Richard Wigzell was born in Sunderland, England, on what was to become Anzac Day in 1883. He started refereeing in the Perth competition in 1913 and was considered one of the best officials with a whistle until his enlistment after the end of the 1914 season.
He was wounded at Gallipoli on 2 May 1915 with a bullet wound to the scalp but it was an injury on the day of the landing on 25 April, a bomb causing deafness, which had him invalided back to Perth on 3 January 1916. On his return he announced his engagement to Lillian Lockard, but by the end of the year he had recovered from his hearing impairment and re-enlisted with the 44th Battalion. He served on the Western Front and by the end of the war had been promoted to Sergeant.
Richard Wigzell did not return to Australia. He was discharged from the AIF on 21 February 1919 and lived in Sunderland until his passing in 1938 at the age of 55.
His brother Thomas Wigzell also migrated to Perth with his young family in 1913 and although he did not serve in the AIF, he refereed with distinction in Western Australia for almost two decades. He was appointed Vice President of the Referees’ Association and served as a referee examiner.