Alan William Wright was born on 28th October 1894, the son of William Henry Wright, a GP, and his wife Margaret Elizabeth (nee Quine). His parents married in 1889.
Prior to Alan's birth, the 1891 Census shows that they live at 16 Spellow Lane, Walton. His father, William Henry, is a 29 year old medical general practitioner born in Manchester, whilst his mother Margaret Elizabeth is aged 27, they have a child Dorothy May a newborn aged one month who was born in .Liverpool. They employ two servants.
On the 1901 Census, the family are still at 16 Spellow Lane, Walton. His father William Henry is now aged 39 and a medical practitioner, his mother Margaret Elizabeth is 37. Alan W. is aged 6 born in Liverpool. Also declared are William's sister Ann J. Wright 30, and two servants.
In 1904, there is a record of Alan leaving Sharpes Preparatory School, Warbreck (possibly Sharpe College, Hall Lane, where the Principal in 1900 was Thomas T. Sharpe MA) and becoming a pupil at Liverpool Collegiate School.
On the 1911 Census his family are now occupying 16 and 18 Spellow Lane, next door probably the surgery. His father William Henry aged49 is a medical practitioner, mother Margaret Elizabeth 47 born at sea, British subject. They have been married for 21 years and have had 3 children. Their children declared on the Census are; Dorothy May 20, Arthur Frederick 3, and have two servants.
In 1911, Alan is shown as a 16 year old boarder at King William College, Malew, Isle of Man. It is possible that on leaving school, Alan took up employment in the cotton trade as a man of the same name and initials is commemorated on the Liverpool Cotton Exchange War Memorial.
On 3rd March 1914, his mother passed away and probate records show that she left estate valued at £1,347.
On 2nd October 1915, William Henry married Sarah (Sadie) Ann Scott, who was only 26 years old and gave her address as Antrim Hotel, Mount Pleasant. Her husband was 53 years old.
Alan William Wright’s service record has not survived but he almost certainly enlisted in 1914 joining the 17th Battalion as Private 15103.
He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.
He arrived in France with the first batch of Pals on 07th November 1915.
As with one or two others killed around the opening days of the Battle of the Somme, several documents indicate that he died on 1st July, 1st/3rd July or 3rd July, aged 22 years. CWGC record his date of death as 03rd July 1916.
His body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”
His death was reported alongside other Pals in the Liverpool Evening Express on 18th July 1916:
Local Pals Killed.
The flag of the Liverpool Cotton Association is flying half mast in memory of Corporal A. H. Gastrell and Lance Corporal R. K. Williams of the Pals’ Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment, killed in action, who were formerly with Messrs. Milligan and MackIntosh, and of Private A. William Wright, a Liverpool Pal, formally with Messrs. R. and C. Gill. Other Liverpool Pals killed are Private Sydney Harris and Lance Corporal James Wood, both formerly with Messrs. Gruming and Co., Albany. Private Roderic Dexter Sharpe, aged 19, son of Mr A. Sharpe of 30 Great George Street, who had many friends in the South End.
His father placed a notice in the Liverpool Daily Post on 18th July 1916:
“July 1, killed in action, aged 21 years, Alan William Wright, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment (“Pals”), elder son of Dr. W. H. Wright, 16 Spellow Lane.”
The Isle of Man Times reported Alan's death on 22nd July 1916:
PRIVATE A. W. WRIGHT
Word has been received that Private Alan William Wright, who is the only son of Dr Wright of Walton, Liverpool, was killed in France on July 1st. Private Wright was educated at King William's College, and has been in the "Pals" since the outbreak of the war. He was a grandson of the late Mr and Mrs Quine, formerly of Derby Road, Douglas. He was a cousin of Lieutenant Henry Cowin, who was killed at the same time as reported in our last week's issue.
The report above referred to Alan's cousin Henry Cowin and the report is reproduced below:
Isle of Man Examiner 15th July 1916
LIEUTENANT HENRY COWIN KILLED.
