because they like him, hotel, his father having retired birthday, Richard Rigg was without giving power to the to devote more time to hunting announced as Liberal candi- party he supports’.28 The count and freemasonry; but the path date for North Westmorland. in Appleby confirmed the Con- before him was that of a gentle- Of his immediate impact on a servatives’ worst fears. Though man of means. demoralised local party24 there most of the crowd waiting in the When Sir Joseph Savory was no doubt. The Liberal rain wore yellow favours, they became North Westmorland’s press exulted as their handsome, cheered heartily the declaration

16 Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

that Rigg had won with a major- a cause he remained faithful to Penrith; there were several hun- ity of 579. A shocked Sir Joseph it. As ‘Brother Rigg’ he told the dred guests, many of whom Savory pulled himself together Oddfellows that ‘Friendly Socie- had arrived by special train, sufficiently to make a gracious ties are the creation of the work- ‘crowded to a most uncomfort- speech of congratulation before ing classes of this country … the able degree’ in the nave, while disappearing on the next train backbone of the land in health, the galleries were thronged by south. Richard Rigg, mean- thrift and self-denial’.34 As Presi- the public.38 while, was borne shoulder-high dent of the Vale of Eden Band Rigg’s instant impact on the through the crowded streets of of Hope, he admonished 3,000 Liberal Party nationally was Appleby, took the train to Kirkby children in their great annual attested to by his election in Stephen to repeat the process demonstration in Appleby: ‘You February 1901 to the Execu- and thence to Tebay where rail- should never forget that in fight- tive Committee of the Eighty way workers, reported to have ing drink you are fighting for the Club, over which no less a figure voted solidly Liberal, sounded a gospel of Christ. If you want a than the party leader, Sir Henry volley of foghorns. His odyssey Christian countr y you must have Campbell-Bannerman, presided; ended at Windermere station, a sober country, for drink is the at a club ‘at home’ in July he pro- where, through darkness and fruitful mother of every social posed the vote of thanks to the heavy rain, a band escorted his ill.’35 Godliness, temperance and speaker, Sir William Harcourt.39 carriage down the hill to Bow- state education were his recur- But in the later claim that ‘his ness on the lakeside and all the rent themes in halls, chapels and early speeches at Westminster way to Ambleside.29 Liberal Clubs. ‘The greatness earned him a high place in the While the Conservative of England depends upon the party’, 40 there was more than a Manchester Chronicle consoled morality of its home life and the little journalistic licence. Han- its readers with the comment temperance of its people … Our sard’s columns reveal that he was that the Appleby result showed children must be brought up to true to Westmorland parliamen- ‘the overwhelming strength of become God-fearing and God- tary custom in rarely address- Imperialist feeling in the coun- serving men and women … The ing the Commons. He did not tr y’,30 the Liberal Carlisle Journal child of poor parents will by his deliver his maiden speech until rejoiced that ‘the Tories and perseverance be enabled to fight November 1902, when moving aristocracy of North Westmor- his way to the ancient universi- an amendment to the Education land, with the Earl of Lonsdale ties of Oxford and Cambridge.’36 Bill. Consistent with his previ- at their head’, had received ‘the Priggish though all this may ously expressed view that schools most staggering blow which has sound to the modern ear, it should be more answerable to ever been dealt to them’. They helped confirm the popularity the public’s elected representa- might blame ‘petty pique and of the virtuous young Liberal tives, he argued that council- narrow local topics’, but this MP, evident at the 1900 Liberal lors should be in the majority was a victory of Liberal policies Boxing Night party in Appleby, on education committees and appealing to the ‘sturdy elec- a ten-hour marathon of tea, din- free, without interference from tors’.31 By happy coincidence ner and dance, with 350 guests. Not resting the Board of Education, to co- Richard Rigg was the same age The cheering which began on opt additional