Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/312

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Bradley
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Bradley

and the law courts, which was passed on 9 Aug. 1888. In 1889 he was nominated a member of the royal commission on vaccination. He took a special interest in questions relating to India, and interested himself so deeply in the social and political condition of the natives that he was known as 'the member for India.' In 1889 he attended the Indian national congress at Bombay, and was received with great honour. He became very popular with the House of Commons, and on 27 Jan. 1891, on the motion of Hunter, William Alexander [q. v. Suppl.], it unanimously expunged from its journals its resolutions expelling him. But at that time Bradlaugh was lying unconscious at his house in Circus Road, St. John's Wood, London, and he died on the 30th. He was buried at Brookwood. His portrait was presented by subscription to the National Liberal Club after his death.

He married, on 5 June 1855, Alice, eldest daughter of Abraham Hooper, and by her had one son and two daughters.

Bradlaugh's writings were mostly controversial pamphlets and press articles. Some of his pamphlets went into several editions, the best known being (1) 'Impeachment of the House of Brunswick,' London, 1872; (2) 'Land for the People,' London, 1877; (3) 'Perpetual Pensions,' London, 1880; (4) 'John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough,' London, 1884. He was also connected editorially with the 'London Investigator,' vols. v. and vi. 1854, &c.; 'Half-hours with the Freethinkers,' London, 1856, &c.; 'The National Secular Society's Almanac,' London, 1869, &c.; 'Freethinkers' Textbook,' London, 1876, &c. Reports of the public debates in which he took part were frequently published. He also wrote his 'Autobiography,' London, 1873; 'Genesis: its Authorship and Authenticity,' London, 1882; 'The True Story of my Parliamentary Struggle,' London, 1882; 'Rules, Customs, and Procedure of the House of Commons,' London, 1889.

[Charles Bradlauph, by Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner and John M. Robertson; Autobiography, supra; Life by A. S. Headingly; Review of Reviews, March 1891; Annie Besant: an Autobiography, by Mrs. Besant; Collection of Broadsides, Ballads, &c., issued in connection with Northampton election in Brit. Mus.]

J. R. M.


BRADLEY, EDWARD (1827–1889), author of ‘Verdant Green,’ the second son of Thomas Bradley, surgeon of Kidderminster, who came of a somewhat ancient Worcestershire and clerical family, was born on 25 March 1827. A brother, Thomas Waldron Bradley, was author of two novels, ‘Grantley Grange’ (1874) and ‘Nelly Hamilton’ (1875), while an uncle, William Bradley of Leamington, wrote ‘Sketches of the Poor by a retired Guardian.’ After education at the Kidderminster grammar school, Bradley went up in 1845 to University College, Durham, where he was a Thorp and foundation scholar. He graduated B.A. in 1848, and took his licentiateship of theology in 1849. Not being of age to take orders, he appears to have stayed a year at Oxford, pursuing various studies, though he never matriculated, and while there he formed a lifelong friendship with John George Wood [q. v.], the future naturalist. For a year or so he worked in the clergy schools at Kidderminster. In 1850 he was ordained by the bishop of Ely (Turton) to the curacy of Glatton-with-Holme, Huntingdonshire. He remained there over four years, during which he described for the ‘Illustrated London News’ the extensive work of draining Whittlesea Mere, then being carried out by William Wells of Holmewood. In 1857 Bradley was appointed vicar of Bobbington in Staffordshire. From 1859 to 1871 he was rector of Denton-with-Caldecote, Huntingdonshire. In 1871 he became rector of Stretton, Rutlandshire, where he carried through a much-needed restoration of the church, at a cost of nearly 2,000l. In order to raise the funds he gave lectures in the midland towns, and was much in demand as an authority upon ‘Modern Humourists,’ ‘Wit and Humour,’ and ‘Light Literature.’

Bradley was a friend and associate of Cruikshank, Frank Smedley, Mark Lemon, and Albert Smith (for whose serials, ‘The Month,’ ‘The Man in the Moon,’ and ‘The Town and Country Miscellany,’ he began to write about 1850). He generally wrote for the press under the pseudonym of ‘Cuthbert Bede,’ the names of the two patron saints of Durham. His one marked literary success was obtained in 1853, when he produced ‘The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman. With numerous illustrations designed and drawn on the wood by the author.’ Bradley had the greatest difficulty in finding a publisher, but part i. was eventually issued by Nathaniel Cooke of the Strand as one of his shilling ‘Books for the Rail’ in October 1853. Part ii. appeared in 1854, and part iii. in 1856. The three parts were then bound in one volume, of which one hundred thousand copies had been sold by 1870; subsequently the book was issued in a sixpenny form, and the sale was more than doubled. The total amount that Bradley received for his work was 350l. The three original parts are now scarce, and