Ronnie Selby Wright

Ronald William Vernon Selby Wright CVO TD JP FRSE FSAScot (12 June 1908, Glasgow – 24 October 1995, Edinburgh) was a Church of Scotland minister. He became one of the best known ministers of his generation and served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1972/73.

Life

Selby Wright was born in Glasgow in 1908, the son of Prof Vernon O. Wright, and his wife, Anna Gilberta Selby. The family lived at 6 India Street in the Charing Cross district. His father was Professor of Music at the Glasgow College of Music.

When Ronald was three years old, the family moved to Edinburgh. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Melville College and the University of Edinburgh. In 1942 he was appointed Senior Chaplain to the 52nd (Lowland) Division of the British Army, serving in Italy, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

He valued the church's connections with the state and in 1963 became a chaplain to the Queen. The Queen worshipped in Canongate Kirk when in residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1986, Doctor of Divinity (DD) by the University of Edinburgh in 1956 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 1973. Indeed, Tam Dalyell, writing Selby Wright's obituary in the Independent, suggests that his accession to Moderator of the General Assembly was delayed due to "the whisper, 'But are we sure Ronnie is not too fond of his boys?' The question transfixed and enthralled Edinburgh society", but that he was eventually appointed, as "there seemed to be little question and certainly no evidence" that he was a paedophile.

He never married, but one source claimed he had a platonic relationship with a nurse who fell in love with him, in spite of his being sexually attracted only to boys. He retired from Canongate Kirk in 1977 and continued to live in Edinburgh, where he died in 1995 at the age of 87.

His ashes are buried immediately east of the church, with a small granite memorial, immediately below the monument to Robert Hurd.