As a supporter of the First World War, he resigned his membership of Quakers in 1914.

[1] He married Emily Jane Arkle in 1878; they had a son, Douglas, and two daughters.

During the World War I, he was responsible for acquiring sufficient quantities of glycerine for the manufacture of cordite propellant.

He also persuaded the War Office to drop its minimum height for recruits to enable "Bantam battalions" to be formed.

His portrait, painted by his brother, Percy Bigland is in the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead.