memorial plaque
Report a Mistake- Object Number 20030373-002
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
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Artist / Maker / Manufacturer
Preston, Edward Carter
Royal Arsenal - Date Made 1917/04/13
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Personal symbol
- Department Arms and Technology
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1917/04/13
- Latest 1917/04/13
- Inscription (obverse/avers): HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR WILLIAM RICHARD WRIGHT; E.C.P.; (reverse/verso): BUCKINGHAM PALACE. I join with my grateful people in sending you this memorial of a brave life given for others in the Great War. George R.I. 13-4-17
- Support frame
- Materials Bronze, Wood, Glass
- Rank Lieutenant
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Unit 18th Canadian Infantry Battalion
- Person / Institution Associated monarchy, King George VSubject, Wright, Lieutenant William Richard
- Measurements Thickness 1.8 cm, Outside Diameter 16.0 cm
- Caption Medals Project- Wright, William Richard
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Additional Information
William Richard Wright was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on 8 April 1898. He was the youngest of Henry and Marion Wright’s seven children. Henry Wright, who was a doctor, died six months after William was born, on 29 October 1898.
In February 1917, William Wright was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 4th Reserve Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force at Crowborough Camp, Sussex, England. It is unclear how he travelled to England. He was later transferred to the 18th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Western Ontario).
Wright was killed by shelling on the night of 12–13 May 1917 near Fresnoy, France, while leading a wire-carrying party back to the battalion’s billets in reserve trenches after delivering wire to the front lines.
William Richard Wright is buried in Écoivres Military Cemetery, in France.