Richard Wright

Richard Wright was a member and Master of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors. He was also a member of the Muscovy Company and a Member of Parliament in 1605.

Richard Wright was born in Cheshire County. He had settled in London by 1582, and by 1586 he had become secretary of the Muscovy Company, and the following year was made free of the City (by redemption) and appointed clerk of the Merchant Taylors. He was consequently obliged to resign as clerk of the Merchant Taylors, but remained a member of the Company and rose to become its Master in 1611. As a member of the Muscovy Company, in 1601 Wright was temporarily entrusted with a letter from the queen to the Tsar, as “a man able to contain a matter of this nature without importing it to any”. In 1604 he bought through a go-between a 15 per cent interest in the license to export undressed cloth to the Continent, despite the Merchant Adventurers’ monopoly, from Sir Philip Herbert and Sir James Hay.

Wright drew up his will on 1 August 1617. He provided for various charities but the most substantial legacies were to be to the three children of his eldest son, who were to receive £1,000 each.