Henry Bright

Who was Henry Bright?

Henry Bright was an Usher, and then Headmaster, at King's College, Worcester. He is mentioned in Worthies of England, by Thomas Fuller as an exceptional teacher. Probably educated at King's Worcester himself, he went on to Brasenose College, Oxford as a "plebian" and then to Balliol College, where he took a BA and Masters.

Starting at King’s Worcester in 1689, he also held a number of paid positions within the Church of England, including at Broadwas, Tredington, a canonry at Hereford Cathedral and Worcester Cathedral.

Fuller claims that "this Master Bright [was] 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". Pupils did attend the school from both countries. The school under Bright also provided yearly "exhibitions" of 2/- for pupils he sent to colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.

His reputation was also echoed by Anthony Wood in his Fasti 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.