Profile

BRIGHT, Richard Henry
(Service number 7356)

Aliases Enlisted as Richard BRIGHT
First Rank Gunner Last Rank Gunner

Birth

Date 27 January 1881 Place of Birth Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date 8 September 1915 Age 34 years 6 months
Address at Enlistment Taumarunui, King Country, New Zealand
Occupation Jeweller
Previous Military Experience Kitchener's Light Horse, Boer War - one year
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Thomas Linwood BRIGHT (brother), Box 494 G.P.O., Auckland
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with Australian Imperial Force Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 14th Battery
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 5th Field Artillery Brigade
Date 8 September 1915
Transport Persic
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns Egyptian; Westerne European
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Jeweller

Death

Date 30 July 1948 Age 67 years
Place of Death Wellington
Cause Natural causes
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Karori Cemetery, Wellington
Memorial Reference Soldiers Section. Plot 33 R/3
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Richard Henry Bright was born on 27 January 1881 at Timaru and baptised on 27 March at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Timaru, the third son of William Robert Bright, a printer/compositor, and his wife, Elizabeth née O’Hara. The first-born Richard Bright was born in 1875 at Timaru and, dying there in 1879, was buried in the Timaru Cemetery, along with his infant sister Maude in 1880. Richard Henry Bright was educated variously at Phillipstown School, Christchurch, Christchurch East School, and Arthur Street School, Dunedin. Mrs Bright, who died in 1894 at the age of 42, and her husband, William Robert Bright, who died suddenly at his lodgings in Christchurch in September 1911, are buried in Avonside Cemetery, Christchurch.

Richard Bright enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 8 September 1915 at Sydney, New SouthWales. He was 34 years 6 months old, a jeweller, and single. Richard named his younger brother, Mr Thomas Linwood Bright, Box 494, G.P.O., Auckland, New Zealand, as next-of-kin. He had served for one year with Kitchener’s Light Horse in the Boer War. Gunner Richard Bright returned to Australia from England on 27 April 1919.

Richard married Daisy Melville in 1922 in New Zealand. He died on 30 July 1948 at Wellington, aged 67 years, and was buried in the Soldiers Section of Karori Cemetery, a services plaque marking his grave.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [30 March 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [23 April 2020]; St Mary’s Timaru Baptism records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [16 April 2020]; School Admission records [23 April 2020]; Karori Cemetery headstone image & burial record (Wellington City Council) [22 April 2020]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB