Annie Bright (14 July 1840 – 21 June 1913) was a British-born Australian journalist and

spiritualist Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...

Early life in England

Annie Bright was born on 14 July 1840 at Mount Hooton,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in England. She was the daughter of bookkeeper and silk merchant, William and Charlotte Wright (née Hooton). She attended Church of England schools, despite her father being a

freethinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

. In 1864 she married James Pillars, a minister in the Unitarian church and the couple moved to Sydney, where he replaced Rev. G. H. Stanley in the Macquarie Street church.

Life

While her husband preached and ministered to a free thought congregation, Bright opened a school where she taught the daughters of family friends. In July 1875 she was widowed when Pillars was killed when he fell onto rocks from the cliffs between South Head and Bondi during a Sunday School outing. She was left with four children under ten to support. In April 1883 Bright married fellow journalist Charles Bright at Stanmore. Following Charles' death in April 1903, Bright moved to Melbourne where she became editor of a spiritual journal, the ''Harbinger of Light.'' She died of heart failure at her

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ce ...

home on 21 June 1913 and was buried in

Brighton Cemetery Brighton General Cemetery is located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South, Victoria, but takes its name from Brighton, Victoria. History The Cemetery pre-dates the Caulfield Roads Board – the first official recognition of the suburb of ...

two days later, with a large crowd of spiritualists and others attending. Memorial services were held subsequently in both Melbourne and Sydney.

Works

* ''A Soul's Pilgrimage'', George Robertson & Co. (1907) * ''What Life in the Spiritualist World Really Is'' (1912)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Annie 1840 births 1913 deaths Australian women journalists Australian spiritualists People from Nottingham English emigrants to colonial Australia Burials at Brighton General Cemetery