PM architect born at North Cave, East Riding, who practised first in Leeds and then in Hull from c.1862 to 1875. His influence was felt especially in the East and West Ridings, and also in North Lincolnshire. Articled to Cuthbert Brodrick, he contributed to Brodrick's design for Leeds Town Hall in the 1850s. Wright's economical use of brick, often multi-coloured, in ornamental façades Italianate in style (although some showed French Renaissance influence) was very inventive; and the elaborate and sometimes excessive touches of his chapels exhibited the joy characteristic of the worship inside. His earliest identifiable chapel was the now demolished Coppergate, Nafferton (1858).

Mainly between 1860 and 1875, he designed some of the most important Yorkshire PM chapels including Holderness Road (1862), Jubilee, Spring Bank (1864), Bourne, Anlaby Road (1871) and Fountain Road (1875) all in Hull; Market Place, Hornsea (1864); St. Sepulchre Street, Scarborough (1865); Wednesday Market, Beverley (1867-8); Chapel Street, Bridlington (1870) and Ebenezer, Filey (1870); Bramley Moriah (1865-6) and Belle Vue (1871) in Leeds; and Bourne, Flamborough (1873-4). None of these remain in use and most have been demolished. His Bourne Chapel, Hull (1871), spoken of as the PM cathedral, was one of the Connexion's first forays into Gothic. He also had a design for small village chapels such as North Cave (1870) and Eleven Lanes End, Leeds (1871), neither still in use. .

Entry written by: BWB and DCD
Category: Person
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