Following Wright's death, the Mayor of Birmingham, Richard Chamberlain, convened a memorial committee. Many of the town's politicians favoured a portrait to hang in the new Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, or a bust to be placed in the Council House. Others, however, felt that the most appropriate memorial would be a public statue. A Mr Apperley wrote to the "Birmingham Daily Post" to argue that a bust in the Council House would rarely be seen except on special occasions. He stated: "We will have a statue if we buy it ourselves"; and made it clear that the people wanted "something whereby we can show our children the form of one we love so well and instil in them the good qualities he possessed. If ever a man deserved a statue Mr Wright does and if ever the working men want a statue to anyone they want one to him."