Fred Wright – The Last Cusworth Estate Gamekeeper
Fred Wright served the Battie-Wrightson family for over 50 years. He was the last Cusworth estate gamekeeper.
Fred Wright
Frederick Charles Wright was born in Openshaw, Manchester, on 9th May 1877. Fred’s mother was unmarried, so Fred was raised by mothers brother George Wright and his wife Sarah. The couple had no children of their own. Around 1878, George took over the role of Gamekeeper from his uncle. He moved with his family into the Gamekeeper’s Cottage by the middle lake. The Wright family had a long association with Cusworth Hall. They worked as Gamekeepers for the Battie-Wrightson family from at least 1841.
Early Years
Fred spent his childhood in the grounds of Cusworth Hall. He attended Beechfield Junior Boys School in Doncaster. Fred would have grown up with the expectation of one day taking over as estate gamekeeper from his uncle George. However, this happened sooner than planned. In 1892, George Wright fought with two known poachers in Doncaster town centre. He was charged with unlawful shooting. George served two months’ hard labour. Following his release from prison returned to his home on the Cusworth estate. From the end of 1892 onwards, the fifteen-year-old Fred took on the duties of Gamekeeper from his uncle. George died just two years later at the age of 51.
Life as a Gamekeeper
Although treated well by the Battie-Wrightson family, with reasonably good wages and accommodation provided, life as a Gamekeeper on a country house estate could be very lonely. Poaching of pheasant, deer or hare was a regular occurrence, and the Gamekeeper’s role was to put a stop to this activity at all costs, making him an unpopular figure in the community.
In addition to keeping the estate game safe from poachers, Fred’s duties included hand-rearing pheasants and supervising pheasant shoots, raising gun dogs, and providing the cook with pigeons and rooks for pies. He was also responsible for the care of the herd of 100 deer, which he had to feed throughout the winter. In addition to this, a surprising entry into the estate wages book shows that in 1903 Fred earned additional money by taking on the duties of a footman inside the Hall!
In 1906, under-gamekeeper Herbert Roffe joined the team. This would have made Fred’s workload easier to manage. Fred was a central figure around the Cusworth Hall estate. He played in Robert Cecil Battie-Wrightson’s cricket team and hosted Christmas parties in his cottage. These parties would have been an interesting experience as he still used paraffin lamps to light his home. Plus, his homemade wine was rumoured to be particularly lethal!
Fred’s Family
Fred was not alone in his gamekeeper’s cottage. His adopted mother Sarah remained with him. Sarah also worked for the Battie-Wrightson family as a dairy woman on the estate farm. In 1900 Fred married Mabel Wood. The couple had two daughters, Alice who was born in October 1901, and Mabel who was born in May 1903. Sarah Wright remained with the family until her death in 1903.
The Later Years
Fred was conscripted into the Army in 1916, aged 39. He served in the Coldstream Guards. His wife Mabel received an allowance from the Cusworth Hall estate while Fred was away. He returned to his former employment as Head Gamekeeper in April 1919, a position he held for the rest of his working life. He was also a Special Constable for 25 years, a role he maintained during the Second World War.
When he finally retired, he remained in the Gamekeeper’s Cottage, his life-long home. In 1955, a reporter from the Doncaster Chronicle visited Fred to research an article about Cusworth village, who told him that he “couldn’t have wished for a better life”.
Fred died at the Gamekeeper’s Cottage at the age of 78 in 1956.
