Thomas Wright (23 April 1810 – 23 December 1877) was an English writer, scholar, and antiquarian. He was a prolific writer and an editor of medieval texts. He was also one of the founding members of the British Archaeological Association, which remains active to this day.
Life
Wright was born near Ludlow at Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire descended from a Quaker family formerly living at Bradford. He was educated at Ludlow Grammar School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, whence he graduated in 1834.
While at Cambridge he contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine and other periodicals, and in 1835 he came to London to devote himself to a literary career.
His first separate work was Early English Poetry in Black Letter, with Prefaces and Notes (4 vols, 1836), which was followed over the next forty years by an extensive series of publications, many of lasting value. He helped to found the British Archaeological Association and the Percy, Camden and Shakespeare Societies. In 1842 he was elected corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of Paris, and was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries as well as member of many other learned British and foreign bodies.
In 1859, he superintended the excavations of the Roman town of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), near Shrewsbury, and issued a report.
A portrait of him is in the Drawing Room Portrait Gallery for 1 October 1859.
English priest and historical writer, Thomas Edward Bridgett observed, "It is only when he has to speak of the Catholic Church that he is bitter and unfair."
