Edmund William Wright was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n architect, engineer and businessman born near London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He was Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 in 1859.

Wright was a son of Stephen Wright who may have been Master of Ordnance at the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

. He trained as architect and surveyor in Bermondsey

Bermondsey

Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.-Toponomy:...

 and in 1849 emigrated to South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 with his brother Edward where they worked as land agents and joined the rush to the Victorian

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 goldfields, but by 1852 he had returned to Adelaide where he married Agnes Jane Stuckey (née Rippingville).

He worked as insurance agent and was appointed to the boards of several mining companies.

In 1859 he was elected Mayor of the City of Adelaide.

He was partner in firm Wright and Hamilton.

He designed (either alone or in partnership):

• "Belmont", Brougham Place, North Adelaide (1858)
• Congregational Church, Brougham Place, North Adelaide (1861)
• Methodist Meeting Hall, off Pirie Street, Adelaide (1863)
• St. Laurence's Church and Priory, Buxton Street, North Adelaide (1867–1868)
• GPO (General Post Office) building, King William Street, Adelaide (1867–1872)
• Jewish Synagogue, off Rundle Street East (1871)
• Bank of South Australia, now "Edmund Wright House" King William Street, with Lloyd Tayler (1878)
• Bank of Adelaide, 81 King William Street, Adelaide (1878–1880)
• West wing of Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide (1883–1889)
• "Linden" at Burnside
• "Paringa Hall" for Cudmore family, Brighton Road, Brighton
• "Athelney" at College Park
• "Princess Royal" homestead at Burra
• Adelaide Educational Institution schoolhouse (and Young House?), now 61–71 Young Street, Parkside

External links

• P. A. Howell, Wright, Edmund William (1824-1888), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, Melbourne University Press, 2005, pp 414–415.