Joseph Wright (1826-1893)
Joseph Wright (1826-1893) of Joseph Wright and Co
1826 October 17th. Born at Dudley the son of James Wright and his wife Hannah Maria Timmins (1791-1855)
1851 Living at Harts Hill, Kingswinford, Staffs: Hugh Wright (age 38 born Dudley), Engineer. With his wife Sarah Wright (age 31 born Stourbridge) and their four children; James Wright (age 8 born Dudley); Elizabeth Wright (age 4 born Dudley); Sarah R. Wright (age 5 born Dudley); and Mary J. Wright (age 1 born Dudley). Also his brother Joseph Wright (age 24 born Dudley), Mechanic. One servant. [1]
1860 Joseph Wright, Teesdale Iron Works, Stockton-on-Tees.[2]
1861 Living at Wellington Roads, Dudley: Thomas Wright (age 36 born Dudley), Engine Manufacturer. With his wife Sarah Ann Wright (age 30 born Westbury) and their son Charles Howard Wright (age 1 born Dudley). Also two visitors; Joseph Wright (age 34 born Dudley), Engine Manufacturer, and William Wright (age 25 born Dudley), Engine Manufacturer. One servant.[3]
1864 Married at Dudley to Grace Elizabeth Tinsley the daughter of Thomas Tinsley
c1868 Birth of son Howard Theophilus Wright
c1872 Birth of son Walter Stanford Wright
c1876 Birth of son Warwick Joseph Wright
1881 Living at 45 Islington Row, Edgbaston: Joseph Wright (age 54 born Dudley), Mechanical Engineer. With his wife Grace E. Wright (age 37 born Sedgley) and their four children; Maude S. Wright (age 16 born Dudley); Howard T. Wright (age 14 born Dudley); Walter S. Wright (age 9 born Sedgley); and Warwick J. Wright (age 5 born Sedgley). One visitor. Two servants.[4]
1893 October. Died.[5]
1894 Obituary [6]
JOSEPH WRIGHT was born at Dudley on 7th October 1826.
He served his time partly at his father's works in Dudley and partly at Messrs. Cochrane's iron works at Woodside. On the expiration of his apprenticeship he remained at Messrs. Cochrane's as an erector, and was entrusted with the execution of some important undertakings, including the erection of large works in connection with the first railway in India.
After his return from India he superintended the erection of the Ormesby Iron Works, Middlesbrough. On the completion of the works he became a partner in the firm of Messrs. Head, Wrightson and Co., Stockton-on-Tees, then trading as Head and Wright, and was largely instrumental in the foundation of this business. In this connection he designed several important appliances and improvements relating to foundry and blast-furnace plant, including a method of making railway chairs cheaply; he also designed and built several large blast-furnaces, introducing many improvements in this industry.
On the dissolution of the partnership in 1862 he returned to Dudley, and founded a business with his father-in-law, Mr. Thomas Tinsley, as chain and anchor makers at Tipton, which rapidly extended, until under the title of Joseph Wright and Co. it became one of the largest chain and anchor works in England. At these works he made Martin's self-canting anchor, now universally used.
About this time he carried out some extensive alterations at the Old Park Furnaces in Shropshire; and shortly afterwards took up the Berryman feed-water heater, which he greatly improved in many points.
In 1887 he retired from the firm, and practised as a consulting engineer in Westminster, at the same time carrying on the manufacture of heaters, evaporators, condensers, water softeners, and other appliances connected with the purification of water. His last invention, completed only a few days before his death, was a high-speed engine for electric-light purposes.
During the last eight years he suffered from cancer in the throat, from which he died on 20th October 1893, at the age of sixty-seven.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1860.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1851 Census
- ↑ 1860 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- ↑ 1861 Census
- ↑ 1881 Census
- ↑ 1860 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- ↑ 1894 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries