John Charles Wright, (19 August 1861 – 24 February 1933) was an Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, responsible for significantly reducing the influence of Anglo-Catholicism in the diocese.
Wright was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of the Reverend Joseph Farrall Wright (1827–1883), vicar of Christ Church, Bolton and co-founder of Bolton Wanderers football club, and his wife Harriet, née Swallow.[1] J. C. Wright was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in 1884.
Wright was ordained deacon on 31 May 1885 and priest on 20 June 1886. After serving as a curate for eight years he became vicar of Ulverston in 1893. Two years later he transferred to St George's at Leeds, an important industrial parish, for nine years. In 1904 he was made a canon of Manchester cathedral, rector of St George's, Holme, and chaplain to the Bishop of Manchester. Early in 1909 he was appointed Archdeacon of Manchester.[1][2]
Later in 1909 Wright accepted the archbishopric of Sydney and was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 24 August 1909.[1] Wright was also metropolitan of New South Wales and in April 1910 was elected primate of Australia, the first occasion on which an election was held for this office. He was Ramsden preacher at Cambridge in 1913, and during World War I took great interest in work among the soldiers. The spread of Anglo-Catholic doctrines in Australia gave him much anxiety as he was strongly Evangelical. About the year 1924 he had a serious illness and was henceforth compelled to go carefully. He was, however, an excellent chairman of synod during the long years of debate of the new constitution for the Church of England in Australia. He felt strongly that the diocese should adhere consistently to the Evangelical understandings Church of England doctrine and eventually general synod agreed that they should be embodied in the new constitution. Early in 1933 Wright took ill while visiting one of his daughters in New Zealand and died at Christchurch, following an operation, on 24 February 1933. He was buried in South Head cemetery.[1] In 1903 Wright married Dorothy Margaret Isabella Fiennes, daughter of Colonel the Honourable Ivo de Vesci, who survived him with a son and three daughters. He was the author of Thoughts on Modern Church Life and Work, published in 1909.[1][2]
It was Wright who banned the chasuble from use in churches in Sydney.[1]
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