Unravelling the life of Walter Rigby

Walter Storrow Rigby 1862-??

Architect Walter Storrow Rigby was hardly ever in the news, until, that is, in August 1907 when he was discussed in almost all the newspapers in the country - he had disappeared. On a Saturday morning Rigby told his wife he would see her for dinner and left Cambridge as usual on the train to Hamilton (once possible, on the Rotorua line), and simply vanished. Two weeks later he was found in Woodville wandering about in a dazed and penniless condition.

Six months later, it happened again. This time Rigby was found in Wellington, again described as ‘‘dazed and penniless’’. From this time his career as an architect and engineer unravelled.

According to a family history website, Rigby was born in Brighton, England, and was a widower when he married Eliza Annie Harper of Pirongia in 1903. They settled in Greymouth, Rigby establishing himself as ‘‘prepared to undertake all kinds of architectural and engineering work, hydraulic, electric light and power work a specialty’’. His contracts included the Greymouth Wesleyan Chapel, a hall and St Patrick’s School at Kumara, but one project that earned him much praise was the renovation of Holy Trinity Church. The Greymouth Evening Star noted that Rigby had had ‘‘considerable experience of church work, both in the Old Country and the colonies, and his aptitude for the work was apparent to all’’, especially the new altar that ‘‘reflects great credit’’ on Rigby for its design.

Rigby gave technical instruction, offering subjects including machine and boiler making, and drawing, electric light and power transmission. His engineering skills were also evident - in July 1904 he applied to the Patents

Office regarding ‘‘improved means for lowering ships’ boats’’.

In March 1905 Rigby advertised the sale of his household furniture and he, Eliza and their baby daughter shifted to the Waikato, perhaps to be nearer Eliza’s family.

For a while Rigby was manager for Ellis and Burnand, during which time he designed a special air-tight window for Howden’s Buildings. In February 1906 he was ill with typhoid, which left him in delicate health, suffering a lot from weakness and depression.

Rigby set up his architectural practice in early August 1906, and a month later was joined by J.W. Warren. They won the contract for the Carnegie Library, the creamery at Fencourt and the Cambridge Club, amongst others.

However something went badly wrong with the partnership by the time of Rigby’s first disappearance. Hamilton Borough Council received a letter from Warren ‘‘who did not mince matters with regard to [Rigby’s] disappearance’’. Even before Rigby returned to Cambridge the partnership between he and Warren was dissolved.

Nonetheless, when the Cambridge Club opened in late October 1907, Rigby’s ‘‘very great taste’’ with the decorations and papering was celebrated.

Walter and Eliza had a second daughter in 1907.

Rigby carried on business alone, in Cambridge. In March 1908 he called for tenders to build the Catholic church in Raglan, but then he disappeared again. This time he drove from Hamilton to Ngaruawahia and caught the express train, which sounds more deliberate than the earlier disappearance.

Rigby’s frequent business adverts ceased at the end of March 1908. Perhaps he went to Australia, though when Eliza petitioned for divorce in May 1917, when she was a school teacher at Whangarei Heads, she stated he was ‘‘late of Auckland’’, that he ‘‘had deserted her on or about September 20 1911 . . . without just cause’’. A request for information re his whereabouts brought no (known) result. Eliza. This time, Rigby’s disappearance was permanent.

While Walter Rigby is untraceable in the electoral rolls, Eliza was recorded, either as spinster, married or widow. In 1922 she was at Tamahere School, and from 1938 to 1954 in Hamilton or Waikato electorates. She did not re-marry and died in July 1956. Searches by descendants and Hamilton Libraries staff have failed to find Walter Storrow Rigby’s whereabouts after he deserted Eliza and their two daughters in 1911.