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 for him to be arrested and sent to England. The Tuscan government anticipated this and put him in prison on 11 Dec. 1747, and kept him there till 10 June 1748, when an order came from Vienna to hand him over to the English consul. There was just then no opportunity to send him home; and before one occurred a fresh order came to set him at liberty, as he had given bail in the admiralty court to answer the action commenced against him. Two years later the suit was still undecided, and seems to have been at last included in some general settlement with the Porte. All that can be said with any certainty is that Wright did not pay.

At this time he and Hutchinson were engaged in buying and fitting out the old 20-gun ship Lowestoft, which made several voyages to the West Indies and the Mediterranean under Hutchinson's command. In May 1756, when war was again declared, Wright was ready with a newly built vessel, which he named the St. George; but the Tuscan government, in the interests of Austria and her ally, took measures to prevent such English ships as were at Leghorn increasing their crews or armament, with a view to either offence or defence. Wright, whose purpose was clearly known, applied to the authorities to know what force he might have on board, and was formally permitted to take four small guns and twenty-five men. Wright urged them to make sure that he had no more, got a certificate from the governor, and put to sea on 28 July 1756, with four merchant ships under his convoy, which, in addition to their cargo, carried an efficient armament and ship's company for the St. George. As soon as they were clear of the land these were hastily transhipped, but were scarcely well on board before they sighted a large French ship of war, which had been specially fitted out by the merchants of Marseilles to put a stop to Wright's cruising, and now expected an easy victory. Under all the disadvantages, however, Wright beat her off and put her to flight; after which the St. George, having apparently received a good deal of damage, returned to Leghorn. There she was arrested by order of the Tuscan government, as having violated the neutrality of the port, and, notwithstanding Mann's protest, was detained, as also all the other English ships there, till, on Sir Edward Hawke's coming out as commander-in-chief, two ships of war were sent to bring them away, by force if necessary. The governor, not being in a position to repel force by force, yielded after a feeble protest, and on 23 Sept. 1756 the two ships of war, with the St. George and sixteen merchantmen in company, sailed from Leghorn.

After a short cruise the St. George put into Malta, where French influence was strong enough to prevent Wright getting any stores or supply of provisions, or even taking on board some English seamen who had been put on shore by French privateers. Finally, Wright was obliged to put to sea without them on 22 Oct. After that he made several prizes, which were sent into Cagliari. On 22 Jan. 1757 Mann wrote to Pitt that the Leghorn government, recognising that their action had ruined the trade of the port, had given permission for Wright to send his prizes thither, and that he had written to Wright to that effect. Whether Wright ever got this letter is unknown. It was reported in a Liverpool newspaper of 19 May 1757 that the St. George had foundered in a storm on 16 March; but later letters were said to report that the ship had arrived with a rich prize at Messina on 26 May. On 2 July 1757 Mann wrote conclusively of Wright: ‘It is feared by some circumstances, and by his not having been heard of for some months, that he foundered at sea.’

Wright's daughter, Philippa, married Charles Evelyn, grandson of [q. v.] of Wotton; her daughter, Susanna, married Wright's nephew, John Ellworthy Fortunatus Wright, a lieutenant in the navy during the American war of independence, and afterwards master of St. George's Dock at Liverpool, where he was accidentally killed in 1798. The present representatives of Evelyn and Wright are now settled in New Zealand.



WRIGHT, FRANCES (1795–1853), philanthropist. [See ]

WRIGHT, GEORGE NEWENHAM (1790?–1877), miscellaneous writer, was the son of John Thomas Wright, M.D., and was born, probably in Dublin, in 1790. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, whence he matriculated in 1809. He was a scholar in 1812, and graduated B.A. in 1814 and M.A. in 1817. He was admitted ad eundem at Oxford University on 2 May 1836. He was