Brigadier-General Wallace Duffield Wright, VC, CB, CMG, DSO (20 September 1875 – 25 March 1953) was a British soldier and politician. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Wright, the son of James Sykes Wright, was born in Gibraltar on 20 September 1875.[1] He was educated at Cranbrook School, Kent. He joined the Militia in 1893,[2] and was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) in December 1896.[1]
Wright served with the Malakand Field Force and the Tirah Expeditionary Force on the North West Frontier (1897–1898),[1] during which he was severely wounded.[2] He was awarded the India Medal with clasps for the Punjab Frontier and Tirah and was promoted to Lieutenant in September 1898.[1]
In 1901 Wright was sent to North Nigeria,[2] where he was attached to the Northern Nigeria Regiment, during Kano-Sokoto Expedition in Northern Nigeria.
On the 24th March, 1903, Lieutenant Wright, with only one [other] Officer and 44 men, took up a position in the path of the advancing enemy, and sustained the determined charges of 1,000 Horse and 2,000 Foot for two hours, and when the enemy, after heavy losses, fell back in good order, Lieutenant Wright continued to follow them up till they were in full retreat.
The personal example of this Officer, as well as his skilful leadership, contributed largely to the brilliant success of this affair.
He in no way infringed his orders by his daring initiative, as, though warned of the possibility of meeting large bodies of the enemy, he had purposely been left a free hand.[3]
From 1904 to 1914 Wright held a number of staff positions,[1] such as in April 1909 when he was appointed a general staff officer, grade 3 at the War Office.[4]
During the First World War he served in the Kamerun campaign in Central Africa from 1914–15 and in France from 1915–19, becoming a brevet major in July 1915,[5] major in September,[6] and brevet lieutenant colonel in 1916. In September that year he was appointed as general staff officer, grade 1, or chief of staff, of the 18th (Eastern) Division.[7] In July 1918, a temporary brigadier general when he was appointed as brigadier general, general staff of XVII Corps, taking over from Major General Ronald Charles.[8]
Having reverted in rank due to the war's termination, he transferred to the Middlesex Regiment and was made a substantive lieutenant colonel in August 1920.[9] Having been placed on the half-pay list in September 1922,[10] he was made a colonel in March 1923, with seniority backdated to January 1919.[11] He was then a staff officer with the British Army of the Rhine from 1923[12] to 1926 and commanded the 8th Infantry Brigade at Plymouth, 1925,[13] an appointment he relinquished in July 1927, together with the temporary rank of colonel commandant.[14]
He retired with the honorary rank of brigadier general in July 1927.[15] In retirement he joined the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms[16] and served in the Home Guard during World War II from 1940.[13]
In 1928, Wright was elected at a by-election as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Tavistock following the death of the sitting MP Philip Kenyon-Slaney. He was re-elected at the 1929 general election, but stood down at the 1931 general election.
His VC was destroyed in the fire at The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment Museum, Clandon Park, Surrey on 29 April 2015.[18]
