Fred Pigott

Fred Pigott, whose full name was Alfred Sefton Pigott, was a leading English rock climber of the 1920s and 1930s, born in 1895 and died on 28 July 1979. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and joined the Royal Fusiliers in the First World War, where a gangrenous wound received while serving as a sniper deformed his hand and ended his army service. He later worked as a sugar merchant in Stockport. Climbing mostly as leader with Morley Wood, he opened many routes in the Peak District, including on Stanage Edge and The Roaches, then moved on to Glen Coe, Ben Nevis, the Inaccessible Pinnacle and the third ascent of the central buttress of Scafell in 1923. His 1924 route Pigott's Climb on the East Buttress of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu set new standards for exposure. He and Wood were early users of natural chockstones and later machine nuts as protection. Pigott also served the Rucksack Club as president and committee member and, from 1932, the Mountain Rescue Committee, for which he received the OBE in 1964.