Brights was a small group of department stores based in the South and South West of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Frederick John Bright was born in

Castle Hedingham Castle Hedingham is a village in northern Essex, England, located four miles west of Halstead and 3 miles southeast of Great Yeldham in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge. It developed around Hedingham Cas ...

, in Essex in 1832 and went onto work for the London Missionary Service in India. During his time in India, his son Percy was born by his wife June in 1864. They returned to England due to the ill health of Frederick's mother, firstly moving to

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

, then

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

where Frederick ran a small haberdashery business for 6 years. In 1871 he opened a store at no. 9 Bournemouth Arcade selling needlework and Berlin Wool, before quickly adding a bookshop and a printers which by 1894 were located at 8-11 Bournemouth Arcade. From 1886 F J Brights printed the Brights Illustrated Guide to Bournemouth. The store expanded again by adding a new stationery and fancy goods department at 14-26 Old Christchurch Road, and moving into the new art of photography. The business continued to be run by Frederick until the 1920s when his son

Percy The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

took over. In 1923 he took over Flora Ltd, a Gown & Millinery shop in

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

renaming the business Brights (Southsea) Ltd, however by 1928 the business was no longer operational. He sold off the photography and printing business in 1924 to partner Frank Higby Oliver. In 1925 he purchased the

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

department store Colson & Co. rebranding the store Colsons of Exeter, and in 1932 bought the

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

department store of Bobby & Co. In 1941, however, Percy was hit by a coal lorry and died at the age of 78. After the war the Exeter store was rebuilt in 1953 and the business continued to operate as an independent company until 1960 when

J J Allen J J Allen was a small retail group that formed in 1860 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The business was incorporated in 1899 by Mr J J Allen as a furniture shop, removal company and funeral directors (which still exist as an independent compan ...

took over the Brights brand. The Brights brand continued to be operated after the purchase of J J Allen by

House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

in 1969, however after the purchase of Dingles by House of Fraser in 1971, the Brights and Colsons brands were dropped and replaced by Dingles in 1972.

References

{{Reflist Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1871 House of Fraser