BRIGHT, Richard

Bright’s background is obscure, and the loss of the borough records for Wilton in the early decades of the fifteenth century means that any participation in town government before his first return to Parliament is undocumented. He attested the indenture recording the election of the shire knights at Wilton on 19 Aug. 1427, when his own return, and that of the other citizens and burgesses for the Wiltshire boroughs, was merely noted on an attached schedule. His inclusion on the indentures for four later Parliaments (including that of 1431 when he was returned again) suggests that he held a prominent position in Wilton in the 1420s and 1430s. In addition, at the time of both his elections to the Commons he was holding office as a ranger of Clarendon park, situated the other side of Salisbury, an appointment he owed to the keeper of the park, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. Whether this connexion with the duke influenced the burgesses to select him as their MP can only be a matter for speculation, but links to the duke, who as Protector of England presided over both his Parliaments, could only work to Wilton’s advantage.

Bright received a payment of £2 from Wilton for his counsel while serving in the Commons of 1431, while his fellow MP William Botreaux II*, who may not have been a local man, was paid just 33s. 4d. for his parliamentary service.3 Wilton stewards’ accts. G25/1/89. He was a juror at Wilton at the inquisition post mortem on John, earl of Arundel, on 1 Feb. 1436, and acted likewise at that held at Amesbury on the following 5 Nov. with regard to the earl’s widow, Countess Maud.4 C139/71/37, 81/39. By the latter date he had been elected mayor of Wilton, and he attested the shire elections to the Parliament of 1437 while in office. He also stood surety for one of Wilton’s MPs, John Mundy*.5 C219/15/1. It is uncertain when Bright relinquished his post as ranger at Clarendon, but he was certainly still holding it at Michaelmas 1438. He is recorded heading the list of jurors at the inquisition post mortem at Salisbury on Sir Brian Stapleton on 1 Jan. 1439, and was still living in May 1443 when he witnessed a deed for John Uffenham* at Wilton.6 C139/92/34; Wilton deeds, G25/1/213.