Kathleen Rigby obituary

The Guardian

a day ago

My wife, Kathleen Rigby, who has died aged 81, put her love of justice, writing, history and the arts to public good throughout her life. She did her best to improve things while having fun, and usually found like-minded collaborators.
Her first jobs were in counter-intelligence as an officer with MI5 and MI6. She subsequently worked widely in the education sector and finally as a volunteer with the National Trust and Chetham's Library in Manchester. She also published a book of poetry.
Kath was born in Edinburgh to Paddy (nee Wylie), a nursery nurse, and William Philips, who left the army as a major after the second world war to work in the London office of the English China Clays mining company. They lived in Enfield, north London, and Kath attended Palmers Green high school, until the family relocated again to St Austell, Cornwall, when her father moved to the company's head office there. Kath then boarded at West Cornwall school in Penzance.
She studied history at University College London, where we met, and graduated in 1964. We married the following year. Having been recommended to MI5 by a family friend, Kath attended an interview without knowing it was for the Security Service. She was offered the job of counter-intelligence officer, which she did for five years.
We moved to Manchester in the early 1970s for my work. Kath completed an MA in economic history at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) then in 1975 trained as a teacher. Her first post was at Priestnall secondary school. She then became head of history at Brinnington community high school, rising to deputy head. In 1987 she took the position of vice-principal of North Area College. Following a medical procedure that made it difficult for her to stand for long, Kathleen took early retirement in 1991.
Shortly after, she gained an MSc in educational leadership at Manchester Metropolitan University, then became a senior lecturer at its Centre for Educational Leadership.
Having held several positions on school governing boards, she was elected chair of the board of Tameside College in 1992, and became a member of the Greater Manchester learning and skills council. For many years she was a magistrate on the Manchester city bench and chair of its advisory council, taking compulsory retirement at 70.
Then she became a volunteer at Dunham Massey, a National Trust house, writing blogs and leading tours. With a colleague she researched and wrote three histories of former residents of the house, two of which were published by the Altrincham History Society. She also volunteered at the 18th-century Chetham's Library.
Poetry that she wrote was soon published in poetry magazines and in the Spectator. In one of her poems she mused that if she had spent less time doing the Guardian cryptic crossword she might have become leader of the Labour party, or a judge. In 2024 she published a collection of her poems, How to Be a Pear, under the name Kate Rigby. Another volume, The Winter Blackbird, is being prepared.
Kath is survived by me, our children, William and Jessica, and a grandson, Alex.