Brightwell was born at Thorpe, near Norwich, on 27 February 1811, the eldest child of Thomas Brightwell (Ipswich 1787 – Norwich 1868), and his first wife, Mary Snell (1788 – 1815), daughter of William Wilkin Wilkin, of Costessey, near Norwich, and Cecilia Lucy (Jacomb), a lineal descendant of Thomas Jacomb.
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