William Aldis Wright

Who was William Aldis Wright?

William Aldis Wright, was an English writer and editor.

William Aldis Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1858. As a nonconformist, Wright was ineligible for election to a Trinity fellowship until 1878, but became Librarian and Senior Bursar of Trinity before that date. Duly elected Fellow in 1878, he became vice-master of the college in 1888. He was one of the editors of the Journal of Philology from its foundation in 1868, and was secretary to the Old Testament revision company from 1870 to 1885. He edited the plays of Shakespeare published in the "Clarendon Press" series, also with W. G. Clark the "Cambridge" Shakespeare and the "Globe" edition. He published a facsimile of the Milton manuscript in the Trinity College library, and edited Milton's poems with critical notes.

He was the intimate friend and literary executor of Edward FitzGerald, whose Letters and Literary Remains he edited in 1889. This was followed by the Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble, his Miscellanies, More Letters of Edward FitzGerald, and The Works of Edward FitzGerald. He edited the metrical chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, Generydes for the Early English Text Society, Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum, and other texts.