James Stephen Rigaud
James Stephen Rigaud, also known as Stephen Riguard, was an astronomer of the 18th century.Life
His parents were James Dutilh or Rigaud and Jeanne Françoise Guiraudet, who came from a family of French Protestant merchants; James senior's father Jacques Dutilh had fled from Lyon to Geneva with his family after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Jacques died on the journey, and his widow assumed her maiden name—Rigaud—by which the family became known. Another of James and Jeanne's children was the painter John Francis Rigaud.
James junior became Assistant Observer to Stephen Demainbray at the King's Observatory, built near Richmond Lodge for the 1769 Transit of Venus. He went on to marry Deminbray's daughter Mary at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Richmond in 1771, going on to live at 5 Old Palace Terrace in the town. Their children included Mary Anne and Stephen Peter Rigaud, later an astronomer and mathematical historian. Mary Anne and Stephen Peter were painted by their uncle John in 1778 – they are posed in a park landscape with Kew Observatory in the background and although the painting is sometimes described as showing Richmond Park the topography makes it more likely that it shows the Old Deer Park, which surrounds the Observatory. Rigaud died in 1814 and is buried in the Vineyard Passage Burial Ground near the church where he had married.
