William Wright I
Mayor of Oxford 1614/15
William Wright (c.1561–1635), goldsmith and "afterwards baker", was the son of Robert Wright, an Oxford tailor. He was apprenticed to the goldsmith Thomas Gower in February 1575/6, and received his freedom on 14 November 1586.
He served as Constable in the year 1585/6, and was elected on to the Common Council in October 1596 and made a Chamberlain in 1598. In 1600 he was elected Senior Bailiff.
He took on four apprentice goldsmiths in 1589, c.1603, c.1609 (his own son Martin) and 1617.
His first wife was Joane Winter, but she appears to have died in childbirth: she was buried at St Martin’s Church on 14 October 1594, and their son Martin was baptised there on 24 November 1594.
Wright married again and had another three children:
- Margaret (baptised at St Martin’s Church on 18 December 1598 and buried there on 14 February 1613/14)
- William (baptised at St Martin’s Church on 15 April 1606)
- John (baptised at St Martin’s Church on 6 August 1610).
In November 1602 Wright was granted a 41-year lease by the council of a garden in the town ditch towards Balliol College, for a fine of 40s, and in 1606 he was granted a lease by Oriel College of 143 High Street, on the south-east corner of Carfax.
In September 1608 Wright was chosen one of the eight Associates, paying £5 to the use of the City. In June 1610 he is still described as a goldsmith.
In September 1614 Wright was elected Mayor.
Wright was a baker as well as a goldsmith, and took on apprentice bakers in 1615, 1618, 1621, and 1631. His family ground corn at the Castle Mill, and in 1615 he was admitted Whitebaker to the University.
On 2 January 1618 Alderman Bartholomew, because of his age and infirmity, was allowed to nominate William Wright to be his deputy; but just 17 days later Wright was elected a full alderman, paying £10 to the City and "a purse and twenty shillings to the Mayor’s chief serjeant".
In May 1628 Wright was chosen Coroner, and in 1633 he was elected Mayor a second time, but refused to serve, paying a £10 fine.
Wright died on 26 February 1635/6, and was buried two days later in the chancel of St Martin’s Church. In the transcription of the burial of Alderman Wright, Anthony Wood first put "goldsmith" and then substituted "baker". When St Martin's church was demolished in 1896, his bones were transferred with the rest to an unknown communal grave in Holywell Cemetery.
See also:
- Martin Wright, Mayor 1635 and 1655 (his son)
- William Wright II, Mayor 1656 and 1667 (his grandson)
- Fletcher, Carteret J. H., A History of the Church and Parish of St Martin (Carfax), Oxford (B. H. Blackwell, 1896), "Appendix VI: Monumental Inscriptions, baptisms, and burials of the Wright family"
- Ann Natalie Hansen, Oxford Goldsmiths before 1800 (At the Sign of the Cock, 1996), pp. 111–18
- PCC Will PROB 11/170 (Will of William Wright, Alderman of Oxford, proved 16 March 1636)