Simon Wilkin, Brightwell's uncle, edited the works of Sir Thomas Browne.
In the preparation of the latter work he was assisted by his daughter (a pupil of John Sell Cotman), who drew and lithographed the figures of the various species noted.
Brightwell, who was a good Italian scholar and a remarkably able etcher, owed little to teachers, and followed her own methods.
Her philanthropic spirit was shown in her exertions and contribution of £180, for the Brightwell lifeboat put on the Norfolk coast at Blakeney.
Page's house, Ely, formerly residence of Oliver Cromwell (etched in two sizes, though only the larger was published); two views of Ranworth Decoy (in Lubbock's Fauna of Norfolk); Bromeholme Priory (frontispiece to Green's History of Bacton).