Henry Newcome Wright

Henry Newcome Wright LLD
File:Wright, Henry Newcome.jpg
Residence	c/o Law Society, Chancery Lane [A63] St Austell, Cornwall [1919] Cudra House, Par Station, Cornwall [1931] c/o Royal Bank of Canada, Port of Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies [1949]
Occupation	legal naturalist
Society Membership membership ordinary fellow elected_AI 1918.11.19 societies Cornwall Law Society

Notes

House Notes

1918.10.15 proposed by H.L. Roth, seconded by C.H. Read

Notes From Elsewhere

Lieutenant Henry Newcome WRIGHT. Army Cyclist Corps.

Henry Newcome Wright retired here with his Icelandic wife Asa. He wrote of the Arima valley:
"Here in the valley, where the immortelle
"Vermilion flames against the cobalt skies,
"Where clanging notes of hidden bell­bird swell
"The Timeless chorus of the cicade's cries."
THE OLD HOUSE AND THE DREAM: the story of the Asa Wright Nature Centre, by Joy Rudder,

The Wrights, at neighbouring Spring Hill Estate, lived close to their land. Both amateur naturalists, they boarded many of the researchers who came to work in the Arima Valley's lush environment. Henry Newcombe Wright, a British lawyer, and his Icelandic wife, Asa, had left England for Newcome's health (he had been gassed during WWI) and were trying their hand at making Spring Hill a self-sustaining coffee, citrus and cocoa plantation ... [The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist By Carol Grant Gould]

Was President of Cornwall Law Society 1929-30

[from details of Graham and Graham]:Walter Hill Graham then amalgamated with Dr Henry Newcombe Wright and Jonathan Couch, who had been practising in High Cross Street, St Austell under the firm of Stephens & Wright. The new firm was called Stephens Graham Wright & Co and practised in both St Austell and Fowey. They also had a small branch office in Polkirt Hill, Mevagissey, which Mr Couch used to attend on certain days. Dr Wright was the solicitor and agent for the Carlyon Estate, which then owned various farms and clay bearing land on the east side of St Austell, including the land between Charlestown and Par Harbour. He held a power of attorney from Captain E T R Carlyon, the owner of the estate, who lived in New Zealand. He started the development at Carlyon Bay and in 1928 and the following years, formed companies to develop the building land, build the Carlyon Bay Hotel, build the Cornish Riviera Club, now the Cornish Lido, and lay out the golf course. Dr Wright certainly seemed an ebullient character, and was evidently very enthusiastic. He lived at Cuddra and had an Icelandic wife called Asa, and had many ideas of how to improve the various companies, but it seems that he tried to develop too fast; the money ran out and all the companies were put into liquidation in about 1936. E T R Carlyon came home and sacked Dr Wright and gave his business to Coodes, who subsequently sold the bulk of the Carlyon Estate. In about 1930 William Garfield Scown, who had started with Graham & Graham as a junior clerk, was articled to Jonathan Couch, and in January 1932 John Walter Michael Graham was articled to his father. The Fowey office was at this time run by an assistant solicitor, firstly a Mr Atherton, and then in the early 1930s by Kenneth Jones. Also at this time, the practice of Henry Greenway at the Manor Office, Newquay, was acquired and carried on under the firm name of Greenway Graham Wright & Couch. Jonathan Couch ran the Newquay office and came to St Austell one day a week. The practice of Stanley Parsons in St Blazey was also acquired, being opened only on certain days, and ran from the Fowey office. The St Austell practice was then carried on by W H Graham and H N Wright at Cross Lane, where Stephens & Scown now practice. Another firm in St Austell at this time were Coodes & Gifford at the Red Bank, run by Alan Coode and Charles Gifford. Mr Gifford was clerk to the St Austell Magistrates and was later murdered by his own son, Miles Gifford, who was tried at Bodmin and sentenced to death. They were later joined by Perceval Coode, the father of Jonathan Coode, who was killed in France while serving near Caen at a small village called Cheux, Normandy. There was also Higman & Hubbard at Lloyds Bank Chambers, of which J C Hubbard was then the sole partner, later to be joined by D I Rendell and Ryley King. They later moved to 5 High Cross Street, then known as High Cross House, and after J C Hubbard retired they amalgamated with Coodes to become Coodes Hubbard Rendell & King. Ryley King became a full time Magistrates' clerk, but later committed suicide. In 1936 Walter Hill Graham gave notice of dissolution of partnership and on the 5th of April 1936 moved to Barclays Bank Chambers taking Jonathan Couch with him and retaining the Fowey, St Blazey and Newquay practices. W G Scown, who had recently qualified, remained with Dr Wright at Cross Lane and Mevagissey but, not long afterwards, Dr Wright retired and immigrated to the West Indies, leaving W G Scown in sole possession. [Cornwall Council]

Related Material Details

Other Material

National Archives: document
Cornwall Council: records of Graham and Grahm solicitors St Austell