Bright was ed­u­cat­ed at Un­i­ver­si­ty Coll­ege, Ox­ford (BA 1846, MA 1849). In 1847, he was a John­son’s The­o­log­ic­al Schol­ar, and in 1848 won the El­ler­ton The­o­log­ic­al Es­say prize. He was elect­ed to Fel­low in 1847, and sub­se­quent­ly be­came Tu­tor of his Coll­ege. Tak­ing Ho­ly Or­ders in 1848, he was for some time Tu­tor at Trin­i­ty Coll­ege, Glen­al­mond. In 1859 he re­turned to Ox­ford, and in 1868 be­came Re­gius Pro­fess­or of Ec­cle­si­as­tic­al His­to­ry and Ca­non of Christ Church. His works in­clude:

• Athanasius and Other Po­ems, by a Fel­low of a Coll­ege, 1858
• History of the Church from the Edict of Mi­lan, to the Coun­cil of Chal­ce­don, 1860
• Ancient Col­lects, Selected from Var­i­ous Ri­tu­als, 1857 and se­cond edi­tion, 1862
• Sermons of St. Leo the Great on the In­car­na­tion, 1862
• Hymns and Other Po­ems, 1866, 1874
• Faith and Life, 1864-66
• Chapters of Early Eng­lish Church His­to­ry, 1877
• Pri­vate Pray­ers for a Week
• Family Pray­ers for a Week
• Notes on the Ca­nons of the First Four Coun­cils
• Latin Ver­sion of the Pray­er Book, 1865-69, with Rev. P. G. Medd
• St. Ath­a­na­si­us’ Ora­tions against the Ar­i­ans, 1873
• Socrates’ Ec­cles­i­as­ti­cal His­to­ry

Sources

Hymns

1. And Now, O Father, Mind­ful of the Love
2. And Now the Wants Are Told
3. At Thy Feet, O Christ
4. Behold Us, Lord, Be­fore Thee Met
5. God the Father, God the Son
6. He Sat to Watch o’er Cus­toms Paid
7. Ho­ly Name of Jesus
8. How Oft, O Lord, Thy Face Hath Shone
9. Now at the Night’s Re­turn We Raise
10. Once, Only Once
11. Still Throned in Hea­v’n
12. Thou, the Christ For­ev­er One
13. We Know Thee Who Thou Art