James Wright (governor)


James Wright was an American colonial lawyer and jurist who was the last British Royal Governor of the Province of Georgia. He was the only Royal Governor of the Thirteen Colonies to regain control of his colony during the American Revolutionary War.

Biography

James Wright was born in London to Robert Wright junior, son of Sir Robert Wright, Lord Chief Justice of England. His mother is traditionally said to be Isabella Pitts, a widow. According to My Zeal for the Real Happiness of Both Great Britain and the Colonies: The Conflicting Imperial Career of Sir James Wright by Robert G. Brooking this is actually an amalgation of two different women, Robert Wright's wife Alice Johnson Pitt, the heiress of John Johnson and widow of Baldwin Pitt, Esquire, and Isabella Bulman, the mother of his children, whom he married one week after the death of his first wife.
According to Sedgefield marriage registers a Robert Wright did marry an Alicea Pitt on 7 October 1689.
The websites of the Manor House in Sedgefield likewise identifies this as the son of Sir Robert Wright, Lord Chief Justice of England and his first wife, and adds the information that the groom was 23 years old at the time and the bride 46, and that Alicea died in 1723 aged 80.
Baldwin Pitt is a historical character. He attended Brasenose College at Oxford, matriulated 19 July 1662, aged 16, and was barrister-at-law, Middle Temple, 1673. He was summoned to Parliament in 1674. He was the son of William Pitt the elder of Hertley Wespoald, Hampshire, and had a brother, William Pitt the younger, and a sister, Abigail Pitt, who was marrying Ralph Stawell of Netherham, Somerset. According to Debrett's Peerage, the two indeed did marry, and had two sons, William, 3rd Baronet and Edward, 4th Baronet, and four daughters, Elizabeth, married to William Bromley, Esq., Catharine, married to William Higden, D.D., Lucy and Diana. On the north wall near the door of St. Mary's church, Hartley Wespall, Hampshire, can be found the memorial of Abigail, Lady Dowager of Ralph Lord Stawell, died 27 September 1692, daughter and heir of William Pitt of Hartley Wespall. Above are the arms of Pitt on a lozenge, while on consoles beneath are the arms of Stawell: Gules a cross lozengy argent, and the same impaling Pitt.
According to another old epitaph Baldwin Pitt died on 10 July 1679, aged 33, and he was indeed married to Alicia, daughter and heiress of John Johnson of Sedgefield.
On a marble in the pavement at the entrance of the quire of the Church of St. Edmund in Sedgefield can be found the following inscription:
Jacerit sub hoc marmore exuviæ Baldwini Pitt de Agro Hamptoniensi Armr. nobilis et antiquæ Familiæ Constans Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ Et Regiæ Majestatis Asserto IIngenium acre Judicium Subactum Memoriam tenacem habuit Christiane ac pie 10mo die julij Anno Salutis 1679 Ætatis 33 tradidit Corpus solo animam cælo Posuit hoc illi conjux tristissima Alicia Filia et hæres Johannis Johnson de Sedgefeild genr. pia Expectatione Æternæ gloriæ
Baldwynus Pitt married Alicia Johnson at Durham on 14 August 1676.
In the Church of St. Edmund in Sedgefield, there can also be found a baptismal font, perhaps not an unusual place for it, but the unusual thing is that it is of two dates, the earlier, or 15th-century portions, consisting of a broad octagonal step, base, and shaft of Frosterley marble, and the later of an elaborate bowl of grey Italian marble dating from the rectorate of the Rev. Theophilus Pickering, D.D.. On each of the eight sides is carved a shield of arms, one of which, facing north-west, is the coat of Dr. Pickering, who was probably the donor. The other shields bear the arms of his contemporaries and predecessors, and are as follows: east, Lawson; south-east, Butler of Oldacres; south, Thornton impaling Greystock; south-west, Hoton; west, Elstob; north, Wright impaling Johnson; north-east, Lambton impaling Wright. «The font is a handsome octagonal basin of black marble. Each face bears an armorial shield. 1. Ermine, a lion rampant, Pickering, quartering.... three garlands,.... 2. A fleur de lis, Elstob of Foxton. 3. A chevron inter three trefoils, Hoton of Hardwick. 4. A chevron and chief indented, Thornton; impaling, two bars, over all three chaplets, Greystoke. 5. A chevron inter three covered cups, Butler of Oldacres. 6. A chevron inter three birds?..... 7. A. fesse inter three lambs passant, Lambton of Hardwick; impaling Wright, as below. 8. A chevron engrailed, inter three fleurs de lis, on a chief three spear heads, Wright of Sedgefield; impaling, a bend charged with three pheons, inter two towers, on a chief a demi-lion rampant, inter two lozenges, Johnson. The preservation of the old coats of Hoton and Thornton, as well as the handsome design of the font, seem to prove that it was copied or restored from some ancient basin of the same form.» «8. The latter coat fixes the date of the old font to the life-time of Roger Thornton, the wealthy merchant of Newcastle, and owner of Bradbury and the Isle, who married a daughter of Lord Greystoke, and died in 1469, leaving an heiress, wife to George Lord Lumley. William Hoton was the contemporary owner of Hardwick. The other six coats fix the restored font to the time of the kindly and munificent rector Pickering, with four of the five principal gentry of the parish, Lambton, Wright, Butler, and Elstob. Conyers of Layton was a Roman Catholic.» Now, Freville Lambton of Hardwick did marry Judge Robert Wright's daughter Anne, so that should prove that someone from the same Wright family married someone from the Johnson family. Unfortunately for these purposes, the coat of arms of the Wright family of Kilverstone and the coat of arms of the nearby Wright family of Sands in Segdefield are virtually identical. But it does make it extremely likely that the second marriage of Alicia Pitt, daughter of John Johnson of Sedgefield, was to a Robert Wright of either of these two families.
