William Wigginton

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]

• Chapels at Smethwick Cemetery (1857).^[14]
• New Model Dwellings, Block Lane, Dudley (1854).^[15]
• Rose Hill Schools, Dudley, for the New Connection Methodist Church (1859).^[16]
• Drinking fountain, Oswestry (1862).^[17][18]
• Design for the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem (unbuilt), shown at the International Exhibition in South Kensington, 1862.^[19]
• St. Paul, Virginia Row, Bethnal Green (1863–64). Stock brick building, with bands of red and black, seating 900. Chancel, aisled nave, north-east tower. Damaged by bombing during the Second World War and demolished in 1951.^[20]
• St James' Church, Hampton Hill (1863–64). Yellow stock brick Gothic Revival building with red brick and stone dressing. Enlarged by Wigginton himself in 1878–9.^[21][22] The tower was added by Romaine Walker and Tanner in 1888.^[21]
• All Saints, Leyton Consecrated January 1865. A cruciform brick building in the Decorated Gothic style with a long narrow chancel, low walls and steeply pitched roofs.^[23][24]
• Plans for a church school at Cressing, Essex (1865).^[6]
• St. Paul, Old Charlton (1865–67))^[22] Damaged during the Second World War and later demolished.^[25]
• St Barnabas, Grove Road, Bow (1865). Built as a Baptist chapel but consecrated for the Church of England in 1870. Gothic, built in yellow brick, banded with red and black. Damaged during the Second World War; the steeple was later removed and the church rebuilt, retaining the tower and north and south walls.^[20]
• St Mary's National Schools, Walthamstow (1866).^[26]
• Dutch Church Almshouses, Charlton (1868).^[27]
• St. John the Baptist, Cleveland Road and Downham Road, Islington (1871–72). A brick and stone church, in an early Decorated Gothic style. Aisled nave and chancel, with a semi-octagonal apse; designed to accommodate more than 700.^[28] Damaged during the Second World War, declared redundant in 1971 and demolished by 1981.^[29]
• Christ Church, Rendlesham Road, Clapton (1871). A brick building with stone dressings in the Decorated Gothic style, seating around 700; chancel, north and south chapels, aisled nave with clerestories, bellcote; interior of variegated brickwork. Demolished following bomb damage during the Second World War.^[30] Wigginton won the commission following a limited competition.^[31]
• Christ Church, Gore Road, South Hackney (1871). A brick building with stone dressings in the Decorated Gothic style, seating 850; apsidal chancel, aisled nave with clerestories. Demolished following bomb damage during the Second World War.^[30]
• Warehouse for Cohen, Jacobs & Co, Ely Place, Holborn, London (1872)^[32]
• St. Mary's vicarage, Hinckley, Leicestershire (1872–73).^[33]
• Holy Trinity, Hatford, Berkshire (1873–74).^[34] Now a private house.^[35]