members quali- as the Younger Pitt when he was his rising was only interrupted on his lau- fied by educational expertise returned for the old rotten bor- by the singing again of ‘for he’s rather than representation of ough of Appleby in 1781. Per- a jolly good fellow’, followed by rels, Apple- some vested interest. Second- haps he was destined for similar renewed shouting and clapping by’s youthful ing, Alfred Emmott of Oldham greatness? Even the Daily Mail of hands. The hon. gentleman congratulated his hon. friend on approved: ‘The baby of the at last had to begin his remarks and ener- ‘having at last successfully broken house, he seems to be made of to the chairman in order to stop the silence he has so long main- the right stuff.’32 the cheering.37 getic new tained’. Lloyd George also spoke Not resting on his laurels, Equally at home at a Primi- in support, but the amendment Appleby’s youthful and energetic tive Methodist bazaar or a MP ‘nursed was soon withdrawn,41 and for new MP ‘nursed the constitu- Masonic dinner, his place in the constitu- the next two years Rigg did not ency as it has never been nursed county society was further con- speak again in the House. before or since’.33 Unfailingly firmed by appointment as a JP ency as it Nevertheless Appleby Liberals conscientious and courteous, and promotion to the rank of speculated that their MP might he rarely refused invitations to major in the Volunteers. In Sep- has never be a future Prime Minister, fol- attend functions and deliver tember 1904 the press reported lowing in the footsteps of former earnest, well-crafted speeches, in exhaustive detail his mar- been nursed members for the borough, Pitt confident in the knowledge that riage, by the Bishop of Barrow, before or and Lord Liverpool;42 and the every word would appear in the to Miss Gertrude Anderson in Yorkshire Post, describing Rigg local press. And having taken up her parish church of St Andrew, since’. as ‘associated with an ambitious

Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 17 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

band of young Liberals’, claimed string of by-election victories as And gallantly went the whole that ‘his Parliamentary status is well as the acquisition of Win- pig. not to be measured by his lack ston Churchill. The approaching of assertiveness’.43 He tabled election landslide was casting Some speculated that his new occasional written questions, its shadow, and Richard Rigg’s bride had changed her hus- seconded a motion without political future seemed as secure band’s politics;55 but when a speaking, and in August 1904, as the Lakeland fells overlooking pre-arranged and now dis- appropriately for the Treasurer his newly acquired marital home tinctly awkward Liberal Ladies’ of the Anti-Tobacco Society, in Windermere. At Home was held in Winder- presented the first reading of a So it was with utter astonish- mere a few days after the storm Bill ‘to provide for the preven- ment that Herbert Coutts, presi- broke, it was the MP’s wife tion of Juvenile Smoking’.44 dent of the North Westmorland who played hostess while his Though the local Conserva- Liberal Association, read on 16 mother absented herself. Rigg’s tive press poked occasional fun November 1904 a letter from his insistence that it was ‘absolutely at such ‘fads’,45 Rigg was not an MP offering his resignation. To impossible’ for him to support easy target. In the aftermath of Richard Rigg’s ‘painful regret’ the Liberal leadership may have victory he had praised Sir Joseph there had gradually been borne been provoked by some West- Savory for being ‘honourable, on him ‘the conviction that my minster quarrel, but the press manly and straightforward’, views and opinions upon some offers no clues; on behalf of the adding ‘Whether you agree or of the most important questions Parliamentary Party, Herbert disagree with me politically, I of the day are not in accord with Samuel56 was content to point hope the day is far distant when those of the leaders of the Lib- out that Rigg had voted without I shall forfeit the love and affec- eral Party’.51 He listed the issues demur on all the points he now tion of both parties in North that particularly concerned him, raised. Perhaps as he became Westmorland.’46 He made a point later expounded more fully to more and more a figure in the of joining Captain Joscelyne the press. He believed