He was born in London to cabinet maker John Allpress Pigott and Margaret Hilson.
In 1863 he married Laura Jane West, with whom he had two sons; a second marriage in 1883 to Louisa Matilda Jones produced a daughter.
He practised as a solicitor in Grafton until joining a Sydney firm in 1864.
[2] In 1880 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Canterbury, serving until his resignation in 1884,[1] due to ill health.
[3] He was president of the Incorporated Law Institute of New South Wales from 1892 until 1908.