James William Wright

Wright was born in Chiswick, Middlesex, England, to Elizabeth Jane (née Kensett) and James William Wright (senior). He attended King's College London, and then in 1876 moved to South Australia to work as an assistant to Henry Coathupe Mais, the colony's engineer-in-chief. Wright went into private practice in Adelaide in 1878, and completed contracts for sewerage works and for a railway bridge on the line to Nairne. After taking an extended trip to Europe in 1880 and 1881, he moved to Western Australia, where he had been awarded a contract for a portion of the Eastern Railway (running from Guildford to Chidlow).

In 1884, after completing his railway contract, Wright remained in Western Australia and opened an office in Perth, becoming the colony's only architect in private practice. He was a prominent figure in the establishment of the West Australian Architects' Association in 1887. Wright's firm was initially known as just J. W. Wright & Co., later Wright & Paterson, but in 1906 it became Wright, Powell & Cameron (after he accepted two other men as partners). It has endured to the present day, and is now known as Cameron Chisholm Nicol. Notable buildings completed by Wright include:

Woodbridge House (1884), built for Charles Harper on the banks of the Swan River near Guildford

Masonic Hall (formerly Oddfellows Hall), York (1887)

Dinsdale's Shoe Emporium, York (1887)

Union Bank, Fremantle (1889; supervisory role only)

WACA Ground (1895; first grandstand)

Federal Hotel, West Perth (1896; demolished to make way for Mitchell Freeway

Ascot Racecourse (1903–1905; grandstand, public enclosure, and jockeys' quarters)

York Town Hall (1911)

In 1895, Wright was appointed to the Central Board of Health (a forerunner of the current Department of Health), where he served for fourteen years. He was elected to parliament at the 1902 Legislative Council election, winning one of the three seats in Metropolitan Province. Wright defeated the sitting member, Henry Saunders, by just twelve votes, although Saunders was able to continue his political career a few months later when he was appointed to the Senate. There were no organised political parties in the Legislative Council at the time of Wright's election, but during his campaign he identified himself as a liberal, and promised to work to lower taxation and to end restrictions on business hours.

Wright served a single six-year term in the Legislative Council, retiring at the 1908 election and being succeeded by Arthur Jenkins. He was suffering financial difficulties by that time, and in 1909 was taken through bankruptcy proceedings, as a result of which he had to sell his mansion in Peppermint Grove (built in 1894). Wright died in Perth in October 1917, aged 62. He had married Ada Light in 1884, with whom he had two children.