Claude Henry Rigby (9 January 1878 – 7 December 1924) was a pharmacist, and a former Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and with Richmond Football Club in the VFA.Holmesby & Main (2009), p.705.
Family The son of Dr. George Owen Rigby (1916),Sad Motor Fatality, The Riverina Herald, (Tuesday, 29 August 1916), p.3; Deaths: Rigby, The Argus, (Monday, 28 August 1916), p.1. and Frances Maria Rigby (1841-1926), née English,The Bendigo Advertiser, (Thursday, 25 May 1865), p.2; Deaths: Rigby, The Argus, (Wednesday, 4 August 1926), p.1. Claude Henry Rigby was born at Kyneton, Victoria on 9 January 1878. He married Isabella Ellen Megson (1881-1952) in 1908.Deaths: Rigby, The Age, (Saturday, 5 July 1952), p.13.
Football He was a "fleet-footed, lightly framed wingman".Blueseum.Despite several assertions to that effect (e.g., The (Melbourne) Herald, 8 December 1924, p.2.) and, although "fleet of foot", Claude Henry Rigby is not the Rigby that won the 1909 Stawell Gift; that was Harold Franklin Rigby of Burnie, Tasmania (The Stawell Gift: Burnie Man's Fine Win, The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, (Saturday, 17 April 1909), p.3.)
Carlton (VFL) Recruited from Kyneton, he played 29 games for Carlton Football Club over the three seasons, 1900 to 1902.
In 1900 he played for a VFL intrastate team, against a combined Ballarat Association team.Football, The Ballarat Star, (Saturday, 14 July 1900), p.8; The Football Season, The Ballarat Star, (Monday, 23 July 1900), p.4.
He played his last game for Carlton against Fitzroy on 7 June 1902 (round 6); and, a week later, he turned out for Kyneton Collegians in the Kyneton District Football Association.Country Football, The Age, (Tuesday, 17 June 1902), p.7.
Collingwood Juniors Football Club (VJFA) In 1904 he was granted a clearance from both the Kyneton Football Club and Carlton to Collingwood Juniors Football Club in the Victorian Junior Football Association.Football, The Age, (Thursday, 9 June 1904), p.8; Football, The Age, (Thursday, 16 June 1904), p.9.Collingwood Juniors Football Club, Collingwood Forever.
Richmond (VFA) Granted a clearance from Carlton in 1905,The Football Season, The Argus, (Thursday, 4 May 1905), p.8. he played for the Richmond Football Club in 1905 and 1906;Demonwiki.Football, The Argus, (Tuesday, 25 April 1905), p.7. and, playing on the wing, was a member of the 1905 Richmond (VFA) premiership team.Hogan (1996), p.284.
Melbourne (VFL) He played 27 games for the Melbourne Football Club in two seasons, 1907 and 1908.
Death A qualified pharmacist,Pharmacy Board Examinations, The Age, (Thursday, 20 June 1918), p.7. and although in poor health, Rigby died unexpectedly — "[as] the result of a severe attack of ptomaine poisoning"Noted Athlete: Death of Harry Rigby, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Monday, 8 December 1924), p.2. — at his U.F.S. dispensary in Queens Parade, Clifton Hill, Victoria, on 7 December 1924.Deaths: Rigby, The Age, (Monday, 8 December 1924), p.1.
Notes
References Hogan P: The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996.
External links
Harry Rigby's profile at Blueseum Harry Rigby: Demonwiki. Harry Rigby: The VFA Project. Harry Rigby: australianfootball.com.