My 4x great grandfather, James Wright was born around 1815 in Marton, East Yorkshire and was baptised on 12th March 1815 in Swine, East Yorkshire. The baptism record states that his parents were William Wright and Harriot.

I have found the marriage record for James Wright and Mary Walker. They married on 29th March 1845 in Paull, East Yorkshire. It states that at the time of marriage James was a Farm Servant and his father was a Carrier. A Farm Servant would usually live at the farmhouse with employer/s. The marriage record is as follows:

Later on, in James’ life, he is recorded in Census records as an Agricultural Labourer in Swine, Sutton, Southcoates and Wawne, rather than a Farm Servant. This suggests that after he married Mary, they moved out together and lived in their own house. This explains the slight change of occupation – because he would no longer be living with his employer. Another theory is that he was more experienced, so was made to do more ‘advanced’ jobs around the farm, thus giving him a higher job title. An Agricultural Labourer in 1875 would have been paid on average about 14s 0d per week.

James passed away on 21st November 1887 in Wawne, aged 72, and was buried on 24th November 1887 in St Peter’s Church Cemetery, Wawne, East Yorkshire. James was buried with his son Henry Edwin Wright who passed a month prior to James. Below is James’ burial record. George Wilkinson performed the ceremony.

I’ve included the photograph of the gravestone of James and his son Henry below. It is located in Wawne, East Yorkshire.

James spent his whole life working hard as an Agricultural Labourer. It would have been interesting to know more about the rest of James’ life, his social life, outside of work. What did he look like? What was his personality like? Was he funny or serious? These are all questions that I would love to know.

If you know anything about James and his family, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss him and potentially learn more about his life.

Thank you for reading,
Tony.