Sir John Wright

Sir John Wright (1488 – 5 October 1551) was a member of the English gentry who worked closely with King Henry VIII. He was also an ancestor of the famous Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Biography

Wright was born in 1488 in Kelvedon, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, England. He was born to Reverend John Wright (27 October 1450 – 5 May 1509) and wife Agnes (born in Dagenham, Essex). The younger John Wright was christened 12 July 1488, in Dagenham, Essex.

In 1509 Wright married Olive Hubbard (1487 – October 1560).

Wright was a yeoman in England who was "very useful" in King Henry VIII's battle with Pope Clement VII to secede from the Roman Catholic Church and form the Church of England. With support from the King, Wright became "quite wealthy" and was knighted on 20 June 1509. The grant included a coat of arms for the Wright family along with the inheritable title, and a seat on the King's council.

In 1538 Wright purchased Kelvedon Hall from Richard Bolles for £493 6s 8d. Wright Hall, which had been known before as Weald Hall in the past, had also been owned by Sir Brian Tuke at one point. The estate stayed in the Wright family almost four centuries until 1922 through the descendants of son John Wright (born 1510), the eldest of Wright's children. In the 18th century, the manor was rebuilt by the seventh John Wright.

Wright died at age 63 on 5 October 1551 at Dagenham Manor, at Kelvedon Hatch, Essex. He had had a will drawn up on 25 September 1551, and per his request in the will was buried in the chancel of Kellydon Church.

Children

Children of Wright are listed in birth order, including three separate Johns:

• John Wright, b. 1510, Kelvedon, Essex, England, d. 10 October 1563, Kelvedon Hall, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, England
• Katherine Wright, b. 1512, Kelvedon, Essex, England, d. 1 January 1595, Navistock, Essex, England
• Robert Wright, b. 9 April 1516, Kelvedon, Essex, England, d. 25 January 1587, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, England
• Alice Wright, b. 10 May 1519, Kelvedon, Essex, England, d., Kelvedon, Essex, England
• John Wright, b. 19 January 1522, d. 1558.
• John Wright, b. 4 May 1524, Wrightsbridge, Essex, England, d. 30 September 1626, Whitesbridge, Essex, England
• Elizabeth Wright, b. 1526, Kelvedon, Essex, England, d. 1536, Essex, England

Anastasia Lawson, of the Lawson baronets family, married one of the John Wrights that successively owned Kelvedon Hall. They were married on 5 June 1789.

In literature

Wright and his family are listed in a number of books, including:

• A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies by John Burke
• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland by Sir Bernard Burke
• Visitation of England and Wales by Joseph Jackson Howard

Books focusing on Wright and his family:

• The Wright Family: Descendants of the Wryta Family of Bayeux, Normandy, to England in 1066, with Some of the Descendants in America of the Kelvedon Line of Sir John Wright, of Kelvedon Hall, County Essex, England, and of the Kilvestone Line of Sir Thomas Wright, of Kilvestone Hall, County Norfolk, England, with Additional Genealogies of the Turner, Belsher, Riley, Lingo, and Blakely Families by George William Wright

• Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies. Scott, Webster, and Geary. p. 586. 
• Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. London, Harrison. 
• Howard, Joseph Jackson. Visitation of England and Wales. London: Privately printed. p. 147. 
• Wright, George William (1929). The Wright Family: Descendants of the Wryta Family of Bayeux, Normandy, to England in 1066, with Some of the Descendants in America of the Kelvedon Line of Sir John Wright, of Kelvedon Hall, County Essex, England, and of the Kilvestone Line of Sir Thomas Wright, of Kilvestone Hall, County Norfolk, England, with Additional Genealogies of the Turner, Belsher, Riley, Lingo, and Blakely Families.