Great Great Uncle Walter Henry Wright

My Great Great Uncle Walter (1900 - 1986) was a concrete works labourer (for the railway), a railway maintenance engineer, father of three, and an older brother of my Great Grandfather Ernest 'Len' Leonard Wright (1905 - 1981).

Walter was born on 18th April 1900 in Exeter, Devon, to Francis 'Frank' George Wright (31), a tinsmith and plumber, and Emma Wright (nee Bennett) (29), a former domestic servant and housewife.

Walter was baptised on 10th May 1900 in St Mary Major, Exeter. At the time of his baptism, the family lived at 6 Teigh (or Tighe) Place, off Rack Street, in Exeter's poor West Quarter.

Walter was the fifth of ten children (eight boys and two girls):

• Francis 'Will' William  1891 - 1967  (76)
• George Charles  1893 - 1918  (25)
• Charles Arthur  1897 - 1897  (5 weeks old)
• Thomas 'Tom' Edwin  1898 - 1977  (78 or 79)
• Walter Henry  1900 - 1986  (85 or 86)
• Ernest 'Len' Leonard  1905 - 1981  (76)
• Samuel 'Sam' John  1908 - 1977  (68)
• Florence 'Florrie' Ellen  1910 - 1999  (88)
• Doris May  1912 - 1991  (79)
• Harold Reginald  1914 - 1985  (70)

Three years before Walter was born, his older brother Charles passed away, aged only five weeks, in March 1897.

1901 Census:

Like his older brothers before him, Walter attended Rack Street Central School. He began at the infant school, a months before his third birthday, on 9th March 1903. His date of birth is actually given incorrectly on his school record as 6th March, which would make him supposedly just three, when he started school, rather than just short of three years, which he actually was. I wonder if they purposely did this, to get him into school a year early. Walter left infants, aged eight, on 31st July 1908, to go up to the boy's school. One month later, he began at the boy's school. His last day of schooling would be 18th April 1913 - his thirteenth birthday.

1911 Census:

Around 1912, Walter and his family moved out of the West Quarter to 11 Clinton Street, also in Exeter.

Walter was fourteen, when the First World War began. His older brother George served. After four years in the Territorial Royal Army Medical Corps, George, aged twenty-one, joined the 7th Reserve (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment as a private, on 17th December 1914. He served at 'Home' until only the 6th January 1915 - only twenty days later - when he was deemed unfit. George passed away, aged only twenty-five, in March 1918, in Exeter.

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1923, Walter (23), a concrete works labourer (for the railway) and railway maintenance engineer, married Winifred Violet Cox (22), in Exeter.

Walter and Winifred had three children (two girls and one boy):

• Sylvia Violet  1924 -
• Eileen Winifred  1926 -
• Ralph George  1931 -

1939 Census:

In March 1939, when Walter was thirty-eight, his father Frank passed away, aged seventy, in Exeter.

The Wright Family, c.1940

Stood from left to right: Walter, Doris, Florrie and Harold

Sat from left to right: Sam, Tom, their mother Emma, Will and Len

On 14th December 1944, when Walter was forty-four, his mother Emma passed away, aged seventy-three, in Exeter.

In Apr/May/Jun 1986, Walter himself passed away, aged eighty-five or eighty-six, in Exeter.