Riddles solved over birth of local football legend Billy Wright
Back of the net... Billy Wright – Wolves and England legend, and Ironbridge-born.
His birthplace in Belmont Road is currently up for sale and bears a plaque telling of its proud place in football history.
But over the years Billy's Ironbridge roots have caused discussion and a certain amount of headscratching among researchers, sometimes inadvertently sparked by the late Billy himself.
Although there's no question that he was born in Ironbridge, the Wright family lived at several different addresses in the town over the years, and in the past, one or two folk quietly raised doubts over whether he was actually born at 33 Belmont Road.
Happily the matter was definitively laid to rest by researcher Steve Bean, who turned up the entry in the birth register proving he was indeed born there.
It reads: "(entry number) 85; (when and where born) Sixth February, 1924, 33 Belmont Road, Ironbridge, Madeley Wd (or Madeley M.D. – the writing is unclear); (name) William Ambrose; (sex) Boy; (name and surname of father) Thomas Wright; (name, surname, and maiden name of mother) Annie Wright, formerly Thompson; (occupation of father) General Iron Moulder; (signature, description, and residence of informant) Thomas Wright, Father, 33 Belmont Road, Ironbridge; (when registered) Seventeenth March, 1924; (signature of registrar) E. Pattersmith."
The 1920s Wright family home was actually half the size of the three-bedroom property currently on sale with offers invited in the region of £465,000.
