Richard Bright was born in 1789, the year in which George Washington became first President of the United States of America and France suffered a revolution. His father was a banker living in Bristol, an important city resting on the laurels of five centuries of maritime enterprise. The circumstances of his arrival were but the first of Bright's fortunes for he was a man on whom the sun consistently shone. He had the very best education, locally in Bristol and subsequently at the school of medicine in Edinburgh; he achieved early and continuous success in medicine and lived to enjoy its reflection; he travelled extensively; he had the largest general practice in London and the best facilities for clinical and pathological research; he was a copious author and a delicate artist; he retired young to enjoy his leisure and he died unobtrusively in his 70th year. During his lifetime he was associated with some of the greatest names in medicine; he became himself one of the greatest names in medicine. As he is indubitably a giant figure in our medical history, I think it is worthwhile to examine his biography more minutely before going on to describe his contributions to medicine, and, more particularly to renal disease.