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Courtesy of Veterans Affairs Canada
Courtesy of Veterans Affairs Canada
CWM 20030373-003
George Metcalf Archival Collection
Canadian War Museum
CWM 20030373-003 George Metcalf Archival Collection Canadian War Museum
CWM 20000105-014
CWM 20000105-014

Lieutenant

Wright, William Richard

Unit

18th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Western Ontario)

Branch

Infantry

Service Component

Canadian Expeditionary Force

Service Number

490808

birth

1898/04/08

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

death

1917/05/13

France

grave

Écoivres Military Cemetery, France

Gender

Male

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.

The Canadian War Museum’s Collection includes the following artifacts for this recipient