Wright Family

Although Nat Gould says little about their influence in his autobiographical writing, the family of his mother Mary Gould (born Mary Wright), played a pivotal role in his life.

The Wright family had been farmers at Bradbourne for generations, as had the Gould family at Pilsbury Grange. Mary Gould's father was William Wright 1796-1882, who had married in 1823 Elizabeth Gould 1802-1843, sister of the last male Gould of Hanson Grange and great-granddaughter of William Gould 1677-1772 of Pilsbury Grange.

Nat Gould must have been a constant anxiety to the Wright family after his father died. He was no business man, and his gambling on horse racing would have horrified the thrifty industrious Wrights. His mother wanted to get him away from the temptations of Manchester, and accompanied him when he moved to Newark. What the Wrights thought about his leaving Newark and going out of oversight to Australia is anybody's guess. Letters must have flown back and forth. They have long since disappeared, and Nat Gould would have had good reason in his later life as a successful and famous novelist not to have preserved them.