Subject

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.