that, for county establishment he was Bagot, Conservative MP for the sake of imperial prosperity, absorbing the attitudes of his South Westmorland, in a bipar- the government was right to sup- social circle; perhaps, as a fastidi- tisan demand that Poor Law port the use of Chinese labour in ous man, he found the rhetoric Guardians should be forbidden South Africa; he approved of the of ‘New Liberalism’ vulgar;57 by law to reduce the amount of Aliens Act because his experi- again, evidence is lacking. Like outdoor relief awarded to people ences at an East End mission had his fellow-Anglican Gladstone, who were in receipt of Friendly convinced him of the need to Rigg admired the Nonconform- Society allowances;47 and his keep the ‘lowest class of Europe- It was with ist conscience, and the answer moralising speeches not only ans’ out of Britain; he supported may lie solely with his inmost rarely criticised political oppo- the principles of the Education utter aston- thoughts: ‘I have the satisfaction nents but even commended the Act; and though not a protec- ishment of feeling that what I have done hapless Prime Minister Bal- tionist he believed that impe- was conscientious and right.’58 four.48 ‘I have talked with men of rial preference merited serious that Herbert The veteran Liberal Sir Wil- all political shades in the county,’ consideration.52 frid Lawson remarked, ‘It’s a first said Appleby Liberals’ chairman, What prompted this bizarre Coutts, principle of Liberalism that a ‘and I can safely say that person- conversion? Lady Carlisle would man has the right to change his ally Mr Rigg has not a single later claim that Rigg wanted a president of mind. He has been three years enemy’. 49 knighthood as a reward for his the North a Liberal; let him be a Tory for To oppose him at the next sensational election success in three years and then come back election North Westmorland 1900 and deserted the Liberals Westmor- and be a Liberal again.’59 Rigg’s Conservatives chose Major when it did not materialise.53 local party took a less sanguine George Noble of Newcastle, a There is no contemporary sup- land Liberal view. They accepted his prof- Lloyd’s underwriter with a gal- porting evidence other than fered resignation, but puzzle- lant military record but no elec- Punch’s limerick, whose hint at Association, ment turned to fury when the toral experience. Their hopes personal ambition may owe more read on 16 MP, having initially said that he of regaining the seat were not to the need for a rhyme than to would stand in the by-election improved by the Unionist rift the actual circumstances:54 November as an independent, then met between Balfour and Cham- with the Conservative candidate berlain over tariff reform. Rigg There was a young member 1904 a letter and announced that they were toured the constituency early name RIGG from his MP in agreement on most matters. in 1904 with a series of speeches Who grew weary of being a The Times wondered whether extolling the virtues of free Whig. offering his Major Noble might step aside for trade,50 and the Parliamentary So, thirsting for glory, Rigg, who was quoted as saying Liberal Party made hay with a He emerged as a Tory resignation. that ‘he would doubtless be a

18 Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

to leave my house in the dead of triumphant when he told his night under police protection to supporters that there was now escape Radical ruffianism.’ La ‘Blue Sky over Westmorland’. Petite Republique embroidered Richard Rigg took no part in the tale: ‘M. Rigg … has been either election.66 Politely declin- compelled to fly … and take ing invitations to stand as a Con- refuge in London, the police servative in such unpromising having declared that they can- seats as Burnley and Barnard not answer for his life.’62 He let Castle, he restricted his politi- it be known that his health had cal activity to appearing on a broken down under the strain, platform in Cockermouth to and on doctor’s orders he and support Sir John Randles, who his wife would spend Christmas lost to Sir Wilfrid Lawson, but on the continent. Meanwhile a regained the seat six months Liberal reporter in Windermere later, after the old radical’s death. claimed that the ‘overwrought’ Rigg attended the funeral on Rigg’s allegations of violence behalf of the Church of Eng- and intimidation were mere land Temperance Society, and ‘Illusions, Hallucinations and Sir Wilfrid’s prediction that he Delusions’. His dramatic flight would be no more than three from the town had in reality years a Tory was looking ever amounted to boarding the last more prescient. Addressing a train of the evening on a station meeting of the UK Alliance67 on platform deserted apart from his Blackpool sands, Rigg told his father and one policeman.63 audience that ‘they must deplore Though Rigg did not for- the fact that the Unionist party mally apply for the Chiltern was so liquor-ridden, and when Hundreds until February 1905, it made itself so subservient to the by-election campaign to the drink trade it deserved to succeed him began at once. be beaten’; and CB was the ‘best On the advice of Lady Carlisle, temperance Prime Minister the Parliamentary candidate again’. ‘That great North Westmorland Liberals country had ever known’.68 To By now the press was claim- Christian selected her personal secretary, the Oddfellows he reaffirmed ing that the defection had been statesman, Sir Leif Jones, a fluent writer and his support for old age pen- ‘whispered for weeks past’ and Henry Campbell- temperance orator from a dis- sions, though he believed they there had been ‘informal nego- Bannerman’ tinguished Welsh Nonconform- would be unnecessary if there tiations with Conservatives’. – Leader of the ist family, and an experienced, were comprehensive temper- Liberal Party Rigg was adamant that he had though as yet unsuccessful, elec- ance reform; and he expressed 1899–1908 ‘acted absolutely on his own ini- tion campaigner.64 The poll took the ambition ‘some day to go to tiative’ with ‘no collusion’,60 but place early in March and, for the House of Commons again to he attended the next meeting of all his eloquent exploitation of represent the interests of friendly Windermere Conservatives and Conservative disarray over tar- societies.’69 was enrolled as a member. iff reform, Jones saw the Liberal By 1907 Rigg was telling Portraits of ‘Dicky Rigg’ majority fall from 579 to 220.65 audiences that the defeat of the were reportedly being stamped In the January 1906 general elec- Liberal Education Bill by the on in the homes of Liberals out- tion he faced a new challenger Lords would be ‘nothing short raged that a temperance warrior in the Earl of Kerry, an amiable of a national calamity’, and ‘the could join the party responsible Etonian army officer actively men who insist on denomina- for the Licensing Act.61 A tact- supported by the fifth Earl of tional instruction are driving ful decision to return some wed- Lonsdale, Hugh Lowther, tak- the Bible out of schools’. He ding presents did not prevent ing time out from his round himself was an ‘evangelical his servants, so the MP claimed, of pleasures. The Conserva- Christian’ and he deplored the from being insulted in the streets tive campaign beat the Impe- ‘Church going to the brewer’. of Windermere, while he him- rial drum against the ‘pro-Boer’ It was shameful that churches self was ‘literally inundated with Jones, and despite the national administered alcoholic com- threatening and abusive letters’ landslide which won them the munion wine, for ‘many young and even struck in the face on his neighbouring Kendal seat, the men got their fondness for drink mother’s doorstep by a muffled Liberals held on in Appleby by there’. The duty of the Church assailant. Early in December he a majority of just three. Leif was to assist ‘that Christian wrote from London: ‘I have had Jones was as much relieved as statesman Sir Henry Campbell-

Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 19 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

Bannerman’ in fighting the liq- did not reflect that he could Westmorland would continue uor trade; and he recalled that have held the seat. to be represented by Conserva- when he was in the Commons Two months later, in full flow tives until 2005, when the Lib- those members with a finan- at Penrith Liberal Club’s annual eral Democrat Tim Farron won cial interest in drink ‘were rich social, he denounced opponents Westmorland & Lonsdale. This enough to buy up all the rest’.70 of Lloyd George’s budget, whose constituency does not include The Conservative Party ‘speeches were one long advo- most of the old North Westmor- was not the obvious home cacy of their own selfish inter- land seat, which is now part of for a man proud