Family and Education

b. ?1692, 2nd s. of William Wright (d.1721), recorder of Oxford and a Welsh judge,1 by Dorothy, da. and coh. of John Finch of Fynes, in White Waltham, Berks.2 educ. Exeter, Oxf. 6 Apr. 1709, aged 16; I. Temple 1711, called 1718, bencher 1746. m. by Mar. 1721,3 Mary, da. of Francis Heywood of Holywell, Oxford and Forest Hill, Oxon., 2s. 2da.

Offices Held

Dep. recorder, Oxford 1719;4 steward, manor of Shippon in St. Helen’s, Abingdon, to the Prince of Wales by 1741 (£1. 6s.8d. p.a.), of St. John’s, Oxf.-d. 5

Biography

Wright’s brother was Sir Martin Wright, justice of the King’s bench. His father stood unsuccessfully as a Whig for Oxford in 1695; William Wright, his grandfather, was Whig M.P. for Oxford 1679-81; described by Hearne as ‘a great Whig’,6 he himself stood unsuccessfully for Oxford in 1722.7 Returned for Abingdon in 1741, he was included in the Cockpit list of ministerial supporters, October 1742, though his only recorded vote was against the Government on the Hanoverians in January 1744. Classed among the ‘doubtful’ Old Whigs in 1746, he did not stand again. He died 1 Nov. 1766.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

VCH Berks. iv. 419.

• 1. Williams, Welsh Judges, 145.
• 2. Hearne, Colls. (Oxford Hist. Soc.), vii. 222; VCH Berks. iii. 173.
• 3. Hearne, vii. 223; viii. 70; VCH Oxon. v. 127; Salter, Oxford City Properties (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 193.
• 4. Receiving his father’s salary (Hobson, Oxf. Council Acts , 1701-52, p. 115).
• 5. Costin, St. John’s Coll. Oxf. 1598-1860 (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 214.
• 6. Hearne, vii. 224.
• 7. HMC Portland, vii. 317.