Arthur Robert Donald Wright OBE (20 June 1923 – 10 July 2012) was an English

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled after B ...

who taught at several schools, including

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...

, where he was head master. In 1971 he was Chairman of the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Unite ...

. After retiring from teaching, he worked at

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

for the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. As a young man he saw active service with the British Army during the closing stages of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

Born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, Wright was the youngest son of the marriage of Charles North Wright and Beatrice May Walker. His family was "Church of England, but still touched by a Methodist past". He was educated at The Downs and

Leighton Park Leighton Park School is a co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having been founded as a Quaker School in 1890. The school's ...

, both Quaker schools. His teachers included

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

. Roger Sainsbury
Obituary: Arthur Robert Donald Wright
in ''The Church Times'' dated 9 November 2012, accessed 31 March 2019

Career

From school, Wright joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, received officer training, and during the Second World War rose to the rank of captain in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. He took part in the Allied

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

landings in Normandy, saw fighting across northern France and into Germany, and was later stationed near the Russian lines. After the war, Wright joined

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, graduating with a degree in History in 1948 and later proceeding to

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

. On 26 June 1948 he married Helen Muryell Buxton, a daughter of Patrick Buxton FRS, and they had five children. Going into schoolteaching, Wright's posts were at

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...

, 1948–1950;

The Hill School The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, 1950–1951,

Leighton Park School Leighton Park School is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading, Berkshire, Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, havin ...

, 1951–1953,

, 1953–1963, where he was a housemaster, and finally at

as headmaster 1963–1975. In 1971 he was Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference. One of Wright's former schoolboys,

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on B ...

, recalled him in his years at Marlborough as "an imposing figure, very tall, with a slight stoop, he had a loud voice and was never dull or predictable. On one occasion he threw a book at a boy called Horsey who had offended him in some way. On another... he threw a whole desk at someone as well." On his time at Shrewsbury, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' has called Wright a "great reforming headmaster". While there, working with the

Anglican Diocese of Liverpool The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey, part of West Lancashire, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester, Widnes and part of Warrington and in Cheshire (it was origi ...

, Wright took a leading role in the building of a new Shrewsbury House, the school's mission in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, which was opened in 1974 by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

. While he was head of Shrewsbury, he secured many leading churchmen to come to preach in the school chapel, including Henry Chadwick, David Jenkins,

Dennis Nineham Dennis Eric Nineham (27 September 1921 – 9 May 2016) was a British theologian and academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford, from 1969 to 1979, as well as holding chairs in theology at the universities of London, Cambridge, and ...

Stuart Blanch Stuart Yarworth Blanch, Baron Blanch, (2 February 1918 – 3 June 1994) was an Anglican priest, bishop and archbishop. Little interested in religion in his youth, he became a committed Christian at the age of 21, while serving in the Royal Air ...

, and

Donald Coggan Frederick Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan, (9 October 1909 – 17 May 2000) was the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980.

. After retiring as a headmaster in 1975, Wright became the Archbishop of Canterbury's Patronage Secretary, based at

, also chairing the William Temple Foundation and serving as Secretary to the

Crown Appointments Commission The appointment of Church of England diocesan bishops follows a somewhat convoluted process, reflecting the church's traditional tendency towards compromise and ''ad hoc'' solutions, traditional ambiguity between hierarchy and democracy, and trad ...

which has the task of recommending the appointment of Church of England bishops. He was still in post when Archbishop Coggan retired in 1980 and was asked to consult on his successor.

Later life

With his wife, Helen, Wright had some twenty years of retirement at Coulston,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, where he was active in the parish church and became a campaigner on environmental causes. He was a Governor of

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, 1981–1992, and a member of the committee of the Wiltshire Blind Association, 1985–1997. In 1984 he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

.Wright, (Arthur Robert) Donald
in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' online, accessed 31 March 2019, He died in July 2012, aged 89, and his funeral service was at

Edington Priory Edington Priory in Wiltshire, England, was founded by William Edington, the bishop of Winchester, in 1351 in his home village of Edington, about east of the town of Westbury. The priory church was consecrated in 1361 and continues in use as the ...

.Donald Wright - Headmaster from 1963 - 1975 has died, aged 89
dated 13 July 2012 at shrewsbury.org.uk

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Donald 1923 births 2012 deaths Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Headmasters of Shrewsbury School Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The Downs School, Herefordshire Royal Artillery officers The Hill School faculty