Stephen Robinson Bright was born in late 1877, the third of four children of John Bright, a colliery storeman, and his wife Jane. They were then living in Easington Lane in Hetton le Hole but would move to Gale Street in South Hetton by 1891.
Bright attended Bede College 1900-02. He married Caroline Eliza Lamsdale on 11 September 1904 and by 1911 they had four children, three boys and a girl. In 1911 Stephen Bright was working as an elementary school teacher at Westoe County School and living at 164 Mowbray Road, South Shields.
By June 1916 Bright had joined the Royal Medical Corps 17th Field Ambulance as a private, which was attached to the 6th Division. His death is recorded to have occurred on 18 September 1918 when the 6th Division, part of IX Corps, took part in the Battle of Épehy, a general attack on St Quentin. This attack ended with the capture of ‘The Quadrilateral’ on the 25 September 1918, but on 18 September Bright along with Major H. B. German, Lt.-Col. R.T. Collins, Major the Reverend J. Fitzgibbons and ten men of other ranks from his unit were all killed when their Advanced Dressing Station was shelled. They are all buried at Trefcon British Cemetery, Caulaincourt.
Bright’s death is recorded at the Church of St Michael & All Angels in South Shields in the Book of Remembrance and on a reredos and panels. He is also remembered in the National Union of Teachers War Record 1914-1919 (1920), and in Durham University’s Roll of Service (1920).