Frederick Wright

Frederick Wright was a 24-year-old crew member who tragically lost his life in the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912. His body was never found but he is mentioned on the family headstone which can be found in Saint Andrews Church yard in Great Billing.

Frederick Wright, one of fifteen children to William a farm hand to and Esther Wright, was a squash coach on board the Titanic and had been due to teach a squash lesson to Colonel Archibald Gracie on at 7.30am on the morning after the ship’s sinking.

According to Colonel Gracie’s account of the sinking in “The Truth About the Titanic”, around three quarters of an hour after the collision as chaos broke out around them, he passed him on the stairway of Deck C on his way to his cabin and jokingly said “Hadn’t we better cancel that appointment for tomorrow morning?”. Fredrick, who could not swim and knew that the squash court he manned and his cabin had been flooded, showed a perfect example of the British stiff upper lip by simply replying: “Yes, we better”.

Fred was a pioneer for the sport of squash which had not yet been standardised in 1912 and his death inspired squash players in Philadelphia to hold a squash competition, the Fred Wright Memorial Cup, in his memory.

A concert in memory of Fredrick was held by the Northampton Imperial Band on the afternoon of Sunday 19th May 1912 outside his father and unmarried sister Ida’s house St. Giles, Great Billing Village where his favourite hymns were played conducted by Mr. S Piper, late of the 58th regiment and a collection taken for the Titanic Relief Fund.