Piggott was
called to the bar in 1874 at the
Middle Temple. In 1881 he married Mabel Waldron (1854-1949), the eldest daughter of
Jasper Wilson Johns MP, and founder of the Colonial Nursing Association; they had two sons, Francis Stewart Gilderoy Piggott (1883-1966) and Julian Ito Piggott (1888-1965). He published
Law of Torts in 1885. and was knighted in the same year. Piggott published two novels under the penname Hope Dawlish and a ‘musical playlet’. In addition, he wrote books and articles on Japanese arts and exhibited his paintings in London. His legal writings included more than a dozen major books and several articles. On his retirement he intended to write a series of historical and legal works on the law of the sea. Peter Wesley-Smith, writing of Piggott for the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, said of him: "Piggott was genial but tactless, pompous but lacking in dignity, learned but inaccurate, industrious yet impecunious, and admired by a few while reviled by many. His record as a judge is sound, though he failed as a judicial administrator and there were many allegations of his partiality on the bench. Eventually he was required to retire soon after reaching the age of sixty. This was a rude shock to him, even though an amendment, known colloquially as ‘the Piggott Relief Ordinance’, had been made to the local pensions legislation precisely to facilitate his removal. He was chronically short of money; indeed in 1922 he was adjudged bankrupt, with creditors in Hong Kong alone owed £15,000. On losing his Hong Kong post he sought employment in Peking (Beijing), but the Foreign Office advised the Chinese government not to appoint him. His return to Hong Kong to practise at the private bar was considered almost scandalous, and when he left for England in 1914 his passage was paid for out of the vote for the relief of destitutes." Piggott died on 12 March 1925 at his home, 33 Thurloe Square, London. He is buried in
Brookwood Cemetery in the grave of his wife's parents. ==Selected works==