John Wright (archbishop of Sydney)

John Charles Wright (19 August 1861 – 24 February 1933) was a British-born Anglican bishop in Australia. He was an Archbishop of Sydney and was seen by some as responsible for reducing the influence of Anglo-Catholicism in the Diocese of Sydney.

The Most Reverend John Wright
Archbishop of Sydney
Church	Church of England
Province	New South Wales
Diocese	Sydney
In office	1910–1933
Predecessor	Saumarez Smith
Successor	Howard Mowll
Other post(s)	Metropolitan of New South Wales (ex officio) Primate of Australia (1910–1933)
Previous post(s)	Canon of Manchester Cathedral Rector of St George's, Hulme Chaplain to the Bishop of Manchester
Orders
Ordination	31 May 1885 (as deacon) 20 June 1886 (as priest)
Consecration	24 August 1909
Personal details
Born	John Charles Wright (1861-08-19)19 August 1861 Bolton, Lancashire, England
Died	24 February 1933(1933-02-24) (aged 71) Christchurch, New Zealand
Buried	South Head cemetery, Sydney
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	Joseph Farrall Wright Harriet, née Swallow
Spouse	Dorothy Margaret Isabella Fiennes ​ ​ (m. 1903)​
Children	4
Education	Manchester Grammar School
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford
Coat of arms

Caricature by David Low

Wright was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of the Reverend Joseph Farrall Wright (1827–1883), vicar of Christ Church, Bolton, and co-founder of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, and his wife Harriet, née Swallow. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in 1884.

Wright was ordained deacon on 31 May 1885 and priest on 20 June 1886. After serving as a curate for eight years he became vicar of Ulverston in 1893. Two years later he transferred to St George's Church, Leeds, an important industrial parish, for nine years. In 1904 he was made a canon of Manchester Cathedral, rector of St George's, Hulme, and chaplain to the Bishop of Manchester. Early in 1909 he was appointed Archdeacon of Manchester.

Later in 1909, Wright accepted the archbishopric of Sydney and was consecrated at St Paul's Cathedral, London, on 24 August 1909. Wright was also Metropolitan of New South Wales and in April 1910 was elected Primate of Australia, the first occasion on which an election was held for this office. He was Ramsden preacher at Cambridge in 1913, and during World War I took great interest in work among the soldiers. The spread of Anglo-Catholic doctrines in Australia gave him some anxiety as he was Evangelical although of a moderate kind. Immediately before he came to Sydney he was "permanent chairman" of the Anglican Evangelical Group Movement - at that time an important liberal Evangelical society of clergy formed in 1906. Stephen Judd notes that he "believed in a much wider spectrum of opinion in the Anglican Church" and it is significant that he quickly appointed moderate Evangelicals Albert Talbot as Dean of Sydney and David Davies as principal of Moore College. About the year 1924 he had a serious illness and was henceforth compelled to go carefully. He was, however, an excellent chairman of synod during the long years of debate of the new constitution for the Church of England in Australia. Early in 1933 he took ill while visiting one of his daughters in New Zealand and died at Christchurch, following an operation, on 24 February 1933. He was buried in South Head cemetery. In 1903, Wright married Dorothy Margaret Isabella Fiennes, daughter of Colonel the Honourable Ivo de Vesci, who survived him with a son and three daughters. He was the author of Thoughts on Modern Church Life and Work, published in 1909.

It was Wright who banned the eucharistic vestments from use in churches in Sydney. He was criticised for this by Anglo-Catholics, but he conscientiously believed that the wearing of these was contrary to the law of the Church of England.