Wright, Francis Sydney   (1897 - 1987)

Born 30 December 1897 in Melbourne; died 7 December 1987 in Melbourne, aged 89.

Seved in Australian military WWI and WWII.

In 1922 awarded Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from The University of Melbourne.

In 1926 awarded Master of Mechanical Engineering from The University of Melbourne.

Professionally Frank Wright was an engineer who specialized in calcium products and with industrial electrofilters.

Soon after becoming a Master of Mechanical Engineering, he became a director of Gilbert McAuliffe Proprietry Limited (1926-1928). From 1929 until 1972 he was a director of four large engineering companies.

He was the father of Winifred (Winty) B. Wright. Winty's interest in botany and her involvement in the collecting was prompted by her father and his close friend, W.D. Chapman. Chapman was well known to Francis Wright, being his Officer-in-Command during World War II and a close friend.

As part of the curation process, Winty's father carefully sewed his plant samples onto thick card. This was slow work and, in frustration, Winty took over this task when she was about 17 years old. When asked about the impressive collection, Winty remarked that she "could not take credit for the collection as I had those two men pushing me on". While the collection was being developed, mounted plant specimens were stored in envelopes and grouped together in plywood boxes that were affectionately called 'coffins'.

Winty has no idea how the collection came to be included in the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) Herbarium but perhaps it was through her husband, Stuart Calder, a forester.

Source: Extracted from: : Extracted from:
Tina Bell, Penny Blackwell, and Amanda Ashton wrote the book chapter "The Victorian School of Forestry Herbarium". Published in 'Circumspice: One hundred years of forestry education centred on Creswick, Victoria' (2010)
https://www.hdae.org/graduate/Wright-Francis-Sydney/
recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6265522
The Ryerson Index - WRIGHT Francis Sydney
Calder, Winty (2011) 'Spotlight on a travelling engineer : F. S. Wright, O.B.E., M. Mech. Eng., M.I.E.Aust., consulting engineer, Melbourne' - Back cover blurb:
Portrait Photo: none found.

Collecting localities for 'Wright, F.S.' from AVH (2026)

Data from 52 specimens