Archibald Thomas Victor Wright was born on 3rd August 1883 in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The second of six children – all boys – his parents were George and Alice Wright. George was a gunner and lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and the seafaring life was an obvious choice for his son to follow as well.

Archibald joined the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward Boy on 14th September 1898. Just fifteen years old, he was too young for formally enlist but was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training.

Over the next three years, Archibald learnt the tools of his trade. He moved between establishments, from HMS Boscawen in Portland, Dorset, to HMS Excellent back in in Portsmouth. It was while on board the battleship HMS Glory, however, that he came of age, and was formally enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward Assistant. His service records note that, on turning eighteen, he was 5ft 2in (1.58m) tall, with brown hair, dark brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ship’s Steward Assistant Wright’s contract was for twelve years, and during this time he would travel the world. By the summer of 1908 he had served on nine ships, returning to naval bases in Kent and Hampshire between voyages. On 15th June 1908 he was promoted to Acting Ship’s Steward, and just a few weeks later, he got married.

Ellen Osborne was born in Southampton just a month or so after her new husband. The daughter of a house furnisher’s clerk, by the time of the 1901 census she was employed as a boarding school teacher. After the couple married, she moved to Kent to be close to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham (also known as HMS Pembroke), where Archibald would more frequently be based. The 1911 census return found her lodging with Lillie Calcutt at 112 Shakespeare Road in Gillingham, Kent.

Archibald’s career, meanwhile, was continuing apace. On 24th September 1909 he was promoted to Ship’s Steward proper, and in August 1913, when his original term of service came to an end, he quickly renewed it. By now, his service records show that he had had a few tattoos added to his arms: a girl on his right arm, a dragon on his upper left, and two cockerels on his lower left arm. Now 30 years of age, he stood 6ft tall (1.83m) tall, and, intriguingly, his eyes were now recorded as being blue.

Ship’s Steward Wright’s career trajectory does not seem to have been without its hiccups, however. Where his annual review up until 1909 have consistently given his character as very good, from hereon in, it dipped to just good. His ability also began to vary, from very good in 1909, to superior for the following couple of years, to just satisfactory in 1913 and 1915.

Archibald spent the last few years of the war split between HMS Pembroke and HMS Ganges – the training base just outside Ipswich, Suffolk. In January 1918, he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, following an epileptic fit. This was to prove fatal, and he passed away on 15th January. He was 34 years of age.

Interestingly, Ship’s Steward Wright’s pension ledger gives a damning insight into his health and mental well-being at the time of his passing. It noted the cause of his death as epilepsy aggravated by alcoholism, adding that the disease was neither contracted on nor aggravated by [active service], but due to his own serious negligence or misconduct.

Archibald Thomas Victor Wright was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard he had called home.

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