MS 8119 Papers of Ferdinand Henry Wright (1897-1978)
- 1897-1978
- 4.34 metres (31 boxes)
- Available for reference
This collection was donated to the National Library in 1982 by Colonel Wright's grandson
Michael Wright. At the time of donation the collection was in great disarray and a preliminary
state of decay. With the exception of the bound correspondence the collection was in no
discernable order. Consequently the arrangement of the collection is one artificially devised by
the staff of the Manuscripts Section.
Biographical Note
Ferdinand Henry Wright was born at South Yarra, Victoria on 29 September 1888,
the son of Edmund Wright. In 1904 he commenced working for the Batavia Sea and
Fire Insurance Company, a firm with which he was associated for the next sixty
years. In 1918 he became Australasian General Manager, a position he held
until his retirement in 1953. In 1935 Wright became the Australian manager of
the British based firm Royal Exchange Assurance, which by then had become the
sole owner of the Batavia Insurance Company. After his retirement Wright
became the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Australian and Eastern
Insurance Company, the name which the Batavia Sea and Fire Insurance Company
had adopted after Indonesian independence. At around the same time he also
became director of a number of other companies including S.H. Lock and Co.,
Bradford Cotton Mills Ltd, Felt and Textiles of Australia Ltd and Godfrey
Phillips Ltd.
In 1909 Wright enlisted in the Australian Army reserve, joining the 6th
Infantry Regiment. A year later he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. During
the First World War he served as a Captain with the 14th Infantry Battalion.
After landing on Gallipoli on Anzac Day 1915 he was seriously wounded and
invalided home to Australia. Between the Wars he continued his association
with the Army, achieving the ranks of Lieutenant-Colonel with the 29th
Battalion in 1926, and Colonel in 1943. During the Second World War he served
as a Senior Liaison Officer attached to Army Headquarters, and carried out
several secret missions to Malaya, New Guinea and the Netherlands Indies.
From 1921 to 1951 Wright was Consul for the Netherlands in Victoria, after
which he became Consul-General until 1954. Wright also spent forty years as a
member of the Council of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. He represented
Australia at a number of conferences of the International Chamber of
Commerce.
In 1911 Wright married Rosa Davies. They had five children: Henry, Ferdinand
Heathcote, Rosemary, Margaret and Patricia. Heathcote achieved a Master of
Business Administration at Harvard, and later became a Manager of H.C. Sleigh
and Company. Rosa died in 1961 while Wright died in 1981 at the age of 92.
Series 1 Family papers, 1897-1978 (Boxes 1-3)
Series 2 Bound correspondence, 1910-1946 (Boxes 4-16)
Series 3 Personal papers: friends and community, 1906-1978 (Boxes
17-18)
Series 4 Career in Insurance, 1908-1963 (Boxes 18-21)
Series 5 Army, 1910-1955 (Boxes 22-23)
Series 6 Political activities, 1922-1978 (Box 23)
Series 7 Consular activities, 1922-1978 (Box 24)
Series 8 Personal finances and investments, 1905-1978 (Boxes
25-26)
Series 9 Post-retirement business involvements and directorships,
1953-1978 (Box 27)
Series 10 Overseas trips, 1927-1973 (Boxes 28-29)
Series 11 Photographs, 1890s-1974 (Box 29)
Series 12 Miscellaneous printed material (Boxes 30-31)
SERIES 1 FAMILY PAPERS, 1897-1978
This series consists mostly of family correspondence and includes
letters between F.H. Wright and his wife Rosa dating back to 1906 and
correspondence with their five children Harry, Rosemary, Margaret,
Heathcote and Patricia. Included are a large number of letters from
his son Heathcote describing in detail his experiences as a student at
Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration during
the years 1939-40. Also included in this series are Rosa Wright's
appointment diaries, 1932-37, and a diary kept by his daughter
Rosemary on a visit to Indonesia in 1954. Letters written by F.H.
Wright to his wife while he was on active service during the First
World War are have been placed in Series 5.
SERIES 2 BOUND CORRESPONDENCE, 1910-1946
The inwards and outwards correspondence is arranged alphabetically
within yearly volumes. This large series consists mostly of personal
(non-family) correspondence and covers a wide variety of areas of
activity including insurance, politics, business and investment, the
Army and consular duties. See Appendix A for the box list for this
series. Series 3 also contains further personal letters (unbound).
SERIES 3 PERSONAL PAPERS: FRIENDS AND COMMUNITY, 1906-1978
This series includes unbound personal (non-family) letters, greeting
cards, invitations, an address book and papers relating to Wright's
membership of, and involvement in various clubs and community
organisations. Included in this latter material is a file of papers
relating to the removal of Reverend James Waterhouse from St John's
Church, Toorak in the late 1930s. Wright was a vestryman of St John's
for over thirty years. Other clubs and organisations represented
include the Melbourne Savage Club, the Freemasons, the Australian
Club, the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, the Travel League, the West
Brighton Club, the Peninsula Country Golf Club, the Royal Sydney Yacht
Squadron, the Naval and Military Club and the K.K. Club. The K.K.
("King of Klubs") Club was formed in 1919 in honour of Sir John
Monash. The small group of papers relating to this club includes a
long letter from Wright to Sir Charles Lowe (1961) recording his
memories of Monash. Sir Robert Menzies was also a long-term member of
the K.K. Club.
