Person    | Female  Born 13/1/1926  Died 14/3/2014

Rita Leggatt

Rita Sylvia Smith was born on 13 January 1926 the daughter of Francis Albert Smith (1888-1957) and Annie Smith née Turner (1892-1957). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1926 in the Edmonton registration district and her father was a plasterer.

The 1939 England and Wales Registers show her parents listed at 57 West Beech Road, Wood Green, but she is shown as a schoolgirl living at 10 Sloe Hill, Halstead, Essex, the home of Reginald E. Goodman (b.1891), a bread salesman, and his wife, Lilian L. Goodman (b.1892). 

On 7 June 1958 she married Arthur Leonard George Leggatt (1935-2018) in the Wood Green registration district and they had three sons: Martin F. Leggatt (b. 1963) and twins Paul G. Leggatt & David A. Leggatt (b.1964). Electoral registers in 1963 and 1964 show her and her husbamd listed at 7 Lombard Avenue, Ilford, Essex.

Described as the Mayoress of the London Borough of Redbridge in 2005, we initially thought that she had been the Mayoress in her own right and were rather surprised to learn that she was given that title as the wife of the Mayor, Arthur Leggatt. We thought that quaint custom had died out many years ago.

Electoral registers from 2003 to 2007 listed her and her husband at 42 Beaminster Gardens, Ilford, IG6 2BW. She died, aged 88 years, on 14 March 2014 in Ilford, Essex and was laid to rest on 27 March 2014.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk and Andrew Behan.

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Rita Leggatt

Creations i

End of WW2 - 60th Anniversary

'In unity progress' is the motto of Redbidge Council.

Read More

Redbridge - 40th anniversary of election of first mayor

This plaque to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the election of the first ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Thomas Allen

Thomas Allen

Churchwarden of All Saints Church, Wandsworth in 1841.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Lord Henry Snell

Lord Henry Snell

Socialist politician and campaigner. Born Nottinghamshire. Largely self-educated. Came to London as a young man. Joined the Labour party and the South Place Ethical Society (of which he later becam...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford

John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford

Born in Essex.  Caught supporting the wrong side when Edward IV assumed the throne, he was arrested and convicted of high treason which led to the loss of his head at Tower Hill.

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
James George White, Deputy

James George White, Deputy

Commoner on the Bridge House Estates Committee, 1894.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
C. H. F. Barrett

C. H. F. Barrett

Vestry Clerk. St Pancras Vestry in 1897 and 1902. Andrew Behan has researched this man: Charles Herbert Fox Barrett was born on 18 October 1859 in St Pancras, Middlesex, the youngest of the ten ch...

Person, Politics & Administration

2 memorials