William McKay Wright was born on November 12, 1840, in Hull, Quebec.

He was a lawyer, politician, and officeholder. He was educated at McGill University (B.A., 1861; B.C.L., 1863) and called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1863 and Ontario in 1868. He practised law in Aylmer, Hull, and Ottawa. Wright was a Lieutenant in Ottawa Field Battery and served during the Fenian raids (1866-1871). He was elected as a Liberal-Conservative member of Parliament for the federal riding of Pontiac in 1872 and was re-elected in 1874. From 1879 to 1881, he served as the first Mayor of the township of South Hull, later known as Lucerne.

In 1864, he married Mary Skead (1841–1880). He died on December 17, 1882, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Rev. Dr. William Wright graduated from McGill University in 1848 with a degree in medicine and surgery. He was the first person of colour to earn a medical degree in Canada. He was professor of Materia Medica (pharmacology) at McGill University for 30 years. He was also an ordained deacon and priest of the Anglican Church.

Rev. Wesley Pratt Wright was born on April 14, 1828, in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York.

He was a clergyman, educator, and amateur geologist. He studied at Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Illinois, and taught there from 1854 to 1856. He was also a preacher in charge of the Evanston Methodist Church. He later moved to Ontario and served as a Professor of Natural Sciences and Classics at Wesleyan Female College, Hamilton, Ontario. In the 1880s, he moved to California. He was a corresponding council member of the Hamilton Association for the Cultivation of Literature, Science and Art.

In 1856, he married Minerva Scott (1828–1863), and in 1868, he married Mary Ann Coady (1837–1907). He died on July 3, 1893, in Los Angeles, California.

Robert Ramsay Wright was born on September 23, 1852, in Alloa, Scotland.

He was a zoologist, educator, administrator, and author. He attended Alloa Academy and Edinburgh Royal High School. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh (M.A., 1871; B.Sc., 1873). In 1874, he was appointed a Professor of Natural History at the University of Toronto, where he would remain until he retired in 1912. In 1887, Wright was appointed the first Professor of Biology at the University of Toronto and exerted a tremendous personal influence on the teaching of biology in Canada. He was much admired by his students and attracted some of the largest classes at the university. He emphasized instruction in the laboratory and developed a large teaching museum in the new Biological Building (1889). He was also instrumental in re-establishing the medical school at the University of Toronto in 1887 after a 34-year hiatus. In 1901, he became the first Dean of Arts and, in 1902, a Vice-President of the University. Wright received honorary degrees from the universities of Toronto (LL.D., 1902), Edinburgh (LL.D. 1912), and Oxford (M.A., 1914). He contributed many papers and articles to the Canadian Institute and various scientific journals and published the textbook, "An Introduction to Zoology: for the Use of High Schools" (1889). After his retirement, he moved to Oxford, England, where he renewed his friendship with Sir William Osler. After Osler's death, Wright assisted with the cataloguing of the famous Osler library. During World War I, he translated documents for the British War Office. In 1965, the University of Toronto named the new Ramsay Wright Zoological Laboratories in his honour.

In 1876, he married Katherine Octavia Smith (1853-1930). He died on September 5, 1933, in Droitwich Spa, England.