Wright, David John

David was born in Hackney, London in 1895/6.

At the time of the 1901 census, his parents, David and Emma Wright, were living at 15 Conduit Street, Hackney with their five children: Isaac (24), Emma (21), Edith (18), David (16) and James (14). At the time David Snr was working as a builder’s labourer and David Jnr was working as a grocer’s assistant. Isaac was the foreman at a steam laundry.

David married Ada Agnes Turner on 8th January 1911 at St James Church, Hackney. Their address on the register was 11 Millfields Road. David’s occupation is given as general warehouseman. Ada was recorded as a “Lady Clerk”.

At the time of the 1901 census, Ada was living with her parents, John and Rebecca, in Balsall Heath, Worcestershire and her employment was given as a paper merchant’s invoice clerk. Ada’s father is recorded in the marriage register as James Turner (deceased).

By 1911, David and Ada were living at 118 Edward Road, Walthamstow, Essex and David is recorded as a grocer’s porter.

Their connection with Warwick is via Ada’s mother, Rebecca Sophie Turner, and it’s possible that Ada moved back to live with her mother when David was serving in Belgium.  Balsall Heath was originally part of the Worcestershire parish of King’s Norton but was added to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in October 1891. The couple were living in Guys Cliffe Terrace, however, at the time of David’s death.

The Warwick Advertiser, reporting on 3rd November 1917 stated “Mrs Wright of 20 Guys Cliffe Terrace has received a letter from an officer stating that her husband, Sergeant D J Wright had been killed in action. The officer says ‘Your husband was a man on whom I placed the utmost reliance knowing that any order that was given to him, he would carry out. He was always most courageous in the line – cheerful, energetic and trustworthy'”

The marriage register and census forms all indicate a date of birth of c.1885. This is consistent with David being 32 when he died in 1917, not 39 as given on the headstone in Warwick cemetery. It seems likely that the age on the headstone represents the age he would have been when Ada died in 1924.