On 27 November 1723 Alicea Wright, of Sedgfield, wife of Roberti Wright was buried at the Church of St. Edmund in Sedgefield.
A further deep dive into Durham records reveal that in Marriage Bonds, Durham Diocese, on 10 August 1676 Baldwin Pitt obtained a licence to marry Alice Johnson, directed to Durham Cathedral. Surety: William Newhouse, gentleman. , and that at Durham Cathedral 14 August 1676 Baldwynus Pitt married Alicia Johnson. And that likewise, in Marriage Bonds, Durham Diocese, on 4 October 1689 Robert Wright obtained a licence to marry Alice Pitt, directed to Sedgefield. Surety: William Stagg. At St. Edmund the Bishop i Sedgefield, on 7 October 1689 Robertus Wright married Alicea Pitt, by licence.
At least two records exist of the marriage of Robert Wright, widower, and Isabella Bulman, a spinster from St. Giles in the Fields, a bond from 4 December 1723, and an allegation from 11 December of 1723. However, in the allegation, Robert Wright is said to be 40 years old, which means that he would have been born in or about 1683. We know that Robert Wright was older than that, not least because that means that he would have been 6 years old at his marriage to Alicea in 1689. Isabella Bulman is said to be 26 years old, which means that she would have been born in or about 1697. Isabella Wright had given birth to a child by at least 1703, so that seems unlikely also.
According to Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 63, «Robert, son of Sir Robert Wright , lord chief justice of England, married Mrs. Pitts, whose maiden name was Isabella Wright.»
The Magna Charta Sureties also mention the widow Isabella Pitts, confirm the death date of Isabella Wright as 21 November 1752, but adds that she was 77 years old at the time.
It seems that more primary sources are needed.
In 1730 Robert Wright, James Wright's father, accompanied Robert Johnson to the Province of South Carolina and served as its Chief Justice until 1739. James followed soon after and began the practice of law in Charleston. In 1747 James was named colonial attorney-general. He also began amassing plantation lands.
Wright returned to London as an agent for the South Carolina colony in 1757. Then, in May 1760, he was named as Lieutenant Governor to Henry Ellis in Georgia. He returned to America and took up residence in Savannah, Georgia. When Ellis resigned he was appointed Governor in November 1760. He was the third, and arguably most popular, Royal Governor of the colony. He sold many of his holdings in South Carolina, acquired land in Georgia, and moved his financial operations as well. With peace temporarily established with the French and Spanish, he successfully negotiated with the Indians and the Crown to open new lands to development. In his early administration, the new lands and economic improvement fostered the development of the Georgia colony.
His first troubles came with the Stamp Act of 1765. But, in spite of efforts by the Sons of Liberty to block its implementation, Georgia was the only colony to import and actually use the revenue stamps. In 1768, Wright established the 12,000 acre settlement known as Wrightsboro, Georgia. Wrightsboro was set aside for displaced Quakers from North Carolina and became home to William Few when his family fled North Carolina after their farm had been burned and James Few, William's brother had been hanged without a trial. As the American Revolution gathered momentum, Georgia remained the most loyal colony—due in part to its recent settlement, with many residents having direct ties through kinship in Great Britain, and, in part as well, to Wright's able administration. Georgia did not send delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774. That same year saw the death of his wife, Sarah.
By 1775, the revolutionary spirit had reached Georgia through the Committees of correspondence and he dismissed the assembly. But a revolutionary congress met that summer in Savannah and elected delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Then, in early 1776, following the arrival of a small British fleet, rebel forces entered his home and briefly took him prisoner. Wright escaped on February 11, 1776, via Bonaventure Plantation and with the assistance of two compatriots, Colonel John Mullryne and Josiah Tattnall, to the safety of HMS Scarborough, and sent a letter to his council. The congress and the Council adjourned without answering him.
For a time, Wright continued negotiations. He was even able to trade with the rebels to keep his offshore troops and ships supplied. But the differences continued to escalate. When his attempt to retake Savannah with naval forces failed, he returned to England.
By 1778, Governor Wright convinced the government to lend him enough troops to once again attempt to take Savannah. After some short but sharp fights, he regained control of Savannah on December 29, 1778. While never fully in control of the state, he did restore large areas within Georgia to colonial rule, making this the only colony that was regained by the British once they had been expelled. He led a successful defense against several American and French attempts to capture the city. When the war was lost, he withdrew on July 11, 1782 and retired to England.
Wright's extensive properties were seized by the revolutionary governments in South Carolina and Georgia. He died in London, and is interred at Westminster Abbey.

Wright's offspring

James F. Cook in his book The Governors of Georgia 1754-2004 states that Sir James Wright and Sarah Maidman had nine children. They were: