John Wrightson

In 1890 he reputedly became the first person in Britain to surf, under the guidance of two Hawaiian princes, David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, who were studying at his college.

It was Wrightson's view that agricultural education necessitated practical hands-on skills to be developed along with the scientific, and to that end he made good use of the 535 acres he had at Charford Manor, where he also lived and brought up his 11 children, at the same time stating, in a dig against other similar but less-endowed colleges, that "a sufficient farm is essential to an institution which pretends to teach farming.

Wrightson, together with his staff and students, rushed to the scene of the accident to assist the injured and dying and were later awarded a silver cup for their efforts.

A firm believer in education for all, Wrightson was very involved in the life of Downton village and taught children at the local state school.

[7] In 1906, as Wrightson approached retirement age, Downton closed – its troubles exacerbated by the fact that private fee-charging colleges were becoming increasingly less attractive with the development of publicly funded agricultural education.

"[6] His obituary in Nature stated: THE death of Prof. John Wrightson, on November 30, at seventy-six years of age, removes a well-known authority and writer from the agricultural world.