to be called ests … land, land, land, property, Penrith & the Border, still one a ‘fanatic’ in his opposition to property, property, dividends, of the safest Conservative seats strong drink and tobacco; and dividends, dividends’.75 Look- in Britain. at the 1907 Christmas din- ing forward to the end of plural Arguing for recognition of the ner of Kirkby Stephen Liberal voting, often blamed by Liber- value of local studies in inform- Club Rigg’s return to the fold als for defeats in county seats, ing analysis of the development was announced, along with an he assured his audience that ‘a of political cultures, Jon Law- assurance that he was ‘practically brighter dawn was coming rence rightly stresses the ‘need pledged to fight for the Liberals for Liberalism when they saw for extensive new research into at the next general election in a Home Rule for every county the ‘politics of locality’ which neighbouring constituency’.71 A and no invasion of alien voters’. recognises … the peculiarities prompt Conservative response A speaker from the floor point- of place’.78 North Westmorland, to this desertion came at the edly remarked that they would and especially the Eden Val- Primrose League New Year’s all like to see Mr Rigg back in ley, was – and still is – home to Day meeting in Appleby. Mix- parliament. A further general a relatively static society which ing his biblical references, the election was expected as a quasi- not only valued candidates with chairman derided the ‘coat of plebiscite on the Parliament Act, genuine local credentials and many colours’ of the ‘wandering and in May 1910 North West- unimpeachable morality, but sheep’, who had strayed in search morland Liberals were reported also, in a manner Patricia Lynch of support for his ‘temperance to be in the brink of selecting a suggests was typical of rural propaganda’.72 candidate to replace Leif Jones, constituencies, took at face value Although Rigg addressed who had said his goodbyes and claims to place the good of the meetings of Oddfellows, tem- was seeking a safe seat else- community above party consid- perance organisations and the where.76 In June Richard Rigg Growing up erations;79 of such virtues Rich- Cumberland and Westmor- made an open-air speech to ard Rigg was a paradigm. land Association in London in the largest ever Band of Hope in a social To the peculiarities of place the course of 1908, he was not rally in Appleby; in October he we might add those of person- seen on Liberal platforms and addressed Penrith Liberal Club, milieu ality. Growing up in a social barely mentioned in the North whose president he now was, for becoming milieu becoming increasingly Westmorland Liberal Monthly, an hour. But when the North Conservative, Rigg abruptly which commenced in June.73 In Westmorland Liberal candidate increasingly embraced a Liberalism that January 1909 he was reported was finally announced in late was simultaneously Imperialist to have sent his two-guineas November it was not Rigg but Conserva- and in its social aspects ‘New’. subscription and an ‘interesting another ex-MP, Philip Whitwell Though his time in the House letter’ to Penrith Liberal Club, Wilson, scion of a well-known tive, Rigg seems to have been an anti-cli- but any more active political Kendal Liberal family, who had abruptly max after the instant fame he involvement was precluded by sat for St Pancras. In the fort- achieved in getting there, four his appointment in March as night before polling day he did embraced a years was hardly long enough High Sheriff of Westmorland. It his best, but the margin of Con- to determine how far he might was in this capacity that in the servative victory increased. Liberalism rise in Parliament; he was only January 1910 general election North Westmorland saw one 27 when he resigned. At the very Richard Rigg had to announce more election, in October 1915, that was least, given his Westmorland from the steps of Appleby Shire when Henry Cecil Lowther, son simultane- roots and widespread popular- Hall the 3,335 votes cast for of the former MP, was unop- ity, he could have emulated Lancelot Sanderson (Conserva- posed.77 In 1918 North and South ously Impe- previous county MPs by occu- tive) and 2,868 for Leif Jones Westmorland were merged into pying his seat until retirement, (Liberal). Out of just five Eng- one seat, held for the Conserva- rialist and ennoblement or death, had his lish county seats held by the tives by John Wakefield Wes- conscience not prompted him Liberals in 1900 that were now ton, whose parliamentary career in its social to desert his party just as it was Unionist, North Westmorland from 1913 to 1924 consisted of aspects poised to sweep the country. registered the greatest swing.74 four uncontested elections and Richard Rigg had an appar- It is hard to imagine that Rigg a single speech. Every inch of ‘New’. ent taste for swimming against

