Charles Edward Bright

Who was Charles Edward Bright?

Charles Edward Bright CMG JP, was a businessman in colonial Victoria.

Bright belonged to an old Worcestershire family possessing estates in the counties of Worcester and Hereford. He was the fifth son of the Robert Bright, of Bristol and Abbots Leigh, Somerset, by Caroline, daughter of Thomas Tyndall, of The Fort, Bristol. Bright's brothers were Richard Bright, who was elected M.P. for East Somerset in 1868, and Lieut.-General Sir Robert Onesiphorus Bright.

Bright emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in Jan. 1854. He became a partner in the firms of Messrs. Antony Gibbs & Co., and Gibbs, Bright & Co. He was twice Chairman of the Melbourne Harbour Trust, and for many years Trustee of the Public Library, Museum, and National Gallery of Victoria. He was Commissioner to the Exhibition of London, 1861-2; Dublin, 1864; Melbourne, 1866-7; London, 1873-4; Melbourne, 1880; Calcutta, 1883; Adelaide, 1887; and Melbourne, 1888. He married, on August 25th, 1868, the Hon. Anne Maria Georgiana Manners-Sutton, daughter of the third Viscount Canterbury, by Georgiana, youngest daughter of Charles Tompson, of Witchingham Hall, Norfolk; and was created CMG on May 24th, 1883.