Last update:
06-Sep-2020

Bright, born in 1789, studied Medicine at Edinburgh and Guy's Hospital. He became interested in pathology and used his artistic skills to draw organs post mortem, including a "granular kidney". He believed that "dropsy" was related to kidney malfunction-the patient with granular kidneys had died from dropsy. He published 23 cases with dropsy, most with renal failure; 17 died. Autopsies showed nephritis and the term Bright's Disease was adopted. In 1851, Bright developed aortic stenosis and later died, unexpectedly, in 1858. What prompted this reminder of Bright? A 94-year-old lady attended my renal clinic. She introduced herself as a descendant of Bright. She had renal impairment. Subsequently she showed me a book she had authored – "The Inner Circle. A view of war at the top" – an account of her work, among much else, in the underground Cabinet War Rooms in London. Churchill spent much time there. There, she reorganised records of war events for battle leaders to update themselves when in London. She also administered domestic and technical arrangements when Churchill travelled to war conferences attended by Roosevelt and Stalin. She died aged 98, her renal function stable.

Key words: Bright's Descendant, Richard Bright, The Inner Circle WW2, Winston Churchill.