20 Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’ the tide, and it is quite conceiv- There were comprehensive school in Appleby neighbouring Mid-Cumberland able that as a born-again Liberal and an elected member of the Gen- (Penrith), and a distant cousin, also he would in December 1910 no children eral Teaching Council for England. James, for Thanet. have recaptured his former seat. and, in the His work on Westmorland parlia- 11 [Mid-Cumberland & North Westmor- He chose instead to devote the mentary politics has also appeared land] Herald, an avowedly Radical last three decades of his life to absence of in Northern History and Trans- (by local standards) paper, 13 Octo- an extraordinary range of activi- actions of the Cumberland & ber 1900. ties, described by The Times as ‘A any surviv- Westmorland Antiquarian & 12 Gazette, 13 October 1900; the local Career of Public Service’.80 Dur- Archaeological Society. press often quoted controversial ing the 1914–18 war he received ing personal points from other provincial news- the Territorial Decoration, was a papers, no 1 Paul Readman’s ‘The Conserva- papers rather than taking responsi- Commissioner for National War tive Party, Patriotism, and British bility for them. Savings, chaired the Ministry of clues as to Politics: The Case of the General 13 Letter from Sir Joseph Savory to the Labour panel for Employment Election of 1900’ in Journal of Brit- Conservative [Penrith] Observer 2 of ex-Officers and in 1918 was whether ish Studies 40 (2001), convincingly October 1900. awarded the OBE. For a man reinstates the view that the Boer 14 I am grateful to David Shaw for praised for patience and good he had any War was the dominant issue that in information from the admissions humour, a prodigious memory regrets as most constituencies cost the Liber- register. We can assume that Rigg for facts and faces and a fluent, als working-class votes boarded by the week at Hawkshead. incisive tongue, this was just to what he 2 Headline to the editorial leader in 15 I am grateful to Sedbergh’s archivist, a beginning. A quick glance at the [Kendal] Mercury, 2 December Elspeth Griffiths, for access to the the spectrum of his responsibili- himself, 1904. admissions register. The Sedberghian ties takes in chairmanship of the 3 In North Westmorland the term of March 1892 reports on the scarlet Trained Nurses Annuity Fund; his native ‘Unionist’ was rarely used by either fever epidemic, and the unrelated presidency of the Chartered county, his side. illness of Hart, who would also Institute of Secretaries; presi- 4 Contemporary election result have been Rigg’s housemaster, as dency of the National Temper- party and reports did not calculate percent- he was placed in the School House. ance Hospital, a ward of which ages; see F. W. S.Craig, British Par- It took a succession of epidemics to was named after him; mastery his country liamentary Election Results 1885–1918 persuade the Governors in 1906 to of the Glovers Company; may- (London, 1972), p. 412. Craig appoint a school medical officer. oralty of the City of Westmin- might have supposed that Rigg subsequently 16 Undated Memoir of Sir Joseph ster; and many more. Political lost when he became a Liberal Unionist, but, as Savory, possibly written in 1921, activity is hinted at only by the we shall see, this is an error, albeit the year of his death, by his niece vice-chairmanship of the Abbey turned his understandable. Helen P. Savory. There is a copy in Constitutional (usually a euphe- 5 The Times, 8 October 1900. Kendal Record Office. mism for Conservative) Asso- back on a life 6 [Westmorland] Gazette, 13 October 17 Gazette, 25 June 1892. ciation; perhaps he ultimately 1900. 18 Gazette, 27 July 1895. returned to his roots. He cer- in politics. 