Doctor a man of many parts (From Halstead Gazette)

Doctor a man of many parts

2:17pm Thursday 16th October 2008

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Tributes have been paid to a doctor who treated the people of Braintree for 27 years.

Dr Robert Wright worked at the Blyth’s Meadow surgery and William Julien Courtauld Hospital during his career in Braintree.

He died from natural causes on September 26, aged 93, after moving to a care home near Colchester from his home in Ashlong Grove, Halstead.

Dr Wright began working as a family doctor in Braintree in 1949, when he went into partnership with Dr Hugh Chapman.

The father-of-three was also part of the medical team at William Julien Courtauld Hospital, where he especially enjoyed delivering babies. Towards the end of his career he became a general practice tutor for King’s College, London.

His son Garnett Wright, 59, of Ridgewell, said letters of condolence from Braintree residents had showed how his father had “struck a chord” with people.

Mr Wright said his father had a “very self-deprecating, wicked sense of humour” and a close circle of friends.

He had been a “brilliant father”, said Mr Wright, who added he admired the way his father had coped with life in his later years when he went blind.

The father-of-two, who is an accountant, said: “The way he coped with life being almost blind was amazing. He was a very inventive man and he found all sorts of ways of making his life easier.”

Dr Wright, who was born in Manchester into a medical family, began his career as a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps, with whom he served in north Africa and Italy during the Second World War.

After the war, he went to Malawi with his wife Marjorie, who died from cancer in 1983, aged 67, and their young daughter Judith for a tour of duty with the Colonial Service.

The family settled in Panfield Lane, Braintree and, following Dr Wright’s retirement in 1975, part of the garden was developed for housing and named Wright Close.

Outside his professional life, Dr Wright enjoyed making clocks, writing novels, orchid growing and travelling to Europe and North America.

n Post a tribute to Dr Wright or a message of condolence to his family at braintreeandwith amtimes.co.uk

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