Tales of Opportunity – The Bright Family
I was honoured recently to receive a copy of Primrose Bright’s magnificent new book “Tales of Opportunity – The Bright Family of Hereford & Bristol 1066 – 2020”, a beautifully produced bible of her husband Charles’ ancestors, replete with family photos and stories. The preface starts with:
On 7 September 1922, Allan Heywood Bright, Lord of the Manors or Brockbury and Farley. wrote from his home at Barton Court, Colwall, Herefordshire to his cousin Alfred Ernest Bright in Melbourne, Australia with the following proposal:
“After we have all the material together, I propose, if you agree, to try and write a small account for the private circulation of the family, drawn from these papers …”The two cousins had long been fascinated with the history of their families, as had a third cousin, John Arthur Gibbs …
The three of them entered into a lengthy exchange as they sought to map out their family trees. By a quirk of circumstances I came into possession of one of their extensive notebooks last year; I was contacted by a woman who had found our family tree on the internet asking “… are you related to the Brights of Colwall, Herefordshire? If so, I have a handwritten book/record you may be interested in – it was found in the loft of my mother in law who died recently at Denmans Farm, Oxford. It appears to cover the history of the Bright family and the later the Wickham family, and has some letters and paper clippings – it looks as though someone was researching them in the early 1920’s …“. They could so easily have ended up in the skip, but she very kindly sent them to me – a total mystery how they ended up in an apparently unconnected farmhouse attic.
To my great surprise when I opened the package it was clear that it had belonged to John Arthur Gibbs (author of The History of Antony and Dorothea Gibbs & of the early years of Antony Gibbs and Sons) and contained his correspondences with his Bright cousins. His mother was Isabel Marianne Bright – one of several connections between our families. His wife Emily Bright, went to Oxford after his death, where her father had been Master of University College.
Luck has preserved an enormous quantity of Bright material – 26 boxes full of papers, books and documents dating for the most part from 1720 to 1870, covering land matters and 150 years of mercantile business. When this collection passed on to Alfred Ernest Bright he arranged for them to be shipped to Australia and stored at his house in Sorrento, Victoria. They were damaged by a fire and water in 1967, following which a professor realised the family was storing a priceless historical record in precarious conditions. They were gifted to Melbourne University for conservation, storage and research, and later joined by the business papers of Gibbs, Bright & Co. where they comprise 92 metres of shelf space in the archives! A 1998 paper for the British Records Association wrote of the this archive “I know of no other manuscript collections where the intertwining personal and business interests of two British merchant families with West Indian trading and plantation links can be investigated so comprehensively”. The preface continues …
The family’s involvement in the West Indian trade from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century was undertaken by three generations; the eldest with strong aspirations for restoring the family fortune; his son and nephew, who took more of a holding position regarding accumulated assets; and the grandson who showed distaste for the West Indian business and moved towards its abolition… Coming to terms with deeply shameful conduct of the past means to acknowledge that these events occurred, to resist the urge to sanitise history, to learn an understanding of the consequences and move towards a future that is kinder, more conciliatory and free of racial prejudice.”
Chapter 22 comes closer to home, about my 2x great-grandparents Isabel Marianne and The Reverend John Lomax Gibbs, vicar of Clifton Hampden, Oxford, and their 8 children, of whom our family historian JAG was the eldest, and my great-grandfather The Reverend Reginald Gibbs was the 3rd son. Reginald’s eldest was my grandfather, The Very Reverend Michael McCausland Gibbs, continuing a long line of church men.
Primrose was initially inspired some 40 years ago and has spent many hours researching these Melbourne records and other family resources, including support from Gibbs family in Melbourne and in UK. The result is a superbly illustrated comprehensive history of the Bright family, and a few closely related side shoots. The earliest roots of the family in England appear to be Richard Le Breton, or de Brito, who came over from Brittany with William the Conqueror in 1066, and was granted land near Clean in Shropshire. Could it be an inspiration for a revised Gibbs Family History book?
