Biography:
1. Frederick Wright was born circa 1815, and was the son of James Wright Junior, the deputy storekeeper at Waltham Abbey. Return dated the 1st April 1831 (WO54/575) recorded "Frederick Wright, a single lad, aged sixteen and a half, was appointed as Apprentice to the respective officers on the 15th November 1830." He was paid £46.19.0d - a considerably higher wage than would have been expected.
2. WO54/545 dated the 1st October 1831 updated his age and period of service in the April 1831 Return, with all other details remaining unchanged.
3. WO54/581 dated the 1st April 1832 updated his age and period of service in the October 1831 Return, with all other details remaining the same.
4. WO54/581 dated the 1st October 1832 updated his age and period of service in the April 1832 Return, with all other details remaining unchanged, i.e., he was still an Apprentice to the respective officers.
5. According to the Return dated the 1st April 1833 (WO54/587), Frederick Wright was single, aged 18, and had nearly 3 years' service. He still earned £46.19.0d per annum, and remained Apprenticed "to the Respective Officer."
6. WO54/587 dated the 1st October 1833 contained the same basic details as before, but his age and length of service were updated.
7. WO54/593 dated 1st April 1834 recorded that Frederick was still an "Apprentice to the Respective Officer." His period of service was given as just over 3 years and his age, 19. His annual income remained the same as stated in Note 5.
8. WO54/593 dated the 1st October 1834 confirmed the information given in the note above, except that he was then 20 years of age and had served nearly 4 years.
9. An entry in Winters for 1834 (p.103) stated "Fred. Wright, an apprentice to the Rex Offices, and Hugh Jones, master worker paid, viz., Fred. Wright, 79 days at 3s, £11.17.0d; Hugh Jones for instructing Fred. Wright, 79 days at 6d, £1.19.6d." On the 4th July 1837, Mr. Frederick Wright made an application to be appointed as Assistant Master Worker with an increase of 1/-d per day as the Foreman of the Mills. On the 9th November 1837, he was sent to Faversham "for improvement in manufacturing gunpowder." (Winters, p.104).
10 Wright returned from Faversham in October 1838, and was appointed to serve Mr Jones, the Master Worker. A note dated the 22nd October 1838, stated that Wright's salary was to be £100 per annum and Jones was to be paid £120 per annum (Winters, p.102). Winters goes on to record that soon afterwards, Jones retired with an allowance of £180.
11 WO54/626 dated the 1st April 1839, recorded that Thomas Sadd had been appointed as the Master Worker on the 22nd October 1838. It would appear that there had been a major upheaval when Wright returned from Faversham, with Jones retiring and taking his pension, and Wright resigning (W0/632) and going to the USA, where he became a School Teacher.
12 Chip Bragg, an American researching the manufacture of gunpowder during the American Civil War, discovered that Frederick Wright was the only man in the South who had seen gunpowder by the incorporation process, so Wright was recruited and employed as the Chief Powdermaker, initially in the fall of 1861, at the Manchester, Tennessee, Powder Mill, and then moving to the Augusta Mills in March 1862. He subsequently worked in nitre mines until captured by Federal forces on the 28th December 1863. He remained in the munitions industry after the war, and died in the 1870's. His brother, James, also lived in Tennessee.
