Sir Robert Samuel Wright

Sir Robert Samuel Wright (20 January 1839 – 13 August 1904) was a 19th-century Justice of the British High Court, Queen's Bench Division.

Life and career

Wright was born at the rectory in Litton, Somerset, the son of the Rev H. E. Wright and his wife, who was the daughter of a clergyman. The son showed no inclination to follow an ecclesiastical calling. He matriculated as a commoner at Balliol College, Oxford at the unusually early age of seventeen. He became one the favourite pupils of the Master of the college, Benjamin Jowett, and was later a close and lifelong friend. He won several prestigious prizes and graduated with first class honours in 1860. He was elected as a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and for the next few years divided his time between academic work and studying for the legal profession. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in June 1865.

As a young lawyer, Wright made a mark with well-received publications on legal topics including the laws of conspiracy, possession, local government and taxation. His practice as a barrister flourished, and in 1883 he was appointed Junior Counsel to the Treasury, in succession to A. L. Smith.

The Genius of Chaucer: A Prize Essay (1861) - (reprinted in Paperback, 2009) The Golden Treasury of Ancient Greek poetry (1867) The Law of Criminal Conspiracies and Agreements (1887) (co-author: Hampton Lawrence Carson) An Essay on Possession in the Common law (1888) (co-author: Sir Frederick Pollock)