Transcript

of

William Henry Kearley Wright [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol.  47, (1915), pp. 59-61.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1915 Exeter meeting. An informative potted biography for Mr Wright appears in Brian Moseley’s “Old Plymouth.UK” website. An extensive collection (17 titles) of Mr Wright’s publications, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom, is available on the University of Pennsylvania Online Books page. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Mr. Wright was the son of William and Mary Ann Wright, and was born in Plymouth on 15 September, 1844. He received his education at the Plymouth Public School, and later entered the service of the Bank of Deposit, Plymouth. This concern failed, and 'Mr. Wright then received an appointment with the South Devon Railway Company.
While thus engaged he acted as honorary librarian of the Plymouth Working Men's Association and of the Railway Servants' Library, and acquired experience in the general working of a library. He always had a love of books, and was especially interested in the literature and history of the West.
The Free Libraries Act was adopted by the Plymouth Corporation in 1876, and Mr. Wright was appointed librarian and made the library what it is to-day. A lasting memorial to him is to be found in the special collection of Devon and Cornwall literature at the library. It was the work of years, and it is now probably the most complete in existence. He was also mainly instrumental in persuading Mr. Carnegie to give the £15,000 towards providing the fine set of buildings for the library in Tavistock Road. The Saturday afternoon lectures instituted by him were highly popular, not the least when Mr. Wright himself read one of his carefully prepared papers. Mr. Wright was a man of varied interests. Apart from his work as borough librarian, he was a singer, a writer, and a lecturer. He also identified himself with many public movements and organizations. He was a fellow and original member of the Library Association, of which for some years he acted as a vice-president, as well as a member of the Council of that body. The Transactions of the Association contain many interesting and practical papers by Mr. Wright, who also contributed articles to magazines and newspapers. He was the founder, hon. secretary, and general editor of the Ex-Libris Society, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Devonshire Association (which he joined in 1876), and of the Somersetshire Archaeological Society.
Among his publications are visitors' handbooks of Plymouth, of Newquay and Cornwall (various editions), guide to Mount Edgcumbe, etc. ; the Blue Friars' Papers, two vols., 1889-91; West Country Poets, 1896; Gay's Fables, 1889; Picturesque South Devonshire, 1905; and the Story of Old Plymouth, 1908. He was the originator and editor of the Western Antiquary, a periodical devoted to the collection of interesting biographical and topographical information respecting the Western Counties. It ceased to be published in 1895. He was editor of The Ex-Libris Journal from 1891 to 1909, and of Devonia, the official organ of the United Devon Association, from 1902 to 1908. He edited in 1890 the History of Okehampton.
Mr. Wright was also a verse-writer to whom many fugitive pieces are ascribed.
It was due largely to Mr. Wright's advocacy that a statue of Sir Francis Drake was placed on the Hoe in 1884, and he displayed unwearied exertion in the movement to celebrate the Armada Tercentenary Commemoration in July, 1888. A past president of the Plymouth Institution, Mr. Wright was included among the lecturers at the Athenaeum. He was president of the local branch of the Dickens Society, in which, as a great lover of the novelist, he took the keenest interest, and as a vice-president of the Plymouth (Sir Francis Drake) Bowling Club, with which he had been associated since it was started, he was an enthusiastic and hard-working member. When the club decided to arrange an Elizabethan pageant in Plymouth Guildhall in 1910, Mr. Wright, with his wide knowledge of local history, was of invaluable assistance. Mr. Wright was a most effective elocutionist. He was, perhaps, best in his Dickens recitals. A lover of music, he was for many years a member of St. Andrew's choir.
Mr. Wright died on 27 April, 1915, at the age of 71. He leaves a widow (a daughter of the late Mr. Duprez, of Plymouth), but he had no children.