7 Before 1832 there was one two- 19 Charles Roberts, Radical Countess tainly acquired a vast circle of member borough, Appleby, split (Carlisle, 1962), p. 80. friends in the course of public between Lowther and Tufton 20 I am grateful to James Cox, archivist life, and, though a lifelong tee- nominees. The great Reform Bill at Caius. The report in the Amble- totaller, mellowed to the extent disfranchised Appleby, and created side Herald & Lakes News, 28 Sep- of readily standing his round if a a single-member borough of Ken- tember 1900, may just be another social occasion required it.81 dal. The Lowthers had no influence case of the press getting it wrong, Early in World War II Rich- there and it returned Liberals until or it may be that J. C. Shepherd, ard and Gertrude Rigg retired it was subsumed into South West- Rigg’s Ambleside agent, wanted to Hove. In 1942 they died morland in 1885. to obscure his man’s inexperience. within months of each other. 8 See James Burgess, History of Cum- Local papers also spoke of Rigg’s There were no children and, in brian Methodism (Kendal, 1980) and ‘brilliance’ at Cambridge; in fact he the absence of any surviving the same author’s monumental and took an ordinary degree and won personal papers, no clues as to unpublished Sheffield University no prizes. whether he had any regrets as PhD thesis, A Religious History of 21 See The Times obituary of Rigg, 1 to what he himself, his native Cumbria (1984). Sept 1942. county, his party and his country 9 See C. E. Searle’s unpublished Uni- 22 The local press carried frequent might have lost when he turned versity of Essex PhD thesis, This reports of Rigg’s speeches to gath- his back on a life in politics. Odd Corner of England (1984), pp. erings of Oddfellows; and Penrith 328, 384 and M. E. Shepherd, ‘The Buffaloes thought well enough of Andrew Connell, whose tutors Small Owner in Cumbria’ in North- him to name a lodge in his honour. at Oxford included Kenneth O. ern History xxxv (1999). 23 A fairly comprehensive list of pub- Morgan, is a history teacher at the 10 One son, James, already sat for lic bodies to which Rigg belonged

Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008 21 ‘the strange case of mr rigg’

appears in Who Was Who, Rigg came fifth out of twenty- Rigg’s subsequent support for 69 Herald, 18 August and 22 Sep- 1941–50. seven candidates for the ten- the anti-Semitic Aliens Bill tember 1906. 24 The state of the local Liberal man Executive, with 117 votes. raises intriguing, but so far 70 Herald, 5 January 1907. Party can be inferred from the 40 Ibid. unanswered, questions as to 71 Mercury, 27 December 1907. absence in the columns of the 41 Parliamentary Debates 4th Series the relationship between the Rigg’s belated apologies for Mercury or the Herald of reports vol. cxv (28 November 1902) two. absence were conveyed by of any activity earlier in 1900. col. 749–51. 57 Dr Jon Lawrence, in corre- veteran local activist Dr T. H. Prior to Rigg’s selection he 42 Herald, 2 January 1904. spondence with the author, has Gibson, who also assured the is not mentioned, nor are any 43 Yorkshire Post, 22 November speculated that Rigg may have meeting that Mrs Rigg was a other names trailed. 1904, quoted in Observer, 29 been uncomfortable with ‘the keen Liberal and had played 25 Herald, 1 September 1900. November 1904. Conservative emerging populist style of the no part in her husband’s earlier 26 Patricia Lynch, The Liberal papers stressed the significance New Liberal politics’ and its break with the party. Party in Rural England 1885–1910 of Rigg’s defection from the ‘vulgar exploitation’ of issues 72 Observer, 7 January 1907. (Oxford, 2003), p. 156. Liberals. like Chinese slavery. 73 The British Library holds a 27 The Times, 8 October 1900. 44 Parliamentary Debates 4th Series 58 Herald, 11 February 1905. complete set of this publication, From a different perspective vol cxxxv (4 August 1904) 59 Observer, 29 November 1904. which folded in the summer of he was ‘an advocate of every col. 1002. Many of its provi- 60 The Times, 26 November 1904. 1910. exploded fad’ (Observer, 25 Sep- sions were eventually included 61 Observer, 29 November 1904. 74 See Craig, Election Results. The tember 1900). within the 1908 ‘Children’s 62 Quoted in The Sedberghian vol others were Saffron Walden, 28 Gazette, 6 October 1900. Charter’. xxv, no. 6 (1905). Petite Repub- Louth, Rugby and Cricklade. 