Henry Bright (baptised 26 October 1562 – 4 March 1627^[A]) was aclergyman andschoolmaster inWorcester. He served for 38 years Headmaster at TheKing's School, Worcester, and is mentioned byThomas Fuller andAnthony Wood as an exceptional teacher, particularly of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The period was at the height of Neo-Latin writing and Latin medium teaching. Many of his pupils are notable for their faculty inLatin and Greek and their impact on theological matters.

Bright was baptised at the Church of St. Peter the Great in Worcester on 26 October 1562. He was the eldest son of James Bright, son of Nathaniel Bright (1493–1564).^[1] He was probably educated at King's Worcester himself,^[2] and matriculated atBrasenose College, Oxford as a "plebeian" in 1580, aged 18. Having moved toBalliol College, Oxford, he graduatedB.A. (1584) andM.A. (1587),^[3] and was elected to a fellowship at Balliol in 1585.^[4][5]

Starting at King’s Worcester in 1589, he also held a number of preferments in the church, including the rectories ofBroadwas (1591),Tredington (1606) andWarndon (1615),^[3][6] and canonries atHereford Cathedral (1607)^[7] andWorcester Cathedral (1619).^[8] In 1609 he purchased the estate of Brockbury in the parish ofColwall, Herefordshire.^[9] He died on 4 March 1627.^[A]Thomas Fuller, in hisHistory of the Worthies of England, praised Bright as follows:

For my own part, I behold this Master Bright placed by Divine Providence in this city, in the Marches, that he might equally communicate the lustre of grammar learning to youth both of England and Wales.^[10]

Pupils did attend the school from Wales as well as England. Bright arranged for WorcesterCathedral chapter to provideexhibition scholarships of 2 shillings per annum for pupils he sent to university.^[2] His reputation was also echoed byAnthony Wood in hisFasti Oxoniensis:

He had a most excellent faculty in instructing youths in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, most of which were afterwards sent to the universities, where they proved eminent to emulation. He was also an excellent preacher, was resorted to far and near ... The posterity of this Hen. Bright do now live in genteel fashion in Worcestershire.^[11]

Nevertheless, Bright had among at least some of his pupils a reputation for brutality, which was recorded byThomas Hall in the manuscript of Hall's autobiography left in his papers.^[12]

Bright’s arms areblazonedAzure, a fess wavy ermine in chief three crescents argent.^[13]

Bright married twice. Firstly he married Maria Tovey, by whom he had a daughter:

• Mary Bright

Secondly he married Joan Berkeley, a daughter ofRowland BerkeleyMP and a sister of SirRobert BerkeleyMP, the judge. They had a son and three daughters:

• Robert Bright (1617–1665), son and heir
• Dorothy Bright
• Joyce Bright, who married John Brydges (1604–1669) – they had three daughters, Brydges' coheirs^[14]
• Catherine Bright

Robert Bright inherited the estate of Brockbury, which remained in the family for many centuries, passing down toHenry BrightMP (1784–1869), then to the Oxford historianJames Franck Bright (1832–1920).^[1]

Bright's wall monument^[15] survives inWorcester Cathedral. It carries an epitaph written byJoseph Hall (then Dean of Worcester), and quoted by Fuller as follows:^[10]

Bright is principally remembered for the pupils he taught at Worcester whom he frequently sent to Oxford, many of whom became well known. They include:

• John BealeFRS,^[16] clergyman and scientific writer, in whom Bright helped develop an interest inErasmus
• Samuel Butler, a poet and satirist, author ofHudibras^[17]
• John Doughtie, Canon of Westminster Abbey, buried in Westminster Abbey^[18]
• William Dugard, schoolmaster and publisher, associate ofJohn Milton^[19]
• Thomas Good,^[20] Master ofBalliol College, Oxford
• Thomas Hall,^[21] presbyterian minister ejected from the Church of England in 1662
• Robert Harris, President ofTrinity College, Oxford
• Roger Maynwaring,Dean of Worcester andBishop of St David's, chaplain toCharles I^[22]
• Thomas Nabbes, dramatist^[23]
• Hannibal Potter, President ofTrinity College, Oxford^[24]
• Francis PotterFRS, Biblical commentator and scientific innovator^[24]
• SirJohn Vaughan, judge and statesman,Chief Justice of the Common Pleas^[25]
• Thomas Warmestry,^[26]Dean of Worcester
• Edward Winslow,^[27] one of thePilgrim Fathers, Governor ofPlymouth Colony, Massachusetts

^A As the legal year at this time began on 25 March, Bright's death is recorded as having taken place in 1626, but this date is now regarded as falling in 1627. (Full explanation.)

• 1562 births
• 1627 deaths
• Clergy from Worcester, England
• People educated at King's School, Worcester
• Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
• Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
• Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford
• Schoolteachers from Worcestershire
• 17th-century English educators
• 16th-century English educators

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