Richard Wright of Stapleford Tawney – A Good Samaritan

Sharp-eyed visitors to Stapleford Tawney churchyard may notice an unusual gravestone on the south side of the church, opposite the chapel (Fig 1). Dedicated to Richard Wright, it has a decorative carved head, with figures and a horse. A man is lying on the ground, propped up on one elbow and holding out the other arm. Another man has dismounted from his horse and is pouring something onto the stricken man’s arm. The horse stands under a tree, turning its head to look at the scene. This is an illustration of the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Figurative designs on gravestones usually refer to death or resurrection (angels, cherubs, skulls or bones) or sometimes symbols of the deceased’s occupation. (At Tawney, there are a few occupational examples from recent decades: an anchor for a naval commander, a sheaf of corn and a flower for a farmer and his wife, and a horse ploughing for a former farm worker.)

Richard Wright’s grave, however, is much older, dating to 1781, and the parable decoration is rare. A 19th century antiquarian from Woolwich, W T Vincent, made a study of gravestone sculpture in Kent and Essex, and only knew of three other examples. His description of coming across the Tawney example is worth quoting for its flowery style:

“…and in taking a near [short] cut at a guess across country for Stapleford Tawney I mind me that I lost my way, or thought I had, but the mariner's needle was true, and emerging in a green avenue I saw before me a finger-post marked "To Tawney Church." I took off my hat and respectfully saluted that finger-post, and was soon in the churchyard, where I haply lighted upon one of the gems of my collection, the headstone sculpture of "The Good Samaritan".”

He includes a fairly accurate drawing (below).

A recent photograph shows that, despite atmospheric pollution, there has been surprisingly little deterioration of the sculpture over the years, probably because it was cut in such deep relief (Fig 2). In fact the horse’s head and the Samaritan’s robe are clearer now than on the 1896 drawing. The writing, where it is deeply carved, is still quite legible, but the lighter italic script is less so.

Fig 2

Another curious feature about this and nine other headstones in the churchyard is that the inscriptions are on the west face, not the usual east face. The coffins were still placed on the east side, but there seems to have been a custom in the Regency period for a west-facing inscription. All the examples at Tawney are of similar-looking stone and date from between 1765 and 1838.

So who was Richard Wright, and why was this particular illustration chosen? The headstone tells us that he was a Farmer of this Parish, and that he died on 3rd March 1765 at the age of 56. Other sources describe him as a farmer, a grazier, and even a gentleman. He was born in 1725 in Latton, near Harlow, and had two brothers, Edward and John Waylett Wright. Richard married his first wife Ann and moved to Stapleford Tawney. They had their first son Edward in October 1747. Edward died as a baby just two months later, a sadly all too common occurrence. In 1751 they had a second son, Richard junior, who survived into adulthood, but they appear to have had no other children.

Richard’s wife Ann died in 1765 (she was 39) and Richard’s gravestone stands next to hers (Fig 3). Its decoration is more conventional – a cherub with wings in front of two crossed trumpets (a reference to the last trump). The italic inscription tells us that “She was a good Christian, an affectionate wife and a Tender Parent, and bore with becoming Patience a Lingering Disorder”.

Fig 3

Richard then married his second wife Elizabeth, but the couple seem to have had no children. Perhaps it was Elizabeth, or maybe his son Richard junior, who chose the Good Samaritan illustration for the headstone. Below the date of his death and his age, there are three or four lines of italic inscription which are sadly illegible, but one of the words appears to be “friend”.

Close friendships were highly valued at this time. Inside the church, an elegant and expensive wall monument commemorates Grace Addison, servant and companion to a married daughter of the Luther family of Suttons. They both requested to be buried in the same grave. In Theydon Mount churchyard, a Dr John Dod arranged to be buried up against the south chancel wall in 1762, “as nigh as might be to his worthy friend Sir Edward Smijth, Bart”, who was buried inside the church.

If Richard Wright was indeed a generous benefactor, he would normally be expected to appear in the church vestry records as a churchwarden, overseer of the poor, or at least a member of the vestry, as all the reasonably well-off farmers did, or to make some sort of donation or charitable contribution,. But there is no mention of him apart from his sons’ baptisms and the burials and there is no record of him supporting the church or local community.

There may be a clue to the reason for Richard’s lack of involvement in the parish church in his surname, Wright. There was a well-known county family called Wright in Kelvedon Hatch and Navestock. Richard owned land in his own right in Kelvedon Hatch and in 1770 he was appointed Commissioner for Enclosure for Navestock Common and Heath, suggesting he and John Wright of Kelvedon Hall were related. The Kelvedon Wrights were Roman Catholic. There were no Catholic churches or cemeteries at this time, so baptisms, weddings and funerals all took place in the local Anglican church, but there was usually little other involvement.

Both Richard’s and his second wife Elizabeth’s wills survive in The National Archives and reveal more detail. They were clearly a wealthy couple, not just an ordinary farmer and his wife. Richard left the large sum of £1600 in trust (equivalent to £240,000 today), to be invested for the benefit of his nieces and nephews, and there were other gifts to his immediate family. Nothing was given to charity, and very little to anyone outside the family. His wife Elizabeth was given cash and a generous annuity, “But not to the use of any after-taken husband”! She was to choose any favourite items of plate, china and furniture for herself from two of the rooms in the house. Richard junior is barely mentioned, perhaps because he was already provided for.

The will reveals that Richard’s unnamed farm was “at Pissingford [sic] Bridge”. By a process of elimination, this could only be the house now known as Talbot House, formerly the Talbot Inn. The present early 19th century grey brick frontage conceals two older timber-framed ranges behind it – one dating from the mid-16th century and another from the 17th century, which together would have formed the house the Wrights would have known. Richard leased the house and farm, and although the landlord is not named, it was almost certainly the Luther family of Suttons Manor. The description of Richard as a grazier fits with the grassland and water-meadows around Talbot House by the River Roding.

When Elizabeth died more than 20 years later in 1789, she hadn’t remarried and was still at Tawney. She made many bequests of silver, jewellery, cash and annuities to her own relatives, but some items and money were left to his side of the family. She gave Richard’s niece Mary Wright “the ring I had for her late uncle as it bears the name she ought to value”, presumably Richard’s name. This may be a reference to Richard’s generous annuities to the five nieces, including Mary, who all grew up without a father when his brother Edward died young. The chances of making a good marriage without money in those circumstances were limited, as any reader of Jane Austen will know.

There is no further mention of the Wrights in the parish records. After Charles Smith bought the Suttons estate in 1787, he had a large front block and brewing-house added to the Wrights’ former home, and it became the Talbot Inn. (The Smith’s family crest was a talbot or hunting hound). By then the Wright family had no more involvement with Stapleford Tawney, and the secret of whatever acts of kindness to strangers Richard had displayed in his lifetime went with him, literally, to his grave.