Benjamin married Mary Ann Wild 18 August 1817 in Middlewich, Cheshire.
They had 2 children:
Helen Sarah appears on the 1841 census in Liverpool with her mother Mary Ann and father Benjamin and again on the 1851 census with her mother and with her brother. Helen is age 25 and Henry 26.
Henry Anthony born in Birmingham and baptised in Manchester at Moseley St. Chapel. He was admitted to the Manchester School 1833. He became an Architect. He moved to Liverpool where he married Margaret Clay in St Mary`s Chapel, Bootle in 1854. On their marriage certificate father Benjamin is named as a drysalter. Henry appears on census returns in 1851, 61 and 71 in Liverpool and the 1881 census in Claybrook Road, Fulham, London along with his family Charles (age 21), Benjamin (20), Annie (18), William (17) and Elizabeth (14). All these children born in Liverpool. No trace of any of them after this. Another son Henry Wentworth Bradley married Jessie Clay (cousin) in 1885. They are living in Chorlton on Medlock, Lancs. in 1891 and Henry is an engineer.
Additional information as at June 2012, given below, very kindly provided by Simon Green (no relation!) who contacted me via this website some time ago. His mother-in-law is the link to the Bradleys. Interestingly we have also found that both Helen Sarah and Henry Anthony were re-baptised 1848 and 1850 resp. at Holy Trinity, Hulme, Cheshire. Unfortunately the page for Henry is missing but the entry for Helen Sarah states her birth as June 21, 1818 (adult) baptised May 7, 1850 Helen Sarah Augusta. Benjamin is a Carrier of Bootle, nr Liverpool and the godparents are Mary Jane Todd, Eliza Keighley and Henry Anthony Bradley.
‘Henry Anthony born in Birmingham and baptised in Manchester at Moseley St. Chapel. He was admitted to the Manchester School 1833. He became an Architect. He moved to Liverpool where he married Margaret Clay, daughter of William Clay and Ann Kissock, in St Mary`s Chapel, Bootle in 1854.
“Sept 28 at St Mary`s, Bootle, by the Rev. John Crump, incumbent, Henry Anthony Bradley, Esq. architect, Portsmouth, near Todmorden to Margaret Ann, eldest daughter of the late William Clay, Esq. of this town, and grand-daughter of the late Richard Clay, Esq. of Rose-villa, Almondbury, Yorkshire.”
He appears on census returns in 1851, 61 and 71 in Liverpool and the 1881 census in Claybrook Road, Fulham, London along with his family Charles Kissock (age 21), Benjamin (20), Annie (18), William (17) and Elizabeth (14). Other children included Alice born 1855 and Henry Wentworth born 1857. All these children born in Bootle apart from Alice, who was born in Edgbaston. Henry Anthony emigrated with his family (apart from Wentworth) to South Africa after the 1881 census and died there some time after 1903.
Alice Dorothea Bradley – Alice was admitted to Bethlem Hospital in 1878 suffering from “melancholia”. She was institutionalised for the rest of her life and died in 1934 in Lancaster County mental Hospital.
Henry Wentworth Bradley married Jessie Clay (cousin?) in 1885. They are living in Chorlton on Medlock, Lancs. in 1891 and Henry is an engineer. Wentworth registered a number of patents in his name and two other engineers in the early 1900s, relating to the internal combustion engine.
Benjamin Bradley. Together with his brother Charles Kissock Bradley and Wentworth Norris Clay (brother of Jessie Clay, Henry Wentworth`s wife), Benjamin Bradley was recruited in 1890 into the Rhodesia Pioneer Corps, all becoming Troopers in “C” Troop, which was the artillery unit. Prior to this they were all resident in Cape Colony. they all survived the trek into Mashonaland, but Wentworth Norris is recorded as having died shortly afterwards in 1893.
In 1899 Benjamin married Kathleen Fitzpatrick, daughter of James Coleman Fitzpatrick, a Cape Colony Supreme Court Judge and ex-Governor of the gold Coast (Ghana). Kathleen`s brother James Percy Fitzpatrick became the celebrated author and businessman. who wrote Jock of the Bushveld and instigated the Armistice Day 2 Minutes Silence, among other things. His descendants are citrus fruit farmers in South Africa.
Benjamin and Kathleen had a son, Benjamin Gerald Bradley, born Bulawayo 1899 and daughters Geraldine, Jeannette (Jenny) and Lillian all born Transvaal. Benjamin and his family returned to the UK in 1908, living in Eastbourne, with Benjamin listed in the 1911 census as a Director and manager of the Bradley-Williams Ore Extraction Company. On the outbreak of WW1, Benjamin became a Special Constable in St. Albans and later a Captain in the 9th Batt. Somerset Light Infantry. Presumably due to his age, he did not see overseas service, and was demobbed in 1919 from the Labour Corps with the rank of Major. He died at sea in 1927, returning from Gibralter.
Charles Kissok Bradley – stayed in South Africa as a farmer, marrying Edith Warren, daughter of a Colonel Warren. They had 5 daughters, Edith (Gibby), Greta, Kathleen, Mary and Ruth.
William Bradley – stayed in South Africa, running a coal business. Married Beryl Barker and had 2 daughters Doris and Elizabeth and one son, William.
Ann (Annie) Bradley – married J. R. Williams, a metallurgical chemist, in South Africa. No children. J.R.Williams is the “Williams” in the Bradley-Williams Ore Extraction Co.
Elizabeth (Daisy) Bradley – married Hugh Stevenson in South Africa. No children.
Following biographical details were published by the Historical Society of Zimbabwe
Bradley Benjamin 1860-1928 No: 141
Attested into the Pioneer Corps, 7th May, 1890. Trooper. Appointed to “C” Troop, 21st June.
Born in Bootle, Lancashire, 1860, the son of an architect. Emigrated to South Africa (with father, mother, two sisters and brother, Charles) in 1880. Farmed near Kei river Mouth until 1886. On the Rand, 1886-1890.
Travelled from Beira to Cape Town, June 1891, and returned by same route with a party sent by Rhodes to cut a road from Beira to Umtali. Prospected and mined in Penhalonga area. Carried despatches from Rhodes to Dr. Jameson during 1893 War. Subscribed, together with A. Tulloch (see below), £3 to the Umtali North Landowners’ Association, 1895. Owned and settled Inyanga Slopes and Inyanga Valley Farms (with Tulloch and C. K. Bradley (see below)).
Captain in 1896 Rebellion. Took part in defence of Bulawayo. Left Rhodesia shortly thereafter and lived in Johannesburg for two years. Returned to Bulawayo, 1898 and lived there until end of Boer War. Moved to South Africa, 1902, and lived in Johannesburg.
Returned to England in 1908 and set up the Bradley-Williams Ore Extraction Company in Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Served as Major during First World War. Died at Henley-on-Thames, Middlesex, 1928.
Married Kathleen Fitzpatrick in Johannesburg in 1898. Had issue, one son, three daughters:
(a) Gerald (born 1899), (b) Jenny, who married Eric Rosenthal, and lives at White Horses, 48 Hillside Road, Fish Hoek, Cape, (c) daughter, (d) daughter.
References: The Umtali Advertiser, 4/6/95, MISC/ED.4/1/1/ Rhodesiana, No. 31 P.37, DA.6/1/1, ff 183-6.’
