New evidence shows "Eleanor Rigby" may not be so lonely anymore


The full ledger page being auctioned, at left, and a closer view of Rigby's entry, at right.

Update (12/8/08)

The closest living relative of Eleanor Rigby has been found, reports Click Liverpool. Thomas E. Rigby, 88, had no idea he was related to THE Eleanor Rigby until Beatles researchers located him. He recalled the cousin named Eleanor he knew as a child played the piano.

Update (11/29/08)

The Eleanor Rigby signature sold for Ł115,000 (roughly $176,820), reports NME.com, Agence France Presse and the BBC. The winner was not revealed. The proceeds from the auction will go toward a new centre for Sunbeams Music Trust. Sunbeams owner, Annie Mawson, said she was sent the item auctioned by Paul McCartney.

Here's a video that was made before the auction about the item auctioned:

Update (11/14/08)

One interesting point about the ledger: Notice it says "E Rigby," not "Eleanor." Is it possible that the "E" stands for something else?

Bill DeYoung sent us this picture (at left) of the Rigby gravesite in Woolton.

If you didn't see it, we received an exclusive statement from Annie Mawson of Sunbeams Music Trust commenting on the situation. It's directly below.

Update II (11/13/08)

We contacted Annie Mawson of Sunbeams Music Trust for her reaction to Paul McCartney's disputing the contention that the ledger to be auctioned proves Eleanor Rigby was a real person and if there was anything else she could say about the document or how she got it that supports her belief it came from him. She sent us an exclusive lengthy answer we've reprinted here: (please credit Abbeyrd's Beatles Page if quoting this):

"You will see from this that we at Sunbeams are dedicated to improving the quality of life of people of all ages with special needs through our Music For Life programme. We need a Music Centre where we can offer training in Music Performance to people with disabilities to enable them to have a qualification. We need to raise Ł1.5 million and we have managed to raise half a million through In Kind support. We now need to surge ahead with raising the remainder of the funds – hence the sale of this document on November 27th through Fame Bureau.
I have well documented proof that I did write to Paul McCartney in 1989, including a photocopy of my handwritten letter on the 9th August, prior to even establishing the charity in 1992. I hand delivered the letter to his office in Soho. In July 1990 I received a reply from the MPL offices containing his own personal World Tour stamp and with my own signature and address having being cut off from my letter (hand written on pink paper)! and stuck on the envelope as my address. At the beginning of my letter, I had asked Sir Paul for financial support towards the centre I hoped to build but by the end of my 11 page letter I just wanted his moral support having heard him speak most eloquently when he had introduced a programme on the television about Music Therapy. I wanted him to know that his music had had a profound effect upon the quality of life of some of our most disabled children. I even had elective mutes who chose not to speak but would sing Beatles songs. Furthermore, one of the boys within the Autistic spectrum was so locked into his own world that he found communication difficult, but his obsession with the Beatles meant that I could teach him to play the Piano – as long as they were Beatles tunes. This is why I wrote to Sir Paul to thank him for the joy he had given such children.
The school was due to close due to inclusion policy and I said that one day, I would open my own Music Centre for people with special needs.
When I received this ledger in the envelope from the MPL office I took that as a generous response from Sir Paul. I do not know why else I would receive it.
I personally, am not making any claims that this document was the reason why he wrote Eleanor Rigby, I have never said that and all the press and media have put their own spin on it. The ledger is a historical piece of information which I am now trying to sell for the best of intentions.
With kind regards,
Annie

Update (11/13/08)

Countering claims that the song "Eleanor Rigby" was based on a real person, Paul McCartney told a news service Wednesday the character in the song was "made up." In a statement quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP), Paul McCartney, through his publicists, refuted claims the character the song "Eleanor Rigby" was based on was real. "Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up," McCartney was quoted by AFP. Referring to the upcoming auction, he said, "If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me." A McCartney spokesman also cast doubt on claims about the document made by Annie Mawson of the Sunbeams Trust saying they had not been able to establish whether McCartney actually sent the Rigby document to Mawson, who is auctioning the document Nov. 27 with the proceeds going to her charity.

(11/12/2008)

A Liverpool hospital accounts log donated by Paul McCartney to a British charity seems to have definitively solved the mystery of whether Paul McCartney knew about Eleanor Rigby when he wrote the song, reports NME.com, the UK Guardian and the Press Association. The log, which will be auctioned Nov. 27 by the Fame Bureau, was donated to the Sunbeams Trust and contains the signature of an "E. Rigby" who worked as a scullery maid at the hospital. According to Wikipedia, a woman named Eleanor Rigby was born in 1895, and lived in Liverpool. She died on Oct. 10, 1939 at age 44, and was buried in the Woolton area of the city. The document formerly in his possession certainly suggests that McCartney was very much aware of her when he composed the song. According to Wikipedia, McCartney had previously said he came up with the name Eleanor because of actress Eleanor Bron, who appeared in the film "Help!," and Rigby came from a name of a store.

Annie Mawson of the Sunbeams Trust told Reuters, "I wrote ... to Paul and asked him for half a million pounds. But by the end of the letter I just said 'Look, I know you're a very caring person and I feel it's a privilege to share my story with you.' Nine months later, in June 1990, this amazing envelope arrived in the post. It was nine months after I'd written to him, which was part of the mystery because you always think it ended up in the waste paper basket." She says the envelope containing the document, which was dated 1911, featured an official Paul McCartney tour stamp because he was on a world tour around that time. Mawson told Reuters she did not immediately realize the significance of the register until she read down the list of names and spotted the name "E. Rigby."

Here's the official description of the document taken from the auction site:

Annie Mawson runs the Sunbeams Charity for disabled children In 1990 prior to the Charity's registration she wrote a long letter to Paul McCartney asking him for a million pounds to help provide a facility for the children that were in need of the type of educactional program that Annie had envisaged. The seven page letter was sent to Paul in a large manilla envelope. Some months later and completely out of the blue a large manilla envelope arrived on Annie's Mawson doorstep bearing the MPL Paul McCartney on tour stamp mark. Her anticipation and excitement was immense.
The letter contained one document with no accompanying letter. On scanning the document which was headed 'City Hospital Park Hill Liverpool 1911 she realised that she was looking at a monthly salary sheet for November 1911. Not quite understanding what she had in front of her she looked down the list of names and salaries provided and the recipient's signatures and the eighth name on the list struck her like like a bolt of lightening realising that she was looking at the pay slip of Eleanor Rigby, occupation scullery maid, where her salary for that month amounted to Ł1 3 shillings and four pence and then signed in Eleanor Rigby's hand.
Annie then realised that Sir Paul even though he had not sent her the requested million had sent her a challenge and that Paul instead of giving money had provided Annie with an important document that could in the future raise a substantial sum for the charity. Annie Mawson's Sunbeams Music Trust brings the healing power of music to people with disabilities throughout the North of England. The charity has helped over 17,000 people with special needs unlock emotional and mental blockages through the power of singing and music.
The Charity needs £1million for a new centre and The Fame Bureau are proud to be able to help them achieve this goal. For more information please visit www.sunbeamsmusic.org or address donations to Sunbeams Music Trust 1 Greystoke Castle Estate Greystoke Penrith Cumbria CA11 OTG Telephone is 017684 83035

"I thought this was the right time," Mawson told Reuters about the sale. "I got the document out of the bank vault and decided I've got to go for it. We think McCartney might want to buy it back. You never know."

The website for Annie Mawson's Sunbeams Music Trust

"Eleanor Rigby" from the movie "Yellow Submarine"

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