Richard Wright - UPDATE

[Merry]

Oh, lol that was clever!! pmsl!

[Margaret in Burton]

Originally Posted by Rachel

Only just seen this .... can't find anything helpful, but don't think you've given his year of birth .... c1887

Richard Wright, Knaresborough, Sep qtr 1886 9a 117.

He is also 25 on the 1911 census

Rachel's post said 1883 when I looked.

Snap Merry

[Rachel]

Originally Posted by Margaret in Burton

Rachel's post said 1883 when I looked.

That's cos I'm sleepy today and can't count backwards
I did correct it immediately after posting

Originally Posted by Merry

Do you know roughly when that would have been?

It would possibly have been roughly between 1945 and 1950 and in Harrogate.

[Merry]

There are no suitable deaths in Harrogate, so I wonder if this is him?

Name: Richard Wright
Death Registration Month/Year: 1958 Q1
Age at death (estimated): 71
Registration district: Leeds
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume: 2c
Page: 446


Age is spot on and this is the only death in Yorkshire very close for age. (I only looked at the ones without a middle name.) Obviously he might not have died in Yorkshire, but I'm not going there! lol

Apparently Maidstone jail destroy their records after a max of 20 years, so they won't be any help. If only we could trace his army record we might be in with a chance of info, but I've looked at all the likely ones on Ancestry without any luck. As he was a professional soldier I suppose it's possible he was still in the army after WW1 and if the incident with his girlfriend occured in 1922 or after then his army record will be a the MoD and only available to next of kin (once his death cert has been sorted). Trouble is, without a date for the death of his fiancée we could be stuck on that front.

Odd to think that if he had been hanged he would be more traceable. (not that I'm wishing that on him)......though 30 years in jail must have been bad and imagine coming out after such a long time. Do you remember him clearly, Stella?

[Olde Crone]

If he did 30 years and was out by 1950 at the latest, then the window of opportunity is quite narrow, lol..between 1911 (or 1915) and 1920.

A 30 year sentence would have attracted newspaper coverage, so I wonder if that's the way to go?

OC

[Merry]

You would think so, wouldn't you.

OC - if he was in the army and abroad when the crime was committed, do you think he would have ended up in Maidstone jail? I feel he would have been stuck somewhere abroad, but don't know...............

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Olde Crone

A 30 year sentence would have attracted newspaper coverage, so I wonder if that's the way to go?

OC

I've tried all sorts of searched in The Times, with no luck yet.

[Merry]

This is the best (only!? ) fit so far:

The Times 11th Feb 1925:

A Cologne message says that the trial of Private Wright for the murder of Lance-Corporal Whitman and Maria Stasiak, which had lasted six days, ended yesterday. Sentence will be promulgated later. - Reuter.

Ooooh, it IS the right one!!! Armed with her name I then searched again......

The Times 5th Feb 1925

The trial by General Court-Martial of Private Richard Wright, West Yorkshire Regiment, on the charge of murdering Lance-Corporal Whitman, Cameron Highlanders and a German girl named Maria Stasiak, has been opened in Cologne.


This second snippet doesn't come up if you search the words Richard Wright, which is why I didn't find it before.

Oh dear than Stella - he seems to have killed two people. Probably a love triangle?

The date means his army record will be at the MoD.

[Margaret in Burton]

Brilliant work Merry, well done