Frederick Adam Wright

Frederick Adam Wright (16 February 1869 – 2 August 1946) was an English classical scholar known for his translations of Greek and Latin classics.

Early life

Wright was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the second son of Adam John Wright and his wife Maria Jane. When he was baptized into the Church of England at the parish church of Gorleston, Suffolk, on 19 March, his father was described as a gentleman, of Southtown.

The young Wright was educated at Great Yarmouth Grammar School and Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Career

Wright's early career was as a schoolmaster in Brighton and Mill Hill. From 1913 to 1935 he held the chair of Classics at Birkbeck College, which in 1920 became a college of the University of London.

Personal life

On 31 July 1895, at St Peter's Church, Paddington, Wright married Ada Dee, spinster, of 39 Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale, a daughter of Alfred Dee, gentleman, of Tralee. Wright was described as a schoolmaster, of Mill Hill. They had three sons and two daughters. In 1899, a valuable marble clock was stolen from the family but was recovered.

At the time of the 1921 United Kingdom census, the Wrights were living at a house called Kalomba, in Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea, and both daughters, Maisie, 17, and Alda, 8, were living at home. Wright had an easy journey to London from the Thorpe Bay railway station.

Wright retired to Falmouth, Cornwall, and died there on 2 August 1946.

Selected publications

In addition, Wright edited and partially rewrote Thomas Underdown's Elizabethan translation of Heliodorus's Aethiopica.

Notes

  1. ↑ "71464435". viaf.org. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Frederick Adam Wright in the 1921 United Kingdom census", at Kalomba, Thorpe Snapland, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Ancestry.com, accessed 2 April 2026 (subscription required)
  3. ↑ "1869 March 19 No. 1582", Baptisms Solemnized in the parish of Gorleston cum Southtown in the County of Norfolk, 1852 to 1869, p. 198
  4. 1 2 3 "Wright, Frederick Adam", Who Was Who, online edition 1 December 2007 by Oxford University Press, accessed 1 April 2026 (subscription required)
  5. ↑ "A Classical Professorship". Northern Whig. 29 January 1935. p. 6.
  6. ↑ "No. 97, July 31st 1895", Marriages Solemnized at St Peter's Church in the Parish of St Peter's Paddington in the County of London, p. 49
  7. ↑ "Charge of Stealing and Receiving". Barnet Press. 14 October 1899. p. 2.
  8. ↑ "Books and Writers". The Birmingham Post. 23 September 1924. p. 4.
  9. ↑ "Laughter from the Ancients". The Evening Standard. 18 June 1923. p. 3.

Further reading