Ray & Bill Wright, et al - 1920s

Ray & Bill Wright, et al - 1920s

This photo of  Dad, Raymond Harry (Ray) Wright (front) and his brother, William Percival (Bill) Wright, was taken in the 1920s. I am guessing from the bevy of beauties surrounding Dad and Uncle Bill that it may have been taken at the guesthouse of my paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Mullens nee Wright, known within the family as Nanny Mullens. The guesthouse, "Kegworth", was at 207 Ocean Street, Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. It is known that my Wright ancestors originally came to Australia from Leicestershire in England and as there is a village in Leicestershire named Kegworth, it is now presumed the family came from that vicinity. 

I never knew my paternal grandmother, who died before I was born, so I will refer to her here as Mary Ann. Her guest house specialised in providing young city women from Sydney with a holiday by the sea. The house backed directly onto the beach. I never knew my Uncle Bill either. He died tragically young, not so long after this photo was taken. I understand there had been a storm which had blown-down power lines in Florence Avenue, Long Reef. Uncle Bill stepped in a puddle where the power lines had fallen and was electrocuted. 

I am guessing the older woman seen to the right in this picture could be Mary Ann, primarily because the guesthouse catered only to young women and she would have been the only older woman in the house. And I have sometimes wondered if the pretty girl at left, leaning against Dad's shoulder, might be his first wife, Mary Brenda Hunt, who died in childbirth in 1927.

There are many secrets within the family involving Mary Ann, much of which I have only  managed to unearth with the assistance of a genealogist in recent years. Primarily, it can now be revealed that all four of her son's - Raymond, William, Alan and Reginald - were born  illegitimately, even though it is the genealogist's opinion that they were all probably fathered by the same man - John Francis Mullens. Mary Ann and John eventually married in 1938, many years after the birth of their four sons and just two years before John died. There is no record that Mary Ann was ever married before then. They couldn't marry prior to that because John was already married - twice - at the same time - to two different women - and he went to prison for bigamy because of it. John couldn't divorce his first, legitimate wife, because he was Catholic and I am guessing the second, bigamous marriage was annulled.  It is not known if his first, legitimate wife had died by 1938, when he and Mary Ann married. If she was still alive, it would mean his marriage to Mary Ann was also bigamous. 

John Francis Mullens - 1907