Allister Maclean Wright

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Allister McLean Wright Collection	ALISTER MACLEAN WRIGHT was born at Palmerston North in 1881, and was educated at the Boys' High School, Christchurch, and Lincoln Agricultural College, intending to pursue a course in medicine, but changing over to chemistry. In 1902 he was appointed chemist to the Christchurch Meat Co., afterwards the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., a position he held until his death. He became a member of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury in 1904, being elected its President in 1911, and again in 1921 and 1922; he held the office of Hon. Treasurer, 1928-30.
From 1919 until his death he represented the Institute on the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute. At the outset of the Great War he offered his services as bacteriologist, was accepted, and attained the rank of Captain in the N.Z. Medical Corps, an honour rarely accorded to one without a medical degree; evidently his first leaning toward medicine served him here. The New Zealand Institute of Chemists met in Christchurch at the end of January, 1930, and it was whilst he was presiding over the meeting held on the 31st January that Mr. Wright quietly passed away in his chair. He was at the time a Fellow of the Chemical Society and of the Institute of Chemists. (Source: Allister Maclean Wright: A Memorial by Johannes C. Andersen, Director, Turnbull Library (Andersen, J. C. (1930). Allister Maclean Wright: A Memorial, The New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology, XII (1), p25-27.).

Date of Birth14th December 1881Date of Death1930In MemoriamAllister M. Wright was the son of the Presbyterian Minister at Lincoln, and attended the College as a day boy in 1900. His father dying shortly afterwards, he entered the chemical laboratory of the freezing works at Islington. He had always shown a taste for Chemistry, and made such good use of his opportunities that he gradually worked his way into a high position in the scientific world of New Zealand. His scientific papers include many on the spontaneous combustion of wool in ships, the technical analysis of sliped wool, the digestibility of frozen meat products of all kinds, and the changes that these products undergo during storage. Many of these papers were published in Sydney, and he was regarded both in Australia and New Zealand as the leading chemist of the frozen meat industry in the Southern Hemisphere. During the war his knowledge of biochemistry was used in the English hospitals in the fighting of infectious diseases among soldiers. He was a Governor of the N.Z. Institute, thrice President of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, a member of several of the English learned societies, and at the time of his death President of the N.Z. Society of Industrial Chemists. For the past four or five years his head had given him trouble, and in January of this year while presiding at the annual dinner of the Industrial Chemists he fainted in his chair and died in a few minutes. He was always a good friend of the College, and frequently re-visited it; he acted as judge on our sports day for very many years, was a leading member of the Old Boys' Association, and was always ready with the most willing and skilful help in difficulties of all kinds. No little part of the development of the animal nutrition side of the College activities is due to sympathetic and learned assistance. He visited the College on the very morning of his death, and we feel that we have lost a friend whose cheerfulness, loyalty, tact, and success in scientific research were a constant inspiration to all connected with him.Source1930 Canterbury Agricultural College Magazine (No. 55 December 1930) p364.Military Serial Number3/2501Military RankSSMajorExternal LinkOnline Cenotaph DatabaseMilitary personnel file

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Allister Maclean Wright