James Wright (politician)

James Wright (painting by Andrea Soldi )

James Wright (born May 8, 1716 in London , † November 20, 1785 ibid) was a British lawyer and colonial politician.

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James Wright was the son of Robert Wright, who served as Chief Justice in the Province of South Carolina between 1730 and 1739 . James followed his father to South Carolina, where he practiced as a lawyer in Charleston , which suggests a previous law degree. He also managed plantations there. Between 1742 and 1757 he was attorney general for the colony of South Carolina. He then returned to London for three years, where he represented the interests of South Carolina. In 1760 he was appointed colonial lieutenant governor of the Province of Georgia . He became Henry Ellis' deputy . After his resignation from office, Wright succeeded him as the new governor of the colony. He held this office between 1760 and 1776. He sold some of his lands in South Carolina and bought land in Georgia.

At the beginning of his tenure as governor, the Seven Years' War was still in full swing in North America . After the end of the war, he negotiated contracts with the Indians that allowed the colonists to acquire further land. This expanded the area of ​​the colony. Among other things, Quakers displaced from the North Carolina colony were resettled in the new areas. In the first few years the colony experienced a considerable boom as a result. The first difficulties began in 1765. The British government's new tax policy was also unpopular and controversial in Georgia. Even so, the Georgia colony was the only one of the 13 British colonies on the east coast of North America that implemented the Stamp Act . Despite significant concerns about British officials, Georgia was the most loyal colony to London until the outbreak of the War of Independence . The colony also did not send delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774. However, the revolutionary spark then spread to Georgia. Georgia delegates were present at the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

Since the beginning of 1776 there was fighting in Georgia between the American independence fighters and the British military or the loyalists . Governor Wright was temporarily captured when his home was stormed. On February 11, 1776, he managed to escape on the British ship HMS Scarborough . When negotiations with the Americans were unsuccessful, Wright sailed back to England, which temporarily ended his 16-year tenure as governor. As a result, military governors officiated in the part of the colony that remained British. In 1778 he returned to Georgia with a British fleet. There he managed, with the help of the British military, to regain control of a large part of the colony and to restore British rule. In the years 1779 to 1782 he again exercised the office of governor over the areas of the colony under British control. This time was marked by the fighting of the ongoing war of independence. When the British were defeated in this fight, James Wright left Georgia on July 11, 1782. He was the last British governor of Georgia. With the British surrender, he also lost his holdings in Georgia and South Carolina, which were confiscated and redistributed by the American victors. Wright spent the rest of his life in London again, where he died on November 20, 1785. He was buried in Westminster Abbey .

Web links

• James Wright at the Georgia Historical Society
• James Wright in the New Georgia Encyclopedia

• James Wright in the database of Find a Grave (English)