ALBERT GEORGE WRIGHT
Images courtesy of Peter Wright.
Born: 6th September 1914, Ipswich.
Died: 28th July 1943; age: 28; died of Beriberi and Dysentery, as a Japanese POW on the Thailand/Burma Railway.
Captured: 15th February 1942 – Fall of Singapore.
Residence: 43, Prospect Street, Ipswich.
Occupation: a Pastry Cook.
Rank: Private; Service Number: 5825510.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion.
Grave Reference:
Collective Grave 10.F.2-10.L.4.
Thailand.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of William Hinton Wright & Ellen Selina Wright, of Ipswich.
Father: William Hinton Wright, born 1870, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire – died 22nd January 1914, at 88, Sirdar Road, Ipswich. A Butcher.
Mother: Ellen Selina Elizabeth Wright (nee Butcher), born February 1881, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Stepfather: Charles Theobald, born 1884, Ipswich – died 1930, Ipswich.
CENSUS
1921 43, Prospect Road, Ipswich.
Albert Wright was 6 years & 9 months old. He attended School and lived with his mother, stepfather and brothers.
Charles Theobald, 37 years & 9 months old, a General Labourer.
Ellen Theobald, 40 years & 4 months old, Home Duties.
Stanley Ernest Wright, 16 years & 3 months old, a Hand Worker for Thompson and Morgan – Agricultural Works, Ipswich, born Lowestoft, Suffolk.
John William Wright, 12 years & 11 months old, at School, born Ipswich.
James Frederick Wright, 8 years & 11 months old, at School, born Ipswich.
Charles Arthur Wright, 8 years old, at School, born Ipswich – died 1934, Ipswich.
E.A.D.T. – Friday, 23rd January 1914 – DOUBLE TRAGEDY AT IPSWICH – CHILD MURDER AND SUICIDE BY FATHER “TOO OLD” AT 44. MAN’S UNAVAILING SEARCH FOR WORK – A shocking double tragedy occurred in Ipswich on the morning of Thursday, 22nd January, the victims being William Hinton Wright, aged forty-four, and his little daughter, Grace Kathleen Wright, aged two and a half. William Wright who was a butcher by trade, had been unemployed for the last four months, and what happened is ascribed to worry and depression caused by the fact.
William Wright, with his wife and five children – the eldest nine and the youngest about six months old, lived at 88, Sirdar Road, Ipswich. On Thursday morning he got up shortly before nine o’clock and saw the two elder children off to school, afterwards taking a cup of tea to Ellen Wright, who had been kept awake most of the night by the illness of her youngest child. Crying, “I want my daddy,” little Grace joined her father downstairs and must have immediately met her fate.
When Ellen Wright came downstairs at a quarter past ten she made a terrible discovery. At the foot of the staircase, which communicates direct with the living room, she found the body of her husband; lying in front of the fireplace, still in her nightdress, was the body of little Grace. In both cases, the throat was deeply gashed, and a razor that lay near the man’s right hand showed the means by which the injuries had been inflicted.
Neighbours at once came to the assistance of the distracted mother, and the police were immediately notified. The first on the scene was Inspector Frederick Nunn, who was soon after followed by Sergeant Chenery and Police-constable A. Hudson, the latter having been called from the River Gipping, where they were occupied in dragging for the body of an elderly man who had been missing for some time. Dr. T. Robbins, of Barrack Corner, was also promptly in attendance, but death in each case must have been instantaneous and occurred an hour or so previously.
The scene of the tragedy, Sirdar Road, is situated in one of the most thickly populated working-case quarters of the town. Sirdar Road itself is chiefly occupied by artisans. Most of the houses, including the deceased’s are built on the three-room bottom floor principle, the dining room being situated between the front room of the house and the back kitchen, the staircase entering the middle apartment, in which, as previously described, the bodies were found. It is a matter of great surprise that in a house so compact that Ellen Wright did not hear something of the terrible tragedy that was passing below.
At the inquest, a verdict of “Murder and Suicide” was returned, after pathetic evidence by Ellen Wright, who described how her husband had made unavailing search for work. “Wherever he went he was told he was too old,” she said.
A family note:
Mr. Peter Wright
Like so many prisoners working on the Burma Railway, Albert, after 17 months of captivity, lost his life to beriberi and dysentery due to the terrible conditions imposed by the Japanese.
An English translation penciled on his Japanese record card, lists his occupation as a Pastry Cook which was likely his profession in Ipswich prior to enlistment. This is being researched further.
Albert’s early life was speckled with family tragedies. He lost his father and only sister just prior to his birth. Further, in the 1920s and early 1930s, he lost his stepfather and two brothers aged in their 20s. The youngest of 6 siblings, he was survived by two elder brothers and his mother who was able
to leave her poignant message on his gravestone as pictured. ” Free from sorrow, free from pain. In memory’s garden we will meet again. Mother.”
The 4th Battalion was attached to the 18th East Anglian Division.
15th February 1942: After the fall of Singapore, approximately 620 of the Battalions were taken POW and later mostly died on the Burma-Thailand Railway.
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