On Wednesday, Mr Henry Cowin. of Derby Square. Douglas (Secretary to the Assessment and Asylums Boards), received word that his oldest son. Lieutenant Henry Cowin, was killed on 1st July, while gallantly leading his company into action at the Mametz Wood. Lieut. Cowin, who was 31 years of age, was employed in the Liverpool branch of Lloyd's Bank, and on the outbreak of war enlisted in the King's Liverpool (" Pals "). He saw service in France, where he was promoted to commissioned rank. He came to England to undergo a course of training, and returned to the front about a month ago.—Four other sons of Mr Cowin are in the forces, and a daughter is a nurse in a military hospital in Salonica.
Alan was awarded all three medals which were sent to his father.
Soldiers Effects to father Dr William Wright, no Pension record found.
Alan is commemorated on the following Memorials:
Liverpool Cotton Association now situated at Walker House, Exchange Flags Liverpool
Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall Panel 34
His father, William Henry and his wife Sadie had a son, William Henry Alexander, born in 1918. During WW2 their son joined the RAF and on 19th April 1944, Squadron Leader (Pilot) Wm Henry Wright perished in Australia whilst flying with 548 Squadron. He was 26 years of age and now rests at Brisbane (Lutwyce) Cemetery in Section 77 Grave 40 where his headstone bears the epitaph:
LEAVING HIM TO SLEEP IN TRUST TILL THE RESURRECTION DAY
The squadron, with RAF pilots and RAAF ground crew, had just taken delivery of their new Spitfires but the Squadron took no part in actions against the enemy until some months later, so it is likely that William Henry Alexander died in an air accident. His parents details are recorded as: Son of William Henry Wright, M.R.C.S., F.R.C.P., and Sadie Ann Wright, of Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire.
In December 2011 an appeal was placed in the local Helensburgh Trust Heritage publication which contained much detail on the crash that killed William Henry Alexander Wright as follows:
AN RAF pilot from Helensburgh died in a tragic accident in Australia during World War Two, but he is still remembered by people in the area.
Now an Australian who produced a dvd tribute to the two pilots who died in the accident is seeking help to find a photograph of the burgh man, Squadron Leader Henry Wright.
He was serving with 548 Squadron RAF, which was stationed at Strathpine airfield in the Brisbane suburb of Petrie. It was a base for Australian and Allied forces during the war.
The dvd was produced by Robert Martin, who said: “On April 19 1944 two Spitfire pilots from the Royal Air Force were killed in a mid-air collision just down the road.
“They were part of 548 Spitfire Squadron, which consisted of RAF pilots with Australian ground crews. One of the pilots was William Henry Alexander Wright, Squadron Leader 70834, from 548 Squadron.
“My goal is to try to track down a picture of this pilot to hang in our aircraft and local museums, and I was wondering if any visitors to this website could steer me in the right direction to find one.
“Here in Australia we have a service each year at the crash site where we honour both these men from the RAF. The two pilots are buried here in Brisbane.”
At 8.50am three of the Squadron Spitfires took off from the Strathpine airfield, known as Spitfire Avenue (pictured below), in formation on a training flight, followed by a fourth, and two collided in mid-air nearby.
The Squadron Leader and the other pilot, Flight Sergeant Alan Victor Chandler (22), from Chingford, Essex, who served in the RAF Volunteer Reserve, were killed.
The most reliable information about the crash can be found in the ‘Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, Accident to Spitfires A58/392 and A58/393, Strathpine’.
According to the testimony of a number of witnesses at the Inquiry, while circling the Strathpine strip at an altitude of 4,000 feet, the three aircraft, under the leadership of Flying Officer James Melvin Hilton, noticed a fourth aircraft taking off.
Following Hilton's lead, they immediately determined to test the alertness of the pilot by mounting a feint attack and 'bouncing' the aircraft.
