William Wigginton (1826–1890) was an English architect. Born in Eton, Berkshire, he worked in Derby and Dudley before moving to London in 1860. He published proposals for working-class housing, and designed several Gothic Revival churches in London, often featuring polychrome brickwork.
Wigginton was born at Eton on 22 August 1826, the son of W.L. Wigginton.[1] He worked an architect in Derby[2] and Dudley[3][4] before moving to London in 1860,[5] where he ran his practice from in Cornhill in the City.[6] He was the Derby agent of the British Fire and Life Assurance Company.[7] He became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1854 and a Fellow in 1857.[8]
He was the author of Sanitary Reform: Model Town Dwellings for the Industrious Classes (1850)[9] and a 36-page pamphlet entitled The Late Archidiaconal Visitation of Bromsgrove and the Injustice and Illegality of Visitation Fees.[10] A two volume work called England's Operative Homes was announced in 1851.[3] His plans for working class housing, as exhibited at a bookseller's in Derby in 1850, envisaged a block built around three sides of a quadrangle, with three storeys, each accommodating fifteen families. The dwellings were designed to be entirely fireproof, and ventilated by a system of Wigginton's own invention. Access to the upper floors was to be via two stone staircases, leading to open balconies which were carried around the quadrangle at each level.[11]
He was one of six candidates shortlisted for the post of architect and surveyor to the London School Board in 1871. The post went to E.R. Robson.[12]
Wigginton was a freemason, and a member of the Volunteer Corps,[1] receiving a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Tower Hamlets Artillery, which he resigned on 29 October 1873.[13] He died at his home, Buckhurst, Forest Hill, on 8 January 1890 and was buried in the family vault at Dudley.[1]