Amos Wright

Amos Wright came to Rushden in the 1870s, and lived with his brother Charles and his wife. They were sons of John Andrew Wright, and had been born at Dean in Bedfordshire. The brothers were shoemakers, and came here during the rapid growth of Rushden, due to the shoe trade advances when mechanisation created a need for factories instead of hand worked shoe making.

On June 2nd 1884 Amos married Elizabeth Alice Knight, daughter of Thomas Sargent Knight, a shoemaker. The following year their son Harry was born, followed by Edgar in 1887, and a daughter Ada in 1889. The family lived in Fitzwilliam Street.

Amos had established his factory before 1893 and was in Moor Road in 1896. He does not seem to have advertised in the trade directories, but was probably dealing as a wholesaler.

Elizabeth died 16th November 1939 aged 76, and Amos died 31st January 1945 aged 83. They are buried side by side in plot F.874/5 in Rushden Cemetery.

Northampton Mercury Saturday January 4th 1890, transcribed by Susan Manton                    Social Tea and Entertainment—Another tea and entertainment were held in Mr. Amos Wright’s factory on Saturday evening. About 70 partook of tea, after which Mr. A. Ashby gave very clever exhibition of his skill in his sleight of hand tricks. This was followed by a programme of vocal and instrumental music and games. This makes the third tea last week in Mr. Wright’s factory, all of them being given by friends of the Independent Wesleyan Sunday School. The proceeds of all of them are given to the building fund of that institution.

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