William McKay Wright
Canadian politician (1840-1882)

William McKay Wright (November 12, 1840 – December 17, 1882) was a lawyer and political figure in Quebec, Canada. He represented Pontiac in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal-Conservative member from 1872 to 1878.
He was born in Hull, Lower Canada, the son of Ruggles Wright and grandson of Philemon Wright, and educated at McGill University. He was called to the Lower Canada bar in 1863 and the Ontario bar in 1868. In 1864, he married Mary, the daughter of senator James Skead. He was a lieutenant in the local militia and served during the Fenian raids. He also served as the first mayor of the township of South Hull, later known as Lucerne, from 1879 to 1881. Wright practised law in Aylmer, Hull and Ottawa. He died in New Edinburgh at the age of 42. Wright's daughter, Ethel, married Bernard Thomson, the son of writer Edward William Thomson.
The public source identifies “William McKay Wright” as canadian politician (1840-1882). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, McKay and Wright.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3568822. VIAF identifies the subject as 77720000. The Library of Congress control number is n84137470. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1840, 1882, 1872 and 1878.
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This entry incorporates text from “William McKay Wright” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.