Wright, Leigh 1925–

(L.R. Wright, Leigh R. Wright)

PERSONAL:

Born April 20, 1925, in Brookfield, VT; son of Carroll Amos and Julia Alberta Wright; married Charlene Beverly Smith (a publisher), February 14, 1959 (divorced). Education: Middlebury College, A.B., 1950; University of New Hampshire, M.A., 1953; School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Ph.D., 1963.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Randolph, VT. Office—Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

CAREER:

High school social studies teacher in North Bennington, VT, 1950-51; U.S. Government, Washington, DC, political analyst, 1953-59; Center for International Economic Growth, Washington, DC, staff writer, 1961; high school history teacher in Harrow, Middlesex, England, 1962-63; University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, lecturer in history, 1963-65; Russell Sage College, Troy, NY, assistant professor of history, 1965-66; University of Hong Kong, senior lecturer, 1966-71, reader in history, beginning 1971. Visiting professor at University of Vermont and visiting lecturer at Northern Illinois University, both summer, 1969; visiting professor at University of New Mexico, 1975, and University of New Hampshire, 1978. Military service: U.S. Navy, Medical Service Corps, 1943-46.

MEMBER:

American Historical Association, Association of Asian Studies, Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong; member of council), Royal Asiatic Society (England).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fellow of Borneo Research Council, 1969—.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Under name L.R. Wright) The Origins of British Borneo, Hong Kong University Press (Hong Kong), 1970.

(With Hedda Morrison and K.F. Wong) Vanishing World: The Ibans of Borneo, Weatherhill (New York, NY), 1972.

Potash and Pine: The Formative Years in Randolph History, Randolph Historical Society (Randolph, VT), 1977.

(Under name Leigh R. Wright, with G.N. Appell) The Status of Social Science Research in Borneo, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1978.

(Editor, under name L.R. Wright, with J. deV. Allen and A.J. Stockwell) Malaysia Treaties: A Collection of Agreements and Other Documents Affecting the States of Malaysia, 1761-1963, two volumes, Oceana (New York, NY), 1979.

Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 2002.

Contributor to Problems of Defence of South and Southeast Asia, edited by K.K. Sinha, Institute of Political and Social Studies (Calcutta, India), 1969. Contributor to history and Asian studies journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Leigh Wright was born in Vermont, worked in Washington, DC, during the 1950s, and eventually settled in Hong Kong, where he was affiliated with the University of Hong Kong for many years. His book Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889 is a biography of a man who was similarly well-traveled. Julian Pauncefote, the First Baron Pauncefote of Preston, was a significant figure in the era of British imperialism. He was born in Munich to a wealthy British family from Gloucestershire. Early in his career, Pauncefote worked in London as an attorney. He eventually moved to Hong Kong where he served in a variety of positions, including as a member of the Foreign Office; and near the end of his life, he worked for the British government in Washington, DC. There he was held in such high esteem that when he died in May 1902, U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt ordered the flag lowered to half-mast. Most of Pauncefote's personal papers were destroyed, so documenting his life was no easy task. Wright's book focuses on his subject's early years, particularly his part in the formation of the British North Borneo Company and the Chefoo Convention, as well as his diplomatic work regarding various waterways, including the Danube and Congo rivers and the Suez and Panama canals. A writer for the Borneo Research Bulletin stated: "The main strengths of [Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889] are the author's knowledge of the British and colonial historical background plus his grasp of the internal workings of Whitehall. In the chapter endnotes there are helpful potted biographies of the dramatis personae; and the author is particularly good on the aristocratic family interconnections. The characterization of cabinet infighting during the second Gladstone ministry (1880-1885) is excellent. Overall, the monograph is well-balanced, fair, lacking in bias."

Wright once told CA: "I have a general interest in American foreign relations, particularly in Asia, and a knowledgeable (not specialist) interest in American-Vietnamese affairs."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Albion, January 1, 2004, Travis L. Crosby, review of Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889, p. 687.

Borneo Research Bulletin, January 1, 2003, review of Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889, p. 176.

English Historical Review, April 1, 2003, Nicholas Tarling, review of Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy, 1855-1889, p. 535.