HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT IND 177 February 2025 | Page 10

HAWKESBURY HISTORY

with Michelle Nichols & Jonathan Auld

The extraordinary case of John Wright

Many crimes evolve out of passion . John Wright presented himself as a single man , while already having a wife and family still living ; he assumed numerous names to confuse matters and in 1889 , tried to kill himself at the Windsor home of his ex-lover . He had purchased a gun , either purposely to end his life , or simply to gain her sympathy . What was the story behind the shooting and who was John Wright ?

Starting from the beginning , John was born in Brisbane in 1851 , the son of Richard Wright and Isabella Langridge , his name at birth was John Mounsteven Langridge Wright . The family moved to the Tenterfield area shortly after his birth . When he was about twenty , he took the name Edwin Roland Ernest Leonard and married Elizabeth Incher in Sydney , in 1871 .

The following year the couple had a son Edwin , born in Sydney , at the time John was recorded as a butcher . Shortly after he joined the police force and the family moved south to Deniliquin . Around this time , John revealed his wife was involved with a superior officer and these events turned him to drink and gambling , however , these are his account of the events .

Another child , Isabel Elizabeth Wright Leonard was born in 1874 in Jerilderie , but by this time , John had left the family . He was convicted as John Wright at Deniliquin in 1875 and was to serve three years for forgery . Then in 1878 a warrant was issued for Edwin Leonard in Sydney for deserting his son without the means of support .

John returned to Sydney and tried unsuccessfully to locate his wife , but did he try that hard ? According to John , he believed his first wife dead , and married Frances Jane Davis the daughter of wheelwright Christopher Davis and Mary Cupitt in 1878 . Frances was from Windsor and was only nineteen at the time of the marriage . This time John married under the name of John Edward Langridge at St James , Sydney by Rev Garnsey who had recently moved from Windsor and had known Frances since she was a child . The couple had at least three children including Florence , Malcolm and Elsie .

A month after the marriage a warrant was issued for the arrest of John and published in the NSW Police Gazette under the alias of Edwin Leonard , a van driver , for deserting his son from his first marriage without providing adequate means of support - it is not clear if he was actually apprehended . He was supposed to take care of the boy but disappeared leaving the boy behind . When Edwin was seven , he was admitted to the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children , where the register notes his mother Elizabeth had admitted him .

The happiness John found with Frances was not to last . His past caught up with him , when several years after this second marriage , his first wife Elizabeth discovered his whereabouts . Elizabeth approached Frances with her allegations , but the accusations were dismissed by Frances as unbelievable . Elizabeth appeared in their lives for a second time in 1887 , first by sending threatening letters , followed by a visit . Shortly after , John was picked up by the police and charged with bigamy .

Appearing at Darlinghurst Quarter Sessions in 1887 , Frances recounted that her husband , “ had been to her one of the best husbands in the world , and she could not speak too highly of him .” Despite her fervent support , John was found guilty of contracting a bigamous marriage and it was annulled .

Judge Clarke , “ remarked on the enormity of the offence , of deserting one wife and family ”. The fact John had assumed so many different names was held against him , and he was sentenced to eighteen months ’ hard labour at Darlinghurst Gaol .

It is not known why John chose to marry for a second time , when Elizabeth was still alive . Divorce legislation was not implemented in NSW until 1873 , but there were strings attached and the divorce itself , costly . Bigamy , the act of marrying while already married to someone else was , and still is , illegal . The children from the second marriage were also caught in the illicit web and when the marriage was dissolved , they became illegitimate , a cruel cross to bear at the time .

While John served time , Frances , humiliated by the turn of events , returned with her children to her family in Windsor . When his sentence was served , John tracked Frances down , wanting to reconcile but she wanted nothing more to do with him . He returned to her house in George Street in 1889 and wouldn ’ t leave , by evening Frances left the house , however , John threatened to shoot himself if she did not return . He had purchased a gun with that in mind , shots were fired and John was found “ with a discharged revolver in his hand , and with blood oozing from a wound in his left side ” where he had aimed at his heart .

Dr Callaghan arrived at the scene quickly and the patient was moved to Windsor Gaol where the doctor tried to unsuccessfully remove the bullet , lodged in John ’ s rib with the patient in a “ precarious condition .” A few days later he was charged with attempting to commit suicide . John miraculously survived the tragedy and moved on . He met a much younger woman , Mary Jane O ’ Neil , and between 1897 and 1908 the couple had seven sons and two daughters , finally marrying in 1912 , however , Elizabeth was still alive and no divorce proceedings located .

Frances picked up the pieces and aged 29 , married English-born police constable , William Henry Egginton at St Matthew ’ s Anglican Church , Windsor in 1891 . William fathered several children with Frances , including Albert and Lionel .

Not everything went smoothly for this

John Wright , 1889 from the Gaol Photographic Description Books . Courtesy State Records NSW .

family . Her eldest daughter Florence , was ‘ abducted ’ by George McGuire in 1897 and arrested . Florence was only 17 years old , but charges were not made , and McGuire married Florence later that year . On Christmas Day that same year , Frances and William ’ s six-month-old son , Lionel passed away .

The couple moved around as a result of William ’ s career in the police force and Frances was living in Enmore when she passed away in 1929 , aged 70 , she is buried at St Matthew ’ s Anglican Cemetery near family . Her husband , William had retired from the police force and was living in Nambucca Heads area when he died in 1947 .

John Wright succumbed to heart issues in 1917 at Lidcombe Hospital , aged 66 . He is buried at Rookwood Cemetery with wife , Mary who died in 1951 .

John Wright ’ s story is shrouded in confusion and mystery , with not all of the details known , due to his excessive use of aliases . A secret life , filled with infidelity and deception .

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10 ISSUE 177 // FEBRUARY 2025 HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ! theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT