Francis Wright (c. 1610 – c. 5 February 1659) was an English

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man, Oxford don, and

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

. Born in Buckinghamshire, Wright was the son of the Rev. Richard Wright, of

Everdon Everdon is a village in West Northamptonshire in England, some south of Daventry. The population of the civil parish (including Little Everdon) at the 2011 census was 356. Nearby, The Stubbs is a wood belonging to the Woodland Trust, a UK co ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. He matriculated at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, on 31 January 1628, aged nineteen, graduated BA on 30 April 1629, became a fellow of his college in 1630, and proceeded to MA in 1634.'Wright, Francis', in Joseph Foster, ed., '' Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714'' (Oxford, 1891), pp. 1674-1697 This was at a time when most academics at Oxford were obliged to lead celibate lives in college and had to resign if they wished to marry. In 1646, Wright was appointed by the

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precede ...

as Master of Sir John Gresham’s Grammar School in

Holt, Norfolk Holt is a market town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to 3,810 at the 201 ...

, where he remained until his death in 1659, teaching mostly

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

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. He was buried at Holt on 6 February 1658/59.“Mr Francis Wright”
in Burials for 1658, parish register of Holt, Norfolk at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 28 November 2020

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Francis 1610s births 1659 deaths 17th-century English educators Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Headmasters of Gresham's School