THE SELF-AWARDED EGYPT MEDAL 1882-89 WITH THE NILE 1884-85 AND ABU KLEA CLASPS FOR THE NILE CAMPAIGN OF 1884-85 WORN BY TROOPER EDWARD RIGBY, 1ST LIFE GUARDS, WHO, ALTHOUGH HE SAW SERVICE WITH THE 1ST LIFE GUARDS 1869-1875, DID NOT SEE SERVICE DURING THE

THE SELF-AWARDED EGYPT MEDAL 1882-89 WITH THE NILE 1884-85 AND ABU KLEA CLASPS FOR THE NILE CAMPAIGN OF 1884-85 WORN BY TROOPER EDWARD RIGBY, 1ST LIFE GUARDS, WHO, ALTHOUGH HE SAW SERVICE WITH THE 1ST LIFE GUARDS 1869-1875, DID NOT SEE SERVICE DURING THE NILE CAMPAIGN OF 1884-85, HAVING BEEN DISCHARGED FROM THE 1ST LIFE GUARDS AT HIS OWN REQUEST IN 1875. Egypt Medal 1882-89, undated reverse, 2 clasps, The Nile 1884-85, Abu Klea (renamed, contemporary re-engraved naming, in serifed upper and lower case capital letters: TROOPER E. RIGBY No. 492 1st. LIFE GUARDS.). Attractive old dark tone, Very Fine and mounted, as worn, from an old length of original ribbon.

Medal accompanied by biographical details, copied extracts 1851 and 1861 census returns, 1871 British Army Worldwide Index and 6 pages of copied service papers.

Edward Cartwright Pinnock Rigby (1847-1921) was born in Birchington, Thanet, Kent, in 1847. He is recorded in the 1851 census as the 4 year old foster son of a 40 year old tailor by the name of Henry Darby (the census return records Edward Rigby as being a “nurse child”, indicating that he was probably illegimate and that Henry Darby was being paid to foster him. By the time of the 1861 census, Edward Rigby was no longer living in the Darby household, and it has not been possible to trace his whereabouts at the time of the 1861 census.

Edward Rigby enlisted into the 1st Life Guards at London on 22/4/1869. At the time of enlistment he was 18 years of age and gave his trade as that of labourer. Rigby is recorded in the 1871 British Army Worldwide Census as then serving with the 1st Life Guards as a trooper at Windsor. Rigby deserted from the Life Guards on 10/10/1872. He was subsequently apprehended and tried by court martial, and did not return to duty until 1/12/1873, at which point all prior service for the purposes of pension was struck from his record. Rigby was discharged from the Life Guards on 18/9/1875, after 1 years and 192 days pensionable service with the colours, his discharge being granted at his own request and on payment of the sum of £30 to secure his discharge.

Although the 1st Life Guards were present at the Nile campaign of 1884-85, including the battle of Abu Klea, Edward Rigby had by then been long since discharged from the 1st Life Guards and his name does not appear on the medal roll for that campaign.

An interesting curiosity. The naming on this medal is entirely original and no doubt Rigby had his own reasons for wanting to wear a medal (presumably to pass himself off as one of the heroes of Abu Klea), which his service papers and the medal roll clearly indicate he was not entitled to.

Despite being adopted and probably illegitimate, Rigby had access to significant financial resources at the time of his discharge in 1875, the sum of £30 Rigby paid in order to obtain his discharge being well beyond the means of any normal trooper with only one year’s service behind him.

There is obviously a story here and the medal is perhaps worthy of further research in this regard.