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From: Brad Verity <>
Subject: Descents From Edward III For Thomas Bright,Founder of the Badsworth Hunt 1720
Date: 21 Apr 2007 14:10:33 -0700


Thomas Bright (c.1708-1735) of Badsworth Hall, 5 miles south of
Pontefract, was the founder in 1720 of the Badsworth Hunt, both the
oldest established, and the southernmost, foxhunt in Yorkshire. He
left at his death an only daughter and heiress Mary Bright (baptized
at Ackworth 27 August 1735; died at Hillingdon House 19 December 1804)
who was Marchioness of Rockingham, but died without issue, when
Badsworth Hall and the other Bright estates passed to her husband's
family the Wentworths.

http://www.foxhunters.net/badsworth/badshis.htm

Thomas's father John Bright had been born a Liddell, the second son of
the 3rd Baronet of Ravensworth Castle, but took the surname of Bright
when he succeeded to Badsworth Hall and the other estates per the will
of his maternal grandfather (see A8 below).

The Brights were of humble origin - Thomas Bright (d. 1615) was a
yeoman farmer. It was his son Stephen Bright (1583-1642) who founded
the family fortune. He used the profits from his office as bailiff of
the Earls of Arundel on their Hallamshire (West Riding) estates to
purchase lands worth about £600 a year, including Carbrook Hall (3
miles N.E. of Sheffield). His son and heir John Bright (1619-1688)
took up arms for Parliament at the outbreak of the civil war, becoming
Colonel of foot in 1643, governor of Sheffield Castle in August 1644,
and military governor of York. It was about the following year (1645)
that he married into the bloodline of Edward III with the first of his
four wives. Catherine Lister (1615-1663) was a war widow - her first
husband William Lister of Thornton in Craven had been killed at
Tadcaster in 1642. She was the daughter of Sir Richard Hawksworth of
Hawksworth Hall (12 miles from Leeds), a respectable West Riding
gentry family, and her one descent from Joan Beaufort is given below.
John Bright was able to exploit the profits of his military and
administrative offices and triple the value of his estate between 1642
and 1660, chiefly with the purchase in 1653 for £8600 of the forfeited
manor of Badsworth, which he made the main family seat. He served as
High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1654 and 1655, and as M.P. for the East
Riding in 1654. By supporting the Restoration of Charles II he was
able to keep everything he had gained, and even raise himself up
socially when he was created a baronet in 1660.

The marriages of his two surviving children with Catherine reflect the
family's new arrival into the peerage. Daughter Catherine Bright was
married in 1669 to the son and heir of Sir Thomas Liddell, 2nd
Baronet, of Ravensworth Castle, co. Durham. Son John Bright
(1658-1677) married Lady Lucy Montagu, daughter of Edward, Earl of
Manchester. Young John was accidentally slain by a discharging canon
on Clifford's Tower in York, and though the 1st Baronet married three
more times after the death of his first wife, he had no other
children, so he made his daughter's second son John Liddell the heir
to all of his estates.

Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (c.1379-1440) had a son (A1).

A1) George Nevill, 1st Lord Latimer (c.1411-1469), who had
A2) Sir Henry Nevill (d. 1469) m. Joan Bourchier (d. 1470, descended
from Edward III but not thru Joan Beaufort), and had
A3) Richard Nevill, 2nd Lord Latimer (1468-1530), who had
A4) Susan Nevill (1501-15--) m. Richard Norton of Norton Conyers (c.
1498- 1586), and had
A5) Clare Norton (c.1540-15-) m. c.1558 Richard Goodrick of Ribston,
Yorks. (1524-1582), and had
A6) Elizabeth Goodrick (c.1565-16-) m. 1588 Thomas Wentworth of North
Elmsall, Yorks. (d. 1633), and had
A7) Anne Wentworth (d. 1618) m. Sir Richard Hawksworth of Hawksworth,
Yorks. (c.1594-1658), and had
A8) Catherine Hawksworth (1615-1663) m. 2)c.1645 Sir John Bright, 1st
Baronet, of Badsworth (1619-1688), and had
A9) Catherine Bright (c.1650-1703) m. 1669 Sir Henry Liddell, 3rd
Baronet, of Ravensworth (d. 1723), and had
A10) John (Liddell) Bright, 2nd son, of Badsworth (1672-1737) m.
Cordelia Clutterbuck, and had
A11) Thomas Bright of Badsworth (c.1708-1735), founded the Badsworth
Hunt 1720

Cheers, ---------Brad


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