Edward George Wright

{{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=right}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1879}}

|end = 1881

|term = 7th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Coleridge}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1881}}

|end = 1884

|term = 8th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Ashburton}}

|party = Independent politician

}}

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1890}}

|end = 1893

|term = 11th

|electorate = Ashburton

|party = Independent politician

}}

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1896}}

|end = 1899

|term = 13th

|electorate = Ashburton

|party = Independent politician

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Wright was born in Woolwich, Kent, England, in 1831. After an education in private schools, he worked for Fox, Henderson and Co. He was the engineer for the gasworks in Rome and then worked on the naval dockyards at Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and then Aldershot. He married in September 1854 at London and went to New Zealand with his wife and their first two sons in 1857, with another one born in their chosen country.{{DNZB|Lawrence|Morag and Peter|2w34|Wright, Edward George|22 April 2012}}

In Canterbury, he was responsible for many of the engineering works, especially bridges.

He represented the Coleridge electorate from 1879 to 1881, then the Ashburton electorate from 1881 to 16 May 1884, when he resigned.{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103 |page=247}} He unsuccessfully contested the {{By-election link|Wakanui|1885}} for {{NZ electorate link|Wakanui}}. In the {{NZ election link|1887}}, he contested the {{NZ electorate link|Avon}} electorate, but was defeated by Edwin Blake.{{cite web |title=The General Election, 1887 |url= http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1887-II.2.1.9.13 |publisher=National Library |access-date=25 February 2012 |page=2 |year=1887}}

He was successful again in the {{NZ election link|1890}} in the Ashburton electorate. In the {{NZ election link|1893}}, he was defeated in the {{NZ electorate link|Rangitata}} electorate. He was once again successful in the {{NZ election link|1896}} in the Ashburton electorate. He retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1899.

Wright was chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board for four periods.

Wright died at his homestead Windermere, after which a locality between Hinds and Winslow is named, on 12 August 1902. He was survived by his wife and five children.{{cite news |title=Edward George Wright |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19020812.2.48 |access-date=27 November 2019 |work=The Star |issue=7478 |date=12 August 1902 |page=3}} He was buried at Windermere Church.{{cite news |title=The Late Mr. E. G. Wright |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=CHP19020815.2.44 |access-date=28 April 2016 |work=The Press |volume=LIX| issue=11352 |date=15 August 1902 |page=5}}

{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par | nz}}

{{s-bef | before=George Hart}}

{{s-ttl | title=Member of Parliament for Coleridge|years=1879–1881}}

{{s-aft | after=David McMillan}}

|-

{{s-new | constituency}}

{{s-ttl | rows=3 | title= Member of Parliament for Ashburton| years=1881–1884
1890–1893
1896–1899}}

{{s-aft | after = William Walker}}

{{s-bef | before = William Walker}}

{{s-aft | after = John McLachlan}}

{{s-bef | before = John McLachlan}}

{{s-aft | after= John McLachlan}}

|-

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef | before = John Thomas Peacock }}

{{s-ttl | rows=4 | title = Chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board |years = 1885–1886
1896–1898
1900–1901
1902}}

{{s-aft | after = John Thomas Peacock }}

{{s-bef | before = John Joyce }}

{{s-aft | after = Frank Graham }}

{{s-bef | before = Isaac Gibbs }}

{{s-aft | after = Frederick Waymouth }}

{{s-bef | before = Frederick Waymouth }}

{{s-aft | after = Albert Kaye }}

{{end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Edward George}}

Category:1831 births

Category:1902 deaths

Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives

Category:New Zealand engineers

Category:People from Woolwich

Category:People from Ashburton, New Zealand

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1887 New Zealand general election

Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1893 New Zealand general election

Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates

Category:English emigrants to New Zealand

Category:19th-century New Zealand politicians

Category:19th-century New Zealand engineers

Category:Local politicians in New Zealand

Category:Lyttelton Harbour Board members