The Wright family first appeared in Wold Newton in 1760 when a Parsons Wright came to the South Farm and married a widow there.  His descendant, William Wright (left), by then one of a large land-owning North Lincolnshire family, was the tenant of the Earls of Yarborough at South Farm until 1871 when Wold Newton was sold to pay off part of the Yarboroughs' debt.  (See the Land Ownership page.)  The story is that when the auction was announced, William Wright went to see Francis Iles, the tenant at North Farm who had recently moved into The Manor, newly built by the Yarboroughs, and asked him if he was going to buy his farm.  Iles replied, "Buy my farm!  I can't even afford to pay the rent!"  So Wright bought both farms for £108,000.

 

William Wright was an enthusiastic huntsman and died whilst hunting at Great Limber in 1879, leaving the village to his son, William Maurice Wright.

William Wright appears to have been a reasonable and respected landlord.  The Lincolnshire Wolds in the Nineteenth Century by Charles Rawding quotes the following from his obituary notice in the Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser of 8th February 1879:

"... he always supported his tenant F. Iles ... he was one of the first of Lincolnshire landowners who said he would meet his tenants in regard to rent in a way which the landlords of the present day had a right to do, he said he felt bound to curtail his own expenses so that he might be in a position to meet his friends the tenants in a way that one man should meet another."

The family he left were pictured outside the Manor in 1893 looking somewhat bohemian:

"POLLY, TAKE OFF YOUR APRON!  YOU LOOK LIKE A PARLOURMAID!"

"Sorry Mother"

When the last of the family (Parsons) died, the family papers were deposited in the then newly founded Lincoln Archive.  This included many photographs, some of which can be seen below.  You will also find below a rather splendid commentary by the archivist on the diaries of William Maurice and Parsons Wright.