SERIES 4 CAREER IN INSURANCE, 1908-1963
This series includes correspondence, financial statements, carbon
letter books, coded telegrams, memoranda and other papers relating to
Wright's career with the Batavia Sea and Fire Insurance Company and
the Royal Exchange Assurance. His position as Australasian Manager
for the Batavia Company included responsibility for operations in New
Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti and Samoa. In this capacity he made a number of
visits to these places throughout the 1920s and 1930s. See also
Series 2 for bound personal correspondence relating to his career in
insurance.
SERIES 5 ARMY, 1910-1951
F.H. Wright joined the Citizen's Militia in 1909 and was commissioned
as a Lieutenant in 1910. During the First World War he served as a
Captain with the 14th Infantry Regiment and landed at Gallipoli on 25
April 1915 where he was seriously wounded. After several months in
hospital at Alexandria he was invalided home. The papers in this
series include a large number of detailed letters written by Wright to
his wife from training camp at Broadmeadows, on board ship en route to
Egypt, from camp in Egypt, from Lemnos prior to the Gallipoli landing,
from the hospital ship after being wounded and from Alexandria. Also
included with these papers are secret orders issued prior to the
Gallipoli landing, letters of condolence on his injury, printed
material, postcards from Ceylon and Egypt, newscuttings and other
correspondence. After the War Wright continued his association with
the Army, and in the Second World War worked as a Director of the
Australian Comforts Fund. As a Senior Liaison Officer attached to
Army Headquarters, Colonel Wright carried out several secret missions
to Malaya, New Guinea and the Netherlands Indies. Towards the end of
the War he was asked to investigate the reestablishment of Dutch
civilian administration in West New Guinea. All of these activities
are documented in the second half of this series.
SERIES 6 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES, 1922-1978
From the 1920s onwards Wright maintained an active interest in the
conservative side of Australian politics. He was a friend and
supporter of Robert Menzies. This small series includes
correspondence, clippings, leaflets and memoranda relating in
particular to the political career of Menzies. Included are some
papers relating to the disarray of the conservative parties in the
early 1940s and the formation of the Liberal Party. A regular
correspondent of Wright's on these matters was Staniforth Ricketson of
J.B. Were and Son, who was also a close friend of Menzies.
SERIES 7 CONSULAR ACTIVITIES, 1922-1978
From 1924 to 1951 Wright was Consul for the Netherlands in Victoria,
and from 1951 to 1954 he was Consul-General for the Netherlands. This
series includes correspondence, speeches, printed material, reports,
newscuttings, telegrams and invitations relating to his work as
Consul. Papers of particular interest in this series include material
on the Dutch national airline, forerunner of the present KLM,
tendering for the carriage of mail between Europe and Australia.
Correspondence on this matter sheds light on the development of
commercial aviation in Australia. Another subject touched upon in this
series is the Dutch withdrawal from Indonesia in the 1940s.
SERIES 8 PERSONAL FINANCES AND INVESTMENTS, 1905-1978
This series includes receipts, financial statements, prosectuses,
mortgages, bank statements, title deeds, correspondence, reports,
income tax returns and printed material relating to Wright's personal
investments and finances. From his early 20s onwards Wright held
extensive share portfolios and engaged in a number of business
ventures in Australia, the Netherlands Indies and Fiji. From the 1930s
onwards most of Wright's investments were managed by the stockbrokers
J.B. Were and Son.
SERIES 9 POST-RETIREMENT BUSINESS INVOLVEMENTS ANDDIRECTORSHIPS,
1953-1978
After his retirement as General-Manager of the Australian and Eastern
Insurance Company (previously the Batavia Sea and Fire Insurance
Company) in 1953, Wright took up directorships with a number of
companies. This series includes correspondence, reports, statements
and printed material relating to such companies as Godfrey Phillips,
Hecla Electrics, Burlington Mills, S.H. Lock and Co., Bradford Cotton
Mills, and Felt and Textiles of Australia. Also represented in this
series are papers relating to Wright's membership of the Australian
National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce. For
papers relating to overseas meeting of the ICC see Series 10.
SERIES 10 OVERSEAS TRIPS, 1927-1973
Apart from his regular travels to the South Pacific and the Dutch East
Indies, Wright made a number of trips further afield between 1927 and
1973. Papers relating to these trips include correspondence,
itineraries, printed ephemera, postcards, memorabilia and letters of
introduction. Trips covered include Europe (1927, 1939, 1947, 1957,
1959-60, 1963, 1964 and 1973), New Zealand (1937), Mexico (1963) and
Trinidad (1964). Many of these trips incorporated meetings of the
International Chamber of Commerce.
SERIES 11 PHOTOGRAPHS, 1890s-1974
Mostly family portraits and snapshots with some negatives.
SERIES 12 MISCELLANEOUS PRINTED MATERIAL
Includes unsorted newscuttings, business cards, printed ephemera,
invitations, menus, periodicals and circulars.
Box 4 1910-1917
Box 5 1918-June 1922
Box 6 July 1922-1924
Box 7 1925
Box 8 1926-March 1927
Box 9 January-March 1927, 1928
Box 10 1929
Box 11 1930-1931
Box 12 1932-1933
Box 13 1934-1935
Box 14 1936-1938
Box 15 1939-1942
Box 16 1943-1946
Guide prepared 1991. Last updated April 1997
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