Thanks Xin. Other Rootschatters tried many years ago.
The only info I have is that on the 1884 birth certificate of my gran he was named as George William Wright, a fisherman. He stayed with the family until his death in 1935, my g.gran Maria, having died in 1926. There is no marriage for them that anyone can find, so no father's name (even a made up one!). According to the birth certificate of a daughter born in 1878 her first husband was deceased. He was also a fisherman but no-one has found a death for him but he could have drowned somewhere and it wasn't recorded. Whether he wasn't actually deceased and that is why George and Maria never married I have no idea.
George wasn't with Maria on the 1881 census and I can't find him prior to 1884. After that in 1891 still a fisherman, by 1901 he and Maria had a tobacconist and confectioner shop on Hessle Road, Hull, where they both eventually died.
1891 census born London, Middlesex - Fisherman (still a fisherman in 1893 when son born)
1901 census, born London, Middlesex - Tobacconist/Confectioner
1911 census born London, Bethnal Green - Tobacconist/Confectioner
His age was always consistent with being born about 1858/59.
We know he was of Spanish/Portuguese descent and according to an aunt his mother's surname was Da Costa, although I seem to remember my dad mentioning the name Carreras (he always said to me like the tobacco company - probably long gone now).
What I do know is that his mother was not Priscilla Wright (nee Galliers). There are many trees on Ancestry which give this woman as his mother. I was never convinced. Years ago I bought two birth certs both showing this woman as the mother. The first child died and a few months later she had a 2nd child who she named George William after the first one. At the time I managed to get in contact with an ancestor of this family sent him the certificates and he told me that the George William in his family never left London. Apart from that last year someone who is a direct ancestor of the Galliers told me that he was connected to me via the Galliers. I told him I disagreed and as he'd had his DNA done with Ancestry, I did the same. Guess what - no match. So I was right and all the other trees on Ancestry are wrong.
The only thing I've come across so far and probably added 2 and 2 together and made 5, is that on the 1871 census there is an Ellen G Da Costa aged 42 unmarried (so around 30ish in 1857/58) living with her widowed mother of independent means, and also with them is an Emma Wright aged 43 who is shown as a Friend, which I think is quite unusual on a census form. My thinking is that to be close there had to be a great degree of equality both standing and money-wise back then. Emma couldn't have been any old acquaintance.
So I tracked Emma backwards on various census and found her father was an H M Customs Officer and she had a brother called George William. So putting the 2 and 2 together and making 5, I wondered if Ellen G Da Costa had had a fling with her friend's brother and produced a son. Was he farmed out to a distant family member - Ellen's family were certainly moneyed enough to sweep a birth under the carpet and squirrel the child away somewhere.
Any way it's all conjecture and I'm totally stuck until someone with a shared DNA pops up either on Ancestry or 23andMe. Both DNA tests show that I have about 1% Jewish ancestry and from photos of my dad's brothers and sisters - less so my dad, although he like his siblings had very olive skin - I am not at all surprised. I know Maria has English roots as far back as it's possible to go so the Jewish gene has to come via George.