They turned into the sun, straightened up when dead astern and then commenced a shallow dive to close in on the aircraft, which was then at an altitude of about 2,500 feet and travelling in a westerly direction.
At this stage, the identity of the pilot of the fourth aircraft — Squadron Leader Wright in A58/393 — was not known to any of the three pilots and the aircraft were not equipped with radio.
All the witnesses agreed that the Squadron Leader appeared to be unaware of the presence of the other three aircraft, and that Hilton's aircraft, followed by the second aircraft, successfully carried out the required manoeuvre by passing over the top of the target.
However the third aircraft — A58/392 piloted by Sergeant Chandler — collided with Wright's aircraft.
What happened after the collision is less clear. All the witnesses agreed that Wright's aircraft appeared to continue on its course for some short length of time, and that portions of Chandler's aircraft broke off following the impact.
His aircraft was last seen spinning towards the ground. The Squadron Leader's aircraft appeared to carry on in a westerly direction until it dived into the Pine River and exploded immediately on impact.
The first witnesses to arrive at the scene found Chandler's aircraft completely wrecked with his body pinned underneath. Wright's aircraft was totally submerged, and some time elapsed before the pilot's body was recovered.
Both aircraft had been delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force two months earlier. The squadron arrived in December 1943 and left by July 1944.
A major reunion of 548 and 549 squadrons was held at nearby Pine Rivers in April 1998 to commemorate the crash, and a local resident, Keith Beakey, who was an eyewitness, played the pipes at the Sunday service. A Spitfire flew overhead during the ceremony.
Mr Beakey said he had been watching the Spitfire training flight when he was playing cricket before school. Later, he went salvaging at the wrecks with his schoolmates.
He said that while aircraft parts he recovered had since been lost, he had never forgotten discovering the body of one of the pilots.
Both are buried side by side at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Lutwyche, Brisbane.
In 2000 the RAAF Association of Pine Rivers organised a further major ceremony on April 15, when two replica Spitfires flew overhead.
At that time they received a letter from Sir John Aiken, who was a flight commander in 548 Squadron at Strathpine at the time of accident, and went on to become Air Chief Marshal.
They were also aware of a lady from the area who saw the accident and whose parents owned the land on which the two aircraft crashed.
Near to the graveyard is a park, and two areas in it have been named the Wright Reserve and the Chandler Reserve.
At the actual site of the crash, on the corner of Youngs Crossing and Dayboro roads, Petrie, a memorial — a granite rock with a bronze plaque — was erected by the Rotary Club of Pine Rivers, Pine Rivers Shire Council and the Pine Rivers RSL and dedicated on April 19 1997.
Very little is known about Squadron Leader Wright, who was 26. He was the son of William Henry Wright, MRCS, FRCP, and his wife Sadie Ann, who lived in Helensburgh, but was educated at Merchant Taylors's School in Northwood, Middlesex, one of the so-called 'Great Nine' schools of England.
He became an Acting Pilot Officer with 218 Squadron in 1937 and was promoted to Pilot Officer on September 23 1938. He became a Flying Officer on March 23 1940, and a Flight Lieutenant on March 23 1941, and was promoted to Squadron Leader on September 1 1942.
He was listed as living at Greenwich in 1941, and in 1942 he had a crash landing while training on Spitfires at 61 Operational Training Unit.
While flying Spitfires with 130 Squadron, on February 19 1943 he is credited with damaging a Focke-Wulf FW190 single seat fighter five miles south east of Dodman Point in south Cornwall. In December 1943 he joined 193 Squadron which flew Typhoons.
No mention was made of his death in the local newspaper of the period, the Helensburgh and Gareloch Times, which in 1944 seemed to be reporting the death of a local serviceman almost every week.
It is possible, however, that the accident was not reported because it was the custom not to report events which might affect the morale of those at home.
We currently have no further information on Alan William Wright, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
