writings are: 1. ‘The Use of the Globes, or the General Doctrine of the Sphere,’ London, 1740, 8vo. 2. ‘Clavis Celestis, being the Explication of a Diagram entituled a Synopsis of the Universe, or the Visible World epitomised,’ London, 1742, 4to. 3. ‘Louthiana, or an Introduction to the Antiquities of Ireland in upwards of ninety Views and Plans, representing with Explanations the principal Ruins, Curiosities, and Antient Dwellings in the County of Louth,’ with a portrait, London, 1748, 4to; a second edition, 1758, with some few additions, Londonn, 1758, 3 pts. 4to. 4. ‘An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe, founded upon the Laws of Nature’ (London, 1750, 4to. An edition of this work was published in Philadelphia, with notes by C. Rafinesque, in 1837.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; Allibone's Dict. of Eng. Lit.]
WRIGHT, THOMAS (1792–1849), engraver and portrait-painter, was born at Birmingham on 2 March 1792. After serving an apprenticeship with Henry Meyer [q. v.] he worked for four years as assistant to William Thomas Fry [q. v.], for whom he engraved the popular plate of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold in a box at Covent Garden Theatre. About 1817 he began to practise independently as a stipple-engraver, and also found employment in taking portraits in pencil and miniature. Wright became much associated with George Dawe [q. v.], whose sister he married, and in 1822 followed him to St. Petersburg to engrave his gallery of portraits of Russian generals; there he also executed a fine plate of the Emperor Alexander, and another of the Empress Alexandra with her children, both after Dawe, on account of which he received diamond rings from members of the royal family and a gold medal from the king of Prussia. Wright returned to England in 1826, and during the next four years was employed upon the plates to Mrs. Jameson's ‘Beauties of the Court of Charles II,’ which constitute his best work; also upon some of the plates to the folio edition of Lodge's ‘Portraits.’ In 1830 he again went to Russia, and remained for fifteen years, working under the patronage of the court. There he published a series of portraits entitled ‘Les Contemporains Russes,’ drawn and engraved by himself. On finally leaving St. Petersburg Wright presented a complete collection of impressions from his plates, numbering about 300, to the Hermitage Gallery. He died in George Street, Hanover Square, London, on 30 March 1849. He was a member of the academies of St. Petersburg, Florence, and Stockholm.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 1849, ii. 211; Athenæum, 1849.]
WRIGHT, THOMAS (1789–1875), prison philanthropist, was born at Manchester in 1789, his father being a Scotsman and his mother a Manchester woman. He received his education at a Wesleyan Sunday school, and when fifteen years old was apprenticed to an ironfounder, ultimately becoming foreman of the foundry at 3l. 10s. a week. In 1817, after a few years of indifference to religion, he joined the congregationalists, and was deacon of the chapel in Grosvenor Street, Piccadilly, Manchester, from 1825 to the end of his life. Among the labourers in the same workshop with him was a discharged convict, whom he saved from dismissal by depositing 20l. for the man's good behaviour. This circumstance directed his attention to the reclamation of discharged prisoners, and about 1838 he obtained permission to visit the Salford prison. As he was at work at the foundry from five in the morning until six in the evening, he could spend only his evenings and his Sunday afternoons at the prison, where he became the trusted friend of the inmates, for large numbers of whom on their release he obtained honest employment, his personal guarantee being given in many cases. The value of his labours was made public by the reports of the prison inspectors and chaplains, and he was offered the post of government travelling inspector of prisons at a salary of 800l. This he declined, on the ground that if he were an official his influence would be lessened; but in 1852 he accepted a public testimonial of 3,248l., including 100l. from the royal bounty fund. With this sum an annuity equal to the amount of his wages was purchased, and he was enabled to give up his situation at the foundry and devote all his time to the ministration of criminals. For some years he attended nearly every unfortunate wretch that was executed in England.
Mr. G. F. Watts presented his picture of the ‘Good Samaritan’ to the corporation of Manchester in May 1852, ‘as a testimony of his high esteem for the exemplary and praiseworthy character’ of Wright. Another picture, ‘The Condemned Cell,’ containing Wright's portrait, was painted by Charles Mercier, and presented by subscribers to the corporation of London in July 1869. Another portrait by Mercier was given to the Salford Museum. A full-length portrait by J. D. Watson, painted in
