George Edward Wright

George Edward was the son of Mr and Mrs Edward Wright of Nottingham (CWGC). It is probable that his father Edward Wright married Annie Beales in 1875 (J/F/M Mansfield Nottinghamshire) and that they had at least four children: Edith b. Mansfield 1879 (J/A/S Mansfield), George Edward b. Huntingdon 1883 (J/A/S Huntingdon), John (Jack) b. Birmingham 27 July 1885 (J/A/S Peterborough Northants) and Arthur b. Birmingham 1887 (J/A/S Birmingham). All the birth records give the mother's maiden name as Beales. The subsequent family history suggests that one or both parents died before 1901. In 1901 George (17) was working as a bottler (stout) and living as a boarder at 3 Woodland Street, Nottingham, in the household of Clara and Harry Keys (28), also a bottler (stout), and their three daughters. George married Ethel Thomson/Thompson in 1905 (J/F/M Nottingham) and according to the information provided by George on the 1911 census, when they were living apart, they had been married for six years and had had two children one of whom had died. The two children were probably Ethel Doris Wright b. 1905 (J/A/S Nottingham) and George Arthur Wright b. 1907 (A/M/J Nottingham) d. 1907 (J/A/S Nottingham), both records giving their mother's maiden name as Thompson. Ethel completed the same census with the information that she had been married for six years and had had three children of whom one had died. Her third child was probably Arthur Smith Wright b. 24 July 1909 (J/A/S Nottingham, d. 1990 J/F/M Nottingham), mother's maiden name Thompson, who would appear to have been born after the couple had separated. In 1911, George, now working as a cleaner (railway), was a boarder at 76 Rupert Street, Meadows, Nottingham, in the household of Mary Ann Powner (62) a widow whose occupation was given as midwife. Also in the household was his brother, John Wright (25 b. Birmingham), a labourer (railway), John's wife Beatrice Ellen nee Powner (21 b. South Wigston 18 December 1889), who were married in 1910 (A/M/J Nottingham), and their four month old son, John Edward, as well as another boarder, Albert Adams, a domestic chauffeur. George's estranged wife was living at 8 St John Square, Keswick Street, Sneinton, Nottingham, at the time of the 1911 Census. Ethel was head of household and working as a nickel plater for a safety razor manufacturer. Also in the household were her two surviving children Doris (5) and Arthur (1), her widowed mother, Martha Thompson (66), and a lodger, Henry Thompson (21), an iron moulder's labourer at a railway chair foundry. At the time of George's death in 1915 his address was given in the local paper as 113 Rupert Street, his sister Edith's home. Of George's siblings: Edith married Thomas Whyley Wright in 1898 (J/F/M Nottingham) and in 1901 they were living at 7 March Street, Nottingham. Thomas (30 b. Nottingham) was a railway fireman. Also in the household was Edith's brother, Arthur (13). By 1911 Thomas, now a railway engine driver, and Edith were living at 20 Midland Crescent, Nottingham. They had had two children, only one of whom survived, Edith Ann (9). In 1915 the family home was at 113 Rupert Street, Meadows, Nottingham. John and Beatrice had at least three children: John Edward b.1910 (O/N/D Nottingham), Leonard b. 1914 (J/A/S Nottingham) and George b. 21 October 1918 (O/N/D Basford); all three records give the mother's maiden name as Powner. In 1939 John and Beatrice were living at 5 Festus Street, Nethefield, Nottingham. John was a railway worker. Also in the household was their youngest son, George, a labourer. John probably died in 1941 (A/M/J Basford) and Beatrice in 1970 (O/N/D Nottingham). Arthur was living with his married sister Edith in 1901 but by 1911 at the age of 24 and working as a labourer, he was living in a lodging house at 1 Vat Yard, Red Lion Street, Nottingham. He served with the Sherwood Foresters (5076 Private) and died aged 28 on 1 June 1916 after an accident. He was buried in Nottingham Church (Rock) Cemetery (Beech 742). He had named his sister Edith of 113 Rupert Street, Meadows, as his next of kin when he attested in December 1915. (See his record on this ROH)