Last Updated : 5 May 2016

The character "Eleanor Rigby" of the famous Beatles song is almost certainly fictitious but Rigby is a real family name which does exist in Liverpool. The name appears be one of those existing in south west Lancashire which is also associated with Liverpool.

There were 1,287 populated houses in Liverpool in 1708 when Henry Peet did a survey which indicated branches of the Rigby family were living in Tythe Barn Street.

A Thomas Rigby established a pub in Liverpool in 1726 and Lord Nelson was a regular there in the 1790s. The pub which is in Dale Street (close to Tythe Barn Street) still exists and there is a "Nelson Room" in honour of the famous patron. Thomas Rigby died in 1886 and owned the building (shown here) from 1852.

In 1829 Charles Rigby died aged over 100 years old and was one of nineteen identified centegenarians in Liverpool during the peiod 1727 to 1838.

Other Liverpool Rigbys include Ada Rigby, the daughter of Thomas G Rigby. She was born about 1876 at Kirkdale and christened in 1877 at Everton.