(cf. C. B. Fry in Giants of the Game, p. 134). A slow left-hand bowler, with an easy action and plenty of spin, he was most misleading to batsmen; he was especially destructive on 'dead' wickets. Against Australia his most memorable performances were those at Sydney, when in December 1894 he and Peel dismissed the last eight Australian batsmen on a wet wicket for 53 runs, and snatched a victory for England by 10 runs; in the 1887–8 tour, when he with George Lohmann [q. v. Suppl. II] bowled unchanged through the test match; and in February 1892, when he accomplished the 'hat trick' for England, a very rare feat in test matches. In May 1900, when playing for Lancashire v. Worcestershire, he took all ten wickets.
In June 1899 an epileptic seizure after the match England v. Australia, at Leeds, interrupted his career, and he spent several months in Cheadle Asylum. On his recovery in 1900 he played again for Lancashire; but a fresh seizure in 1901 compelled his return to Cheadle Asylum, where he died on 11 Jan. 1902.
[The Times, 13 Jan. 1902; Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, 1903, p. lxx; Daft's Kings of Cricket (portrait, p. 153); W. G. Grace's Cricketing Reminiscences 1889, pp. 330–3; Giants of the Game, ed. Hon. R. H. Lyttelton, pp. 134–6.]
BRIGHT, WILLIAM (1824–1901), church historian, born at Doncaster on 14 Dec. 1824, was only son of William Bright, town-clerk of Doncaster, Yorkshire. Sent first to a preparatory school at Southwell, and thence, in 1837, to Rugby, he there reached the sixth form at the time of Dr. Thomas Arnold's death. Gaining a scholarship at University College, Oxford, he matriculated on 20 March 1843; obtained first-class honours in classics in 1846; was awarded the Johnson theological scholarship in 1847, and the Ellerton theological essay in 1848, the subject being 'The Prophetic Office under the Mosaic Dispensation.' He graduated B.A. in 1846, proceeding M.A. in 1849, and D.D. in 1869. He was ordained deacon in 1848 and priest in 1850.
Elected fellow of University College in 1847, he retained his fellowship till 1868. He became tutor of his college in 1848, but in 1851 accepted the theological tutorship at Trinity College, Glenalmond, under the wardenship of Dr. Charles Wordsworth [q. v.], afterwards bishop of St. Andrews. The Scottish bishops also appointed him to the Bell lectureship in ecclesiastical history, an office which entailed the custodianship of a mass of important documents illustrating the church history of Great Britain, which had been accumulated by the founder for the use of his lecturer. Bright was thus encouraged to pursue the historical studies to which he came to devote his best powers. In 1858 the bishop of Glasgow, Walter John Trower, took umbrage at a casual, but not unjust, remark of Bright as to the imperfection of the church settlement effected by Henry VIII, and procured his ejection from both Glenalmond tutorship and Bell lectureship. Bright protested in a pamphlet, 'A Statement of the Facts as to Certain Proceedings of the Bishop of Glasgow' (1858). Later on, the injustice of the proceedings was acknowledged, and Bright was honorary canon of Cumbrae cathedral from 1865 to 1893. Returning to Oxford in 1858, and resuming his tutorship at University College, he was appointed in 1868 regius professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford and canon of Christ Church in succession to Arthur Penrhyn Stanley [q. v.]. In his new office he proved himself a student of unwearied industry. His 'Sylva,' his set of manuscript note-books of matter bearing on lectures from 1870 to 1880, amounts to over sixty large and methodical volumes (W. Lock, The Age of the Fathers, p. vi). He was a most forcible lecturer, full of fire, contagious energy, and quaint humour (H. S. Holland, Personal Studies, p. 298). He preached effectively in the university church and in the cathedral, and was always ready to help any Oxford clergyman by a sermon, or by taking the chair at church meetings. Anxious to make provision for the rapidly growing suburbs of Oxford, he earnestly advocated, and liberally contributed to, the building of the fine church of St. Margaret in the north suburb.
He was proctor in convocation for the chapter of Christ Church from 1878; examining chaplain to Edward King [q. v, Suppl. II], bishop of Lincoln, from 1885; and sub-dean of Christ Church from 1895. He died unmarried at Christ Church on 6 March 1901, and was buried in the Christ Church portion of Osney cemetery, by Oxford.
Bright's chief historical works were:
- 'A History of the Church, a.d. 313–451,' Oxford, 1860; 5th edit. 1888, a summary of his Glenalmond lectures: accepted as the standard treatise for Anglican theological students.
- 'Chapters of Early English Church History,' Oxford, 1878; 3rd edit.