29 The events of polling day were 45 Gazette, 5 November 1904. lique added: ‘this abnormal state Henry Pelling, Social Geogra- reported at length by e.g. the 46 Observer, 31 December 1900. of things has been created by phy of British Elections 1885–1910 Observer, 9 October 1900. 47 Mercury, 1 July 1904. the policy of M. Chamberlain.’ (London, 1967) discusses each 30 Quoted in the Gazette, 13 48 Observer, 8 November 1904. 63 See A. N. Connell, ‘Blue Sky seat, but there is no discernible October 1900. However, a 49 Herald, 2 January 1904. over Westmorland’, pp. 200–09 common thread. Even Homer correspondent in the Liberal 50 Although Joseph Chamberlain in Transactions of the Cumberland nods, however, and what he Manchester Guardian, 10 Octo- sought to marry tariff reform & Westmorland Archaeological & says about Rigg is inaccurate ber 1900, insisted that Rigg’s and Empire, there was a sound Antiquarion Society 3rd series, vol. (p. 340). domestic radicalism had Liberal Imperialist argument VI (2006). 75 Herald, 19 March 1910. appealed to his audiences more for free trade. See Paul Read- 64 Roberts, Radical Countess pp. 76 He had three further spells than his imperialism. man, ‘The Liberal Party and 81–87. See also article by David in the Commons, sitting for 31 Carlisle Journal, 9 October 1900. Patriotism in Early Twentieth M. Fahey on Leif Jones in Bio- Rushcliffe and Camborne 32 Herald, 13 October 1900, car- Century’ in Twentieth Century graphical Dictionary of British before becoming Lord Rhaya- ried comments from the pro- British History vol. 12, no. 3 Radicals, ed. J. O. Baylea and N. der in 1931. See his Times obit- vincial and national press on (2001), pp. 282–85. J. Gossman (New York, 1988), uary 27 September 1939. Rigg’s victory. 51 The correspondence was which comments on the degree 77 Sanderson had taken up a judi- 33 Observer, 1 September 1942, fol- reproduced in the Mercury, 25 of intimacy between the Coun- cial appointment in India. It lowing his death on 29 August; November 1904, and in The tess and her secretary. was considered patriotic not to The Times’ obituary also Times on the same day. 65 J. A. Spender’s Life of the Right contest wartime by-elections appeared on the 1st, the Herald 52 Herald, 26 November 1904. Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Ban- and a Liberal candidate was and the Gazette on the 5th. 53 See note 17 above. nerman (London 1923), vol. ii, never mooted. 34 Penrith Observer, 22 January 54 Punch, 30 November 1904. That p. 164, misleadingly presents 78 Jon Lawrence, Speaking for the 1901. He was speaking from the this was simply headed ‘Lines the 1905 North Westmorland People (Cambridge, 1998) p. 6. Chair to Appleby Oddfellows. from North Westmorland’ by-election as a Liberal capture 79 Lynch, Liberal Party in Rural 35 Penrith Observer, 18 June 1901. without further explanation from the government; Rigg England pp. 98–102. She is dis- 36 Speech at Appleby Lib- indicates that Rigg’s defection never sat in the House as a cussing elections for local gov- eral Club’s Christmas Party, was by then a national news Conservative. ernment, but this holds good reported in Penrith Observer, 30 item. 66 According to the Lady Carlisle, for parliamentary ones, too. December 1901. 55 See note 62 below. Richard’s parents campaigned 80 The Times, 1 September 1942. 37 Observer, 31 December 1900. 56 The long-awaited entry of for the Conservative in the 81 Westmorland Gazette, 5 Sep- This traditionally Conserva- Samuel, seven years older than by-election ‘to prevent any tember 1942: the longest and tive paper gave Rigg generous Rigg, into the Commons was Liberal winning what he had most affectionate tribute was coverage. delayed by repeated failure to relinquished’ (Roberts, Radical from the former Conservative 38 Kendal Mercury, 16 September capture South Oxon; he was Countess, p.86). standard-bearer. The Mercury 1904. eventually returned for the 67 The Alliance was a national had long ceased publication, 39 Eighty Club Yearbook 1901 et seq. safe seat of Cleveland in a by- temperance organisation and the Herald’s Liberalism was For a brief outline of the ori- election in 1902. In June 1903 whose president was Rigg’s a distant memory. gin and purposes of the Eighty Rigg and Samuel, rising Lib- successor as Appleby’s MP, Leif Club, see H. C. G. Matthew, eral stars, were stewards at an Jones. Gladstone (Oxford, 1997) p. 361. Eighty Club House Dinner. 68 Herald, 25 August 1906.

22 Journal of Liberal History 60 Autumn 2008