John Wrightson

Professor John Wrightson FCS, MRAC (1840 – 30 November 1916) was a British agriculturalist and the founder of Downton Agricultural College (1880–1906) at Downton in Wiltshire. In 1890 he reputedly became the first person in Britain to surf, under the guidance of two Hawaiian princes, David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, who were studying at his college.

Early career Wrightson was born in Haughton-le-Skerne in County Durham, the son of Thomas Wrightson (1800–1872) and Rebecca Gilchrist née Potter (1803–1884) and was the brother of Rebecca Ingram Head, Mary Wrightson, the Revd. William Garmondsway Wrightson and the Conservative politician Sir Thomas Wrightson. In 1863 Wrightson had been a foremost student at the Royal Agricultural College following which he was a professor of agriculture at the same college for 15 years (1864–1879). In 1868 he was initiated as a Freemason into the Cotteswold Lodge No 593. His interest in agricultural education was developed following a tour of Europe while acting as the Royal Agricultural Society's representative at the Vienna International Exposition of 1873; he was probably the first to introduce grass silage to Britain (or "sour hay", as he called it). It was Wrightson's view that agricultural education necessitated practical hands-on skills to be developed along with the scientific, and to that end he made good use of the 535 acres he had at Charford Manor, where he also lived and brought up his 11 children, at the same time stating, in a dig against other similar but less-endowed colleges, that "a sufficient farm is essential to an institution which pretends to teach farming."

Downton Agricultural College

On leaving the Royal Agricultural College in 1879, Wrightson took a small number of important lecturing staff with him, including William Fream, In early 1880 they founded the private Downton Agricultural College at Charford Manor in Wiltshire, the third agricultural college in England, which for a short period was called the Wiltshire and Hampshire Agricultural College. Here they experimented with growing flax and sorghum and with soil chemistry; the discovery of the agricultural value of basic slag (a high phosphate black powdered product used to "sweeten" soil to produce forage with high sugars and high nutritional value) is attributed to the college. Among the college's students were Vernon Hamersley, the Australian politician. Under Wrightson's direction, Downton gained a reputation similar to that of the Royal Agricultural College and, like the Royal and Aspatria Agricultural College, it was exempt from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' land agency examinations. The college held an important flock of Hampshire Down sheep. In January 1891, a fire destroyed much of the building complex at Downton College, including Wrightson's home as well as the collection of botanical, zoological and geological specimens collected over many years by Professor Ernest Clarke, a member of the academic staff. A firm believer in education for all, Wrightson was very involved in the life of Downton village and taught children at the local state school.

On Wrightson's death at Marylebone in London in 1916, aged 76, the principal of the Royal Agricultural College, J. R. Ainsworth-Davis, wrote that Wrightson "... would always occupy an honoured place in the history of British agriculture, especially as regards the educational developments."

Personal life Wrightson married Maria Isabella Hulton (1850–1923) in 1872 and was the father of Rebecca Elena Harrison (1873–1937); John Frederick Hulton Wrightson (1875–1944); Alyne Garmondsway Denton (born 1876); Thomas Reginald Wrightson (1878–1928); Act. Lieut.-Cdr Edmund Gilchrist Wrightson, DSO, RNR (1879–1953); Hilda Wrightson (1881–1961); Archibald Ingram Hulton Wrightson (1882–1953); Georgiana Maria Hulton Wrightson (1884–1956); Roger Armstrong Wrightson (1888–1959); Philip Blethyn Hulton Wrightson (1890–1958), and Cerdic William Wrightson (1892–1977). Julian Fellowes, the writer and director of the television series Downton Abbey, is Wrightson's great-grandson.

Wrightson died in 1916 at 29 Wimpole Street in Marylebone in London and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. In his will he left £18,072 14s to his widow. The National Portrait Gallery in London holds five photographic portraits of Wrightson in its collection.