Edward Rigby was born in 1747 in a Lancashire town near Manchester. There he was closely associated with the Divine, John Taylor; indeed he married his daughter. Taylor went on to become the first minister at the Octagon Chapel in Norwich. No doubt it was in this connection that Rigby came to Norwich, where he was apprenticed to the surgeon David Martineau. After qualifying in London he stayed in Norwich, where he set up in General Practice in1769.
When he was just 29 years old he published the first edition of his Essay on the Uterine Haemorrhage. This affliction presented in women approaching childbirth. It took his interest, and led to much successful treatment of the distressing condition. As well as the six English editions to which this work ran, the essay was also published in the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. He wrote the preface to the last edition at home during his final illness. In his essay, Rigby gave the first description of the premature separation of the placenta. Of the 30 cases of accidental haemorrhage that he had treated at the time, 28 mothers and 20 of their children survived. Of the 14 cases of placenta praevia, he lost only one mother and six babies. By the sixth and last edition, posthumously published in 1822, his series of such patients had increased to 106, with a similar success rate.
The following obituary was published in the Norfolk Chronicle on 27 October 1821, following his death: Mr Edward Rigby, MD, "received his medical education under Mr Martineau, and first began practice in 1769, when he distinguished himself as an accoucheur, and was the author of a treatise on subjects connected with that branch of his profession. In 1814 he took his degree in physic [i.e. medicine, at Glasgow University]. Dr Rigby in 1786 established the Benevolent Medical Society for the relief of the widows and orphans of medical men; and in 1789 became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons and of the Medical Society in London. He was assistant surgeon of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on its establishment in 1771, surgeon in 1790, and physician in 1814. For many years he kept a private lunatic asylum; and made constant and unremitted exertions in the cause of vaccination. He wrote several treatises on agricultural subjects, and was in 1820 elected an hon member of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture. He was also a member of the Linnaean Society. Dr Rigby was elected an alderman in 1802, Sheriff in 1803, and Mayor in 1805. His remains were interred at Framingham, near Norwich, on November 5th."
Remaining shed of Framingham Earl Old Hall
He had a small farm in Framingham Earl, where he established an arboretum in the area around his house. This was to the east of Spur Lane. There he grew many exotic species of trees; few remain today. However the arboretum has been re-established since the 1980s, by the late Timothy Colman who owned the property. Edward Rigby also introduced vaccination against smallpox to the people of Norfolk, following Edward Jenner's discovery of the process. He was a member of the Linnaean Society that had been set up by fellow Norwich resident Simon Wilkin. As you can appreciate, he was a man of wide interests and accomplishments.
JOSEPH MASON
joemasonspage@gmail.com
FOR LOCAL HISTORY
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