JAMES WRIGHT

James Wright was born in 1762, probably in London. At the age of 21 he was charged on three counts of highway robbery in the Parish of Greenwich, tried at the Kent Summer Assizes of 1783 in Maidstone, found guilty of the first charge and sentenced to be hanged. This sentence was commuted to seven years transportation to Africa. After three and a half years aboard the hulk Censor he was, however, transported to NSW aboard Scarborough.

On arrival at Sydney, James Wright was employed as a baker to Governor Phillip, a position he held until his appointment in 1791 as Government Baker at Parramatta.

On the 28 December 1790, immediately before taking up this appointment, Wright, together with Edward Bayles, Edward Jones and William Whiting was taken to the guardhouse at 11pm by the watch. On the following day they were charged with being up at an unreasonable hour and with creating a disturbance. His penalty was to forfeit two pounds of flour from the following week's ration.

However, his services as a baker must have been entirely satisfactory for he continued to serve in this capacity for the next 17 years. In addition to his bread-baking activities, Wright kept a provisions store and also a small mixed farm with horses, goats and hogs. He grew wheat, barley, fruit and vegetables and employed two men to assist with the work.

He was a member of the Parramatta Loyal Association in 1805 and in February 1811 he received a spirit licence. In 1814 he is known to have kept a hotel in Parramatta.

Governor Macquarie granted Wright 60 acres at Duck River, on the Parramatta Road, in 1820. By 1823 he had cleared 15 acres and had 12 of them under cultivation. He had also erected a substantial dwelling there for his family.

Wright's first son, James, died as an infant and was buried in Parramatta on 8 July 1792. He and his wife Letitia Holland had three surviving children. Letitia had arrived on Mary Ann in 1791. They married on 10 April 1810 — 11 years after the birth of their last child.

There is irony in the fact that Wright, who was sent to Sydney for highway robbery, was himself the victim of numerous robberies after he had established a comfortable lifestyle for himself in the Colony. One of these thefts was surprisingly and unexpectedly solved. His silver pocket watch was stolen and although the loss advertised, some seven months later the watch had still not been recovered. One morning a customer went into his shop for a loaf of bread. When he complained of the delay Wright asked him the time. The man took out his watch to answer the question and Wright in "perfect astonishment recognised his property". The customer claimed he had purchased the watch — a detail later sorted out by the judiciary.

Following an illness lasting five months Wright died on 15 October 1825. His youngest daughter, Shepherdess, and his wife died in the following successive years and are buried with him.

John Bromwich, a Davis Cup tennis player and winner of numerous tennis titles between 1938 and 1950, is one of Wright's most notable descendants.