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.

Life

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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]

Works

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St James, Hampton Hill. The tower is not by Wigginton.
  • 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]

Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b c "W. Wigginton". The Freemason and Masonic Illustrated: 58. 1890.
  2. ^ He was at Osmaston Street, Derby in 1849: see "Classified Advertisements". Derby Mercury. No. 7012. Derby, England. 5 September 1849.; in an advertisement of 1851 he announced his move to 57, St Peter's Street in 1851:"Classified Advertisements". Derby Mercury. No. 7098. Derby, England. 30 April 1851.
  3. ^ a b "Classified Advertisements". Derby Mercury. No. 7114. Derby, England. 20 August 1851.
  4. ^ "List of Members". List of the Members; The Report of the Council. London: Royal Institute of British Architects. 1857. p. 14.
  5. ^ "Dudley Complimentary Farewell Dinner for Mr Wigginton". The Building News and Engineering Journal. 7: 10. 6 January 1860.
  6. ^ a b "Catalogue: D/P 58/28/1 Plans and specifications for church school, drawn by Mr Wigginton, architect of Country Chambers". Seax – Essex Archives Online. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Agents Wanted". Derby Mercury. No. 7130. 17 December 1851.
  8. ^ "Dutch Church Almshouses, Charlton". British Architectural Library. RIBA.
  9. ^ "Search results 1–10 of 10 for Author: WIGGINTON, W". COPAC. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. ^ "Advertisements for New Books". The Publishers' Circular. 22: 457. 1859.
  11. ^ "Model Cottages for the Industrious Classes". Derby Mercury. No. 7041. Derby, England. 27 March 1850.
  12. ^ "London School Board". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. No. 1494. London. 9 July 1871.
  13. ^ "War Office, 28th October 1873 – VOLUNTEERS – Tower: Hamlets Artillery Volunteer Corps – Issue 24029, 28 October 1873 | London Gazette | The Gazette" (PDF). The London Gazette (24029). p.4738 Tower: Hamlets Artillery Volunteer Corps (right column). 28 October 1873. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014.
  14. ^ "Smethwick: Public services". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17: Offlow hundred (part). Victoria County History. 1976. pp. 120–3. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  15. ^ Clark, C.F.G. (1881). The Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country, From 1800 to 1860.
  16. ^ "competition for Rose Hill Schools, Dudley". The Builder Index. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help), referencing articles in The Builder for 26 March 1859 (p. 227) and 4 June 1859 (pp. 374–5).
  17. ^ "Drinking Fountains". Building News and Architectural Review. 9: 147. 1862.
  18. ^ "Display Fountain, The Cross, Oswestry, Shropshire, England, UK". Waymarking.com.
  19. ^ "International Exhibition. English Architectural Designs". Building News and Architectural Review. 9: 52. 1872. Mr. Wigginton's Design for the Wedgwood Memorial, Burslem (1605), with a lofty tower, surmounted by an octagon lantern, and a gallery of bold character, at a great height, is good, if not wholly admirable, and well massed Article reprinted from the Athenaeum.
  20. ^ a b "Bethnal Green: List of Churches". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green. 1998. pp. 217–26.
  21. ^ a b Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1255505)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  22. ^ a b "WIGGINTON, William: fl. 1855–68 of London". Church Plans Online. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  23. ^ Thorne, James (1876). Handbook to the Environs of London: Alphabetically Arranged, Containing an Account of Every Town and Village, and of All Places of Interest, Within a Circle of Twenty Miles Round London. J. Murray. p. 419.
  24. ^ Kennedy, John (1894). A History of the Parish of Leyton, Essex. Leyton: Phelp Brothers. p. 67.
  25. ^ "CHARLTON, ST PAUL" (PDF). Diocese of Southwark. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  26. ^ Cherry, Bridget; O'Brien, Charles and Nikolaus,Pevsner (2005). London 5: East (Reprinted with corr. ed.). New Haven, [Conn.]: Yale University Press. p. 756. ISBN 9780300107012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Dutch Church Almshouses, Charlton". British Architectural Library Catalogue. RIBA.
  28. ^ "Architecture and Public Improvements". The British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: 167. 1873.
  29. ^ "Islington: Churches". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes. 1985. pp. 88–99. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  30. ^ a b T.F.T. Baker, ed. (1995). "Hackney: List of Churches". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  31. ^ "Competitions". The Builder: 972. 4 December 1869. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  32. ^ "Warehouse in Ely Place, Holborn". The Architect: 16. 6 July 1872.
  33. ^ "Architects".
  34. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). Berkshire. London: Penguin. p. 154. ISBN 9780300095821.
  35. ^ "Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels - Hatford, Holy Trinity". www.oxfordshirechurches.info.