A recent comment to a previous post on this website about Gibbs, Bright & Co. in Australia threw up a further intriguing revelation. When HSBC acquired Antony Gibbs and Sons in 1983 and closed down all non banking operations, of which their were many in Australia, all old documents were ordered to be destroyed (fortunately many records from the London HQ vaults were recovered and are now in the London Metropolitan Archives). Phil reported that they destroyed several skip loads of records stored in a company timber yard showing slave transport and sales in the 1800s, and felt wrong destroying that history. How papers dating to before the founding of Gibbs Bright in Australia came to be in GBS timber yard is a mystery and no living family member seems to have been aware of their existence. It seems probable that these were more Bright Family papers that were shipped out to Australia last century, most of which were later donated to Melbourne University archives. What a lost treasure trove of history!
I joined the aftermath of the story in that I developed a great interest in the wrecked ship “Royal Charter” owned by Gibbs Bright & Co. The ship was wrecked very close to my home in Wales. In 1972 I began yearly diving operations on the wreck, usually about three months each year 1972 to 1997. During our excavations of sand to gain access to the remains of the ship, which are vast, we found many items of value and of interest.
The greater reward has been the the never-ending engagement with people from all over the world; the great great grand daugher of the designer and builder ofthe ship, relatives of those saved and those lost. I even discovered two of my own ancestors were shipwrights employed in the building of the vessel. Over the years it has been a pleasure to meet Charles and Prmrose Bright, Michael Gibbs, Nicholas Gibbs and so many more.
Nowadays, my time is spent more researching and giving lectires on the subject rather than active diving. For the advenrurous there remains much more to be discovered.
How to order this appealing book
IR
The book is a private limited print run available to friends, family and institutions upon enquiry.
To acquire this book, please email me direct. Many thanks, Primmy Bright
Hi Prim & Charles lost contac email found this hope your both well.
Regards Patricia & David
Would it be possible to purchase a copy of your book please?
Hello Kate, please contact Primrose Bright directly if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book.
I’m descended from the Brights of Suffolk. I assume there is likely a familial connection between the two branches of this family. Do you have any insights concerning this?
Hello Jason, All the Brights that I am aware of having connection to my family originate in the west of England and regrettably I do not know of any links to Brights of Suffolk.
Dear Jason,
Do you have a copy of Jonathan B. Bright’s book The Brights of Suffolk? I believe there may be a connection between the Suffolk Brights and the Hereford Brights but it would have to be a very early one. I discuss this, and the 1872 correspondence between JBB and Henry Arthur Bright, in my book. There is definitely further research to be done on this point.
Warm regards,
Primmy Bright
Hello, My name is Jake Bright, from NSW Australia. I have inhereted from my Grandfather, Allan Bright a ‘Bright’ family plaque with the words ‘Post Tenebras Lucem’ on it. For years I thought this was a mistranslation of the famous ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ When I searched this I found the biography of Richard Bright (physician) which it quoted as being the family words. Not a mistranslation at all. I have my direct lineage going all the way back to Robert Bright (1575-1659) from Leicestershire, England but am yet unable to find a link to the Brights of Bristol.
Dear Jake,
I am sorry it has taken so long to respond to you. I think there may well be a connection but I will need to talk to you further about this as I believe the link is before your Robert’s time. Warm regards, Primmy Bright
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I have been researching the history, landscape and buildings of the National Trust estate at Newgale in Pembrokeshire which was owned by Richard Bright from the 1780s and was sold by Benjamin Bright to William Stancombe in the 1850s. It includes the very fine Southwood Farm which was built on a new site surrounded by newly laid-out fields in the early 1820s. I am just wondering if Primrose or anyone has come across records relating to what later became the Southwood estate in Newgale and Roch?
Primrose Bright responded: “I have looked at Richard Bright of Ham Green’s Will and have found the following mention of Southwood: where it says “I also give and devise unto my second son the said Benjamin Heywood Bright … ” and goes on to mention Pembroke, Southwood and Wood and Churchill. The Welsh properties in the area of Haverfordwest were inherited by Richard Bright of Ham Green through his mother, Sarah Meyler.
Details of Meyler family history can be found in Appendix E but the most detail is in Chapters 7 and 8 of ‘Tales of Opportunity’. Although there is a great deal of correspondence in the Archives regarding land inheritance and purchases, there is very little about Southwood that I came across, mainly being referred to as the Haverfordwest properties, including Eames Hill or Deems Hill.
I cannot wait to get a copy. Just had the update of the publication of all this hard work from Primmy
Frederick J Hillberg