The Suffragette Arson Attack at Rivington, near Horwich

On Monday 7^th July 1913, Edith Rigby and her accomplice, Albert Yeadon, loaded cans of paraffin into the boot of her husband’s car. Dr Rigby’s chauffeur then drove the couple from Preston to Lever Park, ignorant of what was intended. Edith and Albert carried the cans up to Sir William Lever’s country residence, a large sprawling construction known as Roynton Cottage. Sir William, the hugely wealthy soap magnate from Bolton, had the residence built as his countryside escape. Once there, Edith dismissed Albert and then went around the building to check no one was at home. She set about breaking the windows and pouring cans of paraffin into the rooms. Edith then ignited the fuel, and fled.

The site of Lever’s ‘cottage’ and subsequent ‘bungalow’. Both were large residences.

At 1.30am, a watchman working for the Liverpool Water Corporation spotted the fire. He alerted Mr Adamson, a waterworks engineer, who lived close to the cottage. Adamson raced up to the site and saw that fires had taken hold in four places within the building. He roused the employees that lived in the nearby entrance lodges and then contacted the fire brigades at Horwich and Chorley. Both refused to respond as Rivington was outside of their jurisdiction.

At 2.30am, Chief Officer Semple of Horwich fire brigade arrived to advise in an unofficial capacity. He directed Lever’s employees and men from the nearby Loco Works in their attempt to douse the flames. They saved the surrounding enclosed garden and some stone outbuildings, but the cottage itself was made of highly flammable pitch pine and their single jet of water could not tame the raging fire.

James Lawrence, the owner of nearby Anderton Hall, managed to contact Sir William and Lady Lever by telephone at 4am. They had been dining with King George V and Queen Mary at Knowsley Hall, the home of the Earl and Countess of Derby. The Levers had left in the early hours and returned late to Thornton Manor, their home on the Wirral. They would have been given little hope that the building would survive.

The next morning, fires were still breaking out in the smouldering ruins. All that remained were four stone chimneys and metal support beams, badly twisted by the heat. The Levers had not only lost the building, but also all their valuable possessions of tapestries, paintings, ornaments and furniture. When word got out, sightseers turned up to survey the devastation but were held back by the police.

A search of the grounds revealed car tyre tracks and a double-headed spanner, which was presumed to have been used to gain entry. A copy of The Suffragette newspaper, dated 15^th April, was also found. Written on it in pencil were the enigmatic words: Sir WH Lever cannot. The newspaper had been soaked in paraffin and a box of matches and a key were lying on top of it. These may have been very obvious clues as how the fire had been started, but clearly Edith wanted to leave no doubt as to the motive. A little way from the scene she had tied a small cardboard dispatch case to a fence near the head gardener’s house. It contained a typewritten note stating: Lancashire’s message to the King from the women, ‘Votes for women due’. Message to the King, Liverpool: Wake up Government. First give us reason to be loyal then try us. Inside the case was also a pair of Edith’s grey suede gloves. One of them was gashed across the palm and blood stained. This was probably from an injury sustained while breaking the windows or climbing the metal railings that surrounded the perimeter of the cottage.

The Levers received telegrams from both Lord Derby and the King. Lord Derby wrote “Please accept sincere sympathy with you at the loss you have sustained by the burning of your house. A most deplorable thing to have happened”. The King’s message stated “Much regret to hear from the newspapers that while you were here (Knowsley) last night your house at Rivington and its contents were destroyed by fire. I sympathise with your loss”.

On Thursday 10^th July, Edith gave herself up to police in Liverpool. She also admitted to an attack on Liverpool Cotton Exchange, two days before her burning of Roynton Cottage. She had placed a foot-long pipe stuffed with explosives, pieces of iron and stones in a basement cafe below the Exchange. It detonated in the night, causing much damage, but fortunately no injuries. Her reasoning was that the cotton industry had been built using women’s labour while denying them the vote. Of this attack, she stated to the police “I wanted to tell you that I myself did this without any aid. It was my own planning, and it was not authorized.” She also said she desired to show how easy it was for a woman to make a bomb.

At the time of planting the pipe bomb, Edith had neglected to leave the Women’s Social and Political Union banners but she subsequently inserted these into a nearby post box. Again, the message on these were directed at Lever and addressed to the Home Secretary. It read: To Mr McKenna, London: If Sir William Lever had been as loyal to us and the Liberal Party as Lancashire is being to its King this would not have happened.

Edith Rigby’s house in Winckley Square, Preston

From the dock at her trial she stated “I want to ask Sir William Lever whether he thinks his property on Rivington Pike is more valuable as one of his superfluous homes occasionally opened to people, or as a beacon lighted for King and Country, to see that here are some intolerable grievances for women”

William Lever, a Liberal politician, had long been a supporter of women’s right to the vote. A second deeper blow occurred for him later that month when his wife, Lady Lever, died a little over two weeks after the arson attack. In his grief, Lever threw himself into a project to build a new residence on the same site. This time it would be made from fire-resistant materials of stone and concrete.

Edith Rigby was sentenced to nine months hard labour in Walton Gaol. The suffragettes had adopted the hunger strike as a move to get political prisoner status. This had led to force feeding and Edith herself had been subjected to this, but such was the public outcry that a new tactic was tried. The Home Secretary Reginald McKenna introduced The Prisoners Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act which became known as the Cat and Mouse Act. Prisoners would be released when they were becoming ill from starvation. When they had returned home, begun regularly eating again and had regained their health, they would be re-arrested. This could happen multiple times for the same sentence.

On 11 September 1913, Edith’s husband Charles wrote to the Lancashire Daily Post when she was re-arrested for the fourth time under the act, calling it an “Act of Torture”. She had his full support through all her campaigns. At one re-arrest attempt, she fled on a bicycle dressed as a workman and, passing through safehouses, managed to make it all the way to Ireland. When she finally returned to Preston, she decided to address a huge public meeting. Disguised in a big hat she went into the building undetected by the police as she entered, but as she mounted the stage to address the crowd, she was again arrested.

Edith Rigby had a long and varied life, and her suffragette activism was only one part of it. Readers interested in finding more about her are directed to read either one or both of the two biographies in the reference section below. In 2023, a £207 million dual carriageway has been opened and named in her honour as the Edith Rigby Way, connecting Riversway in Preston to the M55 motorway.

Sites visited by A. and S. Bowden 2023

Access

For Rivington:

The site of Sir William Lever’s Roynton Cottage, and subsequent building, the Bungalow, can still be seen. The footprint of the Bungalow has been laid out in the grass and this stood on top of Roynton Cottage when it was demolished after the fire.

Park at Great House Barn Car Park in Lever Park. Follow the footpath behind Rivington Hall Barn up the hill to the Rivington Terraced Gardens. The site of Lever’s residences is close to the well known Pigeon Tower. Volunteers maintain the grass and vegetation around the recently restored sites of the Orchestral Lawn and the Great Lawn. Although Lever’s country retreats are long gone, the associated summer houses have recently been restored and are in excellent condition.

For Preston:

Edith Rigby’s House is in Winckley Square, Preston. The whole area of the square has recently been renovated and had much historical research done on it, some of which is displayed on interpretation boards placed around it. For more information see The Friends of Winckley Square here. The nearest parking is Avenham Car Park.

Nearby, at Rivington

Great House Barn

Liverpool Castle Replica

Two Lads

Red Moss Bog Burial

Nearby, at Preston

A Guide to Preston’s Murals

Preston’s Lost Medieval Friary

Plug Riots and Chartists

St Walburge’s Church

Lost Leper Hospital of St Mary Magdalene

Craggs Row Windmill