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Research into my wife’s family (Bradley) has been carried out by her cousin Maureen Alam. She wrote out the history found so far regarding their Great Great Grandfather George who went off to Australia for a short period and had a good time. This is Maureen’s history. [The family tree are in the All Names family]

• The Story of the Bradley Family: as passed on to me by Granddad, (George Arthur Bradley) and his sister, Gladys Cooper in the 1960s and 1970s.

This story in its earliest parts was told to them by their mother, Lucy Bradley (nee Bradbury) and their father, George^{2 Bradley but mostly, I think, by Lucy. Lucy got some of her information from her mother-in-law, Emma Bradley (nee Short). Since Emma had been deserted by George1} Bradley and felt neglected by her daughters, Emma Catherine, Lizzie and Clara, the story is obviously biased against George^{1. George1}‘s behaviour to his son, George² and daughter-in- law, Lucy after the Georges' return from Australia appears unfair and unkind but was possibly motivated by the fact that George^{2 took his mother into his house, obviously siding with her in the marriage break-up rather than with his father; Lucy was possibly not liked as being the bride 'chosen' for George2} by his mother, Emma. The other thing we have to remember is that Lucy loved melodrama and also might not have remembered everything she was told very accurately.
The Actual Story:
George^{1 Bradley was said to be the illegitimate son of a gardener surnamed Peace? Or Pace? and a servant girl. They worked at a big house in the country. (I have since discovered he was born in Newbury, Berkshire about 1830,31,32,33?) George1} does not appear to have had much education as he could not write, he signs his name with a X on George^{2's birth certificate and on his own marriage certificate. (If what I have acquired} is his marriage certificate) He usually claims to be a Papier Maché manufacturer but on his daughter, Emma Catherine's birth certificate he is said to be a Journeyman Blacksmith. George¹ married Emma Short by whom he had 4 surviving children, Emma, Lizzie, Clara and George^{2 (in that order). Emma or some female in her family was reputed to have been born in Edinburgh castle while her father was part of the garrison there. Nothing else was known of Emma's family. (Rather surprising?) Emma was able to write as she signs her marriage certificate and her daughter, Emma's birth certificate. They married in Harborne (probably), which was outside the boundary of Birmingham at that date, and though her sister, Mary, and brother, James signed the marriage certificate I wonder if there was some rift in the family as Emma married 'beneath her'?)}

When George^{2 was about 12, 13 or l4, his father George1} told Emma he was taking his son to Southampton for the day? to see the ships. In fact he took him on the Windsor Castle to Australia. George^{1 also took his mistress, Amelia (Churchill?) and possibly her daughter by a previous marriage. A letter written by George2} to his mother, Emma in 1881 (which I have) tells something of the voyage out and their first year in Australia. George¹ was living in Maryborough, Queensland, making and trying to sell boxes and furniture, possibly of Papier Maché. George² was working at a lumber camp on the Clarence River. He used to visit his father by boat. He painted a few watercolours of the camp while there. (3 rather battered ones survive.) They also spent some time in Sydney. George^{2 had a girl friend there that was a millineress so in later years he used to joke that he could have married 'a millionairess'.}

While in Australia George^{2 taught himself to play the violin and developed a love of light Classical music. His violin. survives but is broken. Though, on his return from Australia, he did not have much of a job working in a brass foundry -he bought a wax cylinder gramophone at a time when that was the latest gadgetry. His children dared not move when he was playing cylinders as they might knock the table and damage the cylinders: he used to tap Uncle Len and Aunt Gladys with his violin bow. He also liked to read 'Classical' books (possibly Dickens?) and he was a keen gardener. He had a small garden in his later years in Wilton Street and an allotment down by Lucas' old Sports Ground. He gardened at 43, Newstead Road between 1932 and his death in 1937, propagating his own varieties of carnations. (However I run ahead).}

During the seven or eight years in which the George’s were in Australia, Emma seems to have eked out. a living “button carding”. It is not clear where she was living. Her eldest daughter, Emma Catherine was married to Frank Green and already had two small sons before the George’s went away. Emma might have stayed with them. Lizzie was also possibly already married to Henry Isaac Ensall who became landlord of The Bell (by where the Bristol Cinema used to be or McDonald's is now), Did Emma live with her? Or did Emma and her youngest daughter, Clara (only about 16) live together in some back to back? Emma does not appear to have stayed in the house the family had previously been living in, as in his letter to her, George^{2 said he would have written to her before but did not know her address. I have not yet found any of the family on the 1881 census - the task of looking is daunting, as it has no name index. Did Emma stay with any of the Shorts?}

While button carding during these years Emma met Lucy Bradbury and told her about her family. In around 1887,1888 Emma excitedly told Lucy that her son was coming home and they would be celebrating his 2lst birthday. This must have been February 22nd 1888. (George^{2 was actually 22 on that date according to his birth certificate. but he did not know his correct age until 1927 when he applied for a copy of his birth certificate: it seems' his father lied about his age in 1880 to get him on the boat cheaper?)}

Lucy Bradbury met George^{2 at his 2lst birthday celebrations and they were married in October 1889. George Arthur Bradley was born September l8th 1890. (For the other children see the family tree.)}

Lucy was older than her husband, George^{2 but it is difficult to find out how old she was; it is possible she did not know herself. On her marriage certificate 1889 she says she was 25 which would mean she was born in 1863 or 64. On the 1891 Census her age is given as 28 which would mean a birth date of 1862 or 63 but on her Memorial Card on her death in January 1930 her age is given as 62 which would mean a birth date of 1867 or 68. I have looked through the G.R.O index of births from 1859-65 but so far found no Lucy Bradbury registered at all. The 1891 census says she was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, by the way. I was told that her mother. Phoebe, or Lucy (nee Skidmore) died possibly very shortly after her birth so possibly she was never registered at all. I was told she was reared by her father, Benjamin, and her grandmother till she was 10. Then her father and grandmother died and she was forced to go into service. She always refused to tell anything about those years. According to her marriage certificate, her father's name was John. not Benjamin and he was a boot and shoe repairer. A John Bradbury, boot and shoe repairer, appears on the 1851 census, aged 14. but since he was in the General Hospital at the time of the census and his place of birth and names of the rest of the family are not given the information does not get us much further. The IGI index for Warwickshire and Staffs lists a number of Bradbury's but none seem to fit. (The IGI gives a Lucy Bradbury marrying a George Bradley in 1860 in Aston but since we know George was not born till 1866 we know this is a different couple.) A Lucy Skidmore, aged 13 and living at 22, Inge Street is listed on the 1851 census and this may be Lucy Bradbury's mother. Lucy Bradbury had no brothers or sisters as far as we know.}

At the time Lucy and George^{2 married in 1889 they lived in Portland Street, Aston (not far from Aston Park). By the time of George Arthur's birth in September 1890 they lived at 6,Copeland Place, Upper Webster Street, Aston (a road running from High St. to Talfourd St.) They were still there in April 1891