[4] The Wighams were a part of a network of leading Quaker anti-slavery families of the period operating in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, and Dublin.

[6] In 1840, Wigham and her friend Elizabeth Pease Nichol travelled to London to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention, which began on 12 June.

[10] In the same year, she wrote The Anti-Slavery Cause in America and its Martyrs, a short book intended to influence the British government.

[6] She played an active role in the British Women's Temperance Association Scottish Christian Union, becoming a national vice president.

[5] Wigham's father died in 1864, after which she continued to live at her stepmother Jane's house at South Gray Street, Edinburgh.

The group aimed to gain recognition for Wigham, Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Priscilla Bright McLaren, and Jane Smeal – the city's "forgotten heroines".