Peter Wright

Early Life and Career

Peter Edward Robinson Wright was the son of Edward and Geraldine Wright. His mother was the third female lawyer called to the bar in the British Empire; his father was also a lawyer. Wright went to school at the University of Toronto, St. Andrews University in Scotland and Osgoode Hall in Toronto. He was first exposed to military life as a member of the Officer Training Corps at St. Andrews University. In 1934, he married Mary Nicholls. In the same year, he began practicing law at the Toronto firm of Wright and McMillan and litigated cases before the Supreme Court and Privy Council of Canada. He joined the Canadian army upon the outbreak of war in the fall of 1939.

Early Military Career

On 13 September 1939, Peter Wright entered service as an infantry officer with The Royal Regiment of Canada, an historic Toronto unit. He was initially appointed as a platoon commander for six months before serving in a variety of staff roles with 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, I Canadian Corps, 2nd Canadian Division and at First Canadian Army. Wright also attended staff courses at Sandhurst and Camberley during this period.

Dieppe Raid

While working with 2nd Canadian Division, Peter Wright was involved in the planning and execution of the Allied raid at Dieppe in 1942. He was present on the headquarters ship, HMS Calpe, along with the commander of 2nd Canadian Division, Maj.-Gen. Roberts, during the amphibious assault. His unit, The Royal Regiment of Canada, took significant losses during the attack. Of the 556 members of the unit that landed, more than 200 were killed and 264 captured. In a post war interview, Wright stated that he felt great remorse for the losses suffered at Dieppe. He also believed that despite the sacrifice, Allied forces learned from their mistakes at Dieppe, which led to their successes later in the war.

Intelligence Work

In June 1943, Peter Wright was posted to First Canadian Army HQ as General Staff Officer 1 (Intelligence); in this position he served as lead intelligence officer within the headquarters, replacing Lord Tweedsmuir (who served with Canadian and British forces during the war). Wright used his previous experience and staff training to lead the specialists at headquarters. He spent the rest of the war working under General Crerar as the senior intelligence officer for First Canadian Army.

Nijmegen Salient

In July 1944, First Canadian Army became part of 21st Army Group under the command of British General (later Field Marshal) Bernard Law Montgomery. During the German army’s Ardennes offensive, commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge, First Canadian Army was charged with holding the Nijmegen salient north of the Ardennes in the Netherlands. On 26 December 1944, the Allies received mixed intelligence reports about the possibility of a German attack across the Maas River towards 21st Army Group. General Crerar and Field Marshal Montgomery were not initially convinced of the threat. Yet Wright and his staff managed to convince them that the threat was real, and operational plans were modified to reinforce positions in the area. The attack never materialized, however, mainly because the overall German offensive was unsuccessful. Wright later stated that this was the only time he could recall that operational plans had been modified because of intelligence reporting.

Military Honours

Peter Wright was nominated for the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by General Henry D.G. Crerar shortly after they landed in Europe in August 1944. The nomination stated that since he started intelligence work in the summer of 1943, he had been responsible for the organisation and training of Canadian intelligence staffs. Additionally, Wright had been involved in the preparation of intelligence material for Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and continued to demonstrate initiative and devotion to duty after arriving on European soil. Wright was awarded the OBE on 23 December 1944. He was promoted to the rank of colonel on 23 July 1945. After the war, Wright was appointed a Commander of Order of Orange–Nassau (with swords), a Dutch decoration, “in recognition of distinguished service.” The citation for this award specified the intelligence work he carried out during the Ardennes offensive.

Post War Work

Peter Wright is credited with writing First Canadian Army Final Intelligence Report, which summarized all Canadian Army intelligence efforts throughout the war and made recommendations for the post war structure of Canadian military intelligence. He returned to Toronto to practice law as a barrister and QC at the offices of Wright and McTaggart and became involved in the development of the Toronto-based Community Centre at Wood Green.

In 1948, Wright unsuccessfully ran for office as a Liberal in the Ontario Legislature in the riding of St David in Toronto. He ran on a policy of social reform and related policies. In 1949, Wright was elected President of the Canadian Club in Toronto, a post his father held years earlier. He also served on the boards of multiple Canadian companies through the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including the publishing company Macmillan of Canada, Barclay’s Bank of Canada and the Norwich Union Life Insurance Society. In April 1969, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in Toronto; he sat on the Ontario High Court of Justice until 1977.

Wright was involved in the foundation of the Canadian Military Intelligence Association (CMIA) after the war, becoming the group’s first president from 1948-49. In February 1964, Colonel Wright succeeded General Henry D.G. Crerar as the Colonel Commandant of the Canadian Intelligence Corps (C Int C). As Colonel Commandant, Wright visited the Corps school and intelligence units across the country. When the Canadian military was unified into a single service in 1968, the C Int C and the equivalent intelligence services of the navy and air force were set to be merged with the Provost Corps and the equivalent police services of the navy and air force to form the Security Branch. Wright advocated vigorously to the Chief of Defence Staff on the need for a standing intelligence corps in peacetime, and that this function would be lost if it was merged with the provost corps. Wright was dismayed when the corps were merged; however, its timing coincided both with the expiry of his term as Colonel Commandant, as well as his 60th birthday, which mandated his release from the military reserves.