A public policy strategist who spent four years in New York and more than two decades in Brixton is coming to Putney this autumn as the new vicar of St Margaret’s.
The Revd Susan Wright has been appointed by the Bishop of Southwark, in consultation with parish representatives, and joins in early autumn 2026. Before ordination she worked in public policy and organisational development, a career path that puts her some distance from the typical vicarage route.
Her life before Putney covers considerable ground. She and her husband Robert, a newspaper reporter, met at the University of St Andrews and settled first in Edinburgh, then Brixton. Robert’s work took the family to Budapest, where their daughter Anna was born, before a move back to London, where son Alexander arrived. Four years in New York followed, the whole family together, before a return to London in 2016, prompted, the official announcement notes, by a calling to ordination. She joins from St Barnabas with Christ’s Chapel in Dulwich.
Wright succeeds the Revd Dr Brutus Green, who left earlier this year after seven years to become Vicar of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol.
St Margaret’s, on Putney Park Lane, is one of the more active community churches in SW15. It runs a weekly homeless shelter in winter months with Glass Door, a community lunch, a playgroup, and regular public music recitals. It is a member of Inclusive Church. The church recently had its pathway resurfaced in a major upgrade completed last November.
Founded in 1873, the building has a quirk worth noting: it faces north rather than east. The reason is that it started life as the Granard Chapel, a Baptist congregation; the building kept its original alignment when it was adopted into the Church of England. As one former vicar put it in 1959, few Anglican churches could claim descent from both Baptist and Presbyterian traditions.
The Wright family say they are looking forward to exploring everything Putney has to offer, mostly by bike.
