George Morton Wright (23 August 1914 – 26 October 1940) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL).Holmesby & Main (2014), p.974.
Family The son of George Edgar Wright (1883-1954),Mr. George Wright Dies in Melbourne: Well Known Singer, The Border Watch, (Tuesday, 30 March 1954), p.1.Deaths: Wright, The Argus, (Tuesday, 30 March 1954), p.9. and Annie May Wright (1888-1936), née Morton,Death: Wright, The Border Watch, (Saturday, 7 May 1936), p.3. George Morton Wright was born at Mount Gambier, South Australia, on 23 August 1914.
He married Lorna Helen Payne (1912-1988), later Mrs. William Beeston Ross, in 1940.
Swimming Wright had a successful swimming career before playing football.Casterton Swimming Carnival: Morton Wright Outstanding, The Border Watch, (Saturday, 27 February 1932), p.1.Morton Wright Successful at Casterton, The Border Watch, (Saturday, 10 February 1934), p.1.S.A. Country Swimming Championship: Won by Morti=on Wright: Four Yards to Spare, The Border Watch, (Thursday, 28 March 1935), p.1.Local Swimmer in Sydney: Morton's Wright's Success, The Border Watch, (Thursday, 2 January 1936), p.3.
Football Initially linked with Geelong's Second XVIII, he was cleared to Hawthorn on 25 May 1938,V.F.L. Permits, The Age, (Thursday, 26 May 1938), p.6. where he played a single senior game against Fitzroy, on 13 June 1938, at the Glenferrie Oval.Hawthorn's Injured, The Age, (Wednesday, 15 July 1938), p.9.
Death A fireman, Wright, died when the two upper floors and roof of a waste-paper factory collapsed on him while he was fighting a fire -- that had been lit by two boysBoys Started Fatal Fire, The Daily Telegraph, (Thursday, 19 December 1940), p.7. -- in Collingwood on the night of 26 October 1940.Deaths: Wright, The Age, (Monday, 28 October 1940), p.1.In Memoriam: Wright, The Age, (Saturday, 25 October 1941), p.1.
At the time of his death, he had passed all of the tests required to train as an RAAF pilot, but when the Fire Brigade declared that it would not release him to the RAAF, Wright made an appeal direct to the Victorian Premier, Albert Dunstan, and was waiting to hear the results of the Premier's efforts on his behalf.Krummel, Paul, "Tribute to a Gallant Young Man: Late Morton Wright's Funeral", The Border Watch, (Thursday, 14 November 1940), p.2.
Notes
References
Inquest Evidence Referred to Authorities: Death of Two Firemen, The Herald, (Wednesday, 18 December 1940), p.3. Paper Store a "Death Trap": Regulations Urged, The Argus, (Thursday, 19 December 1940), p.5. Death of Two Firemen: Coroner Critical, The Age, (Thursday, 19 December 1940), p.9.
External links