Biography:
1. Henry Wright was the son of James Wright, Junior, the Deputy Storekeeper. He was born circa 1812 at Romelands in Waltham Abbey, and left Waltham Abbey in August 1828 to live with his uncle, Joseph, in London. Joseph had been the Clerk of the Works at the Faversham Powder Mills until 1823, when he was appointed the principal Clerk of the Works at the Tower of London. Henry was appointed as a "superior apprentice" under his uncle and received pay of 3/6d per day. His "drillings were that I was to become a Clerk of the Works." He was time- served in 1834, and appointed a tempory Foreman of the Works stationed at Ipswich, before returning to Waltham Abbey as a Clerk of the Works, sucessor to William Drayson, who was his godfather. Although he was entitled to a house, he lived with his father in Powder Mill Lane. His sojourn at Waltham was brief and he was soon posted to the Dover District at Hythe, before sailing to Canada with his small family on the 25th August 1839. He returned to England in 1846, and continued to supervise public works throughout the country until he retired, circa 1868, to Finchley, where he died on the 26th December 1885, aged 73. (Winters, op.cit. pp.141/151.
2. WO54/593 dated the 1st October,1834, recorded that Henry Wright was now Clerk of Works, 4th Class, and gave his date of appointment as the 11th July 1834. It also recorded that he was appointed as an Apprentice in the London District on the 28th January 1828, and made a Foreman of Works in the Eastern District on the 11th December 1833. His salary was given as £109.10.0d per annum, and he was entitled to a house. He was a 27-year-old single man with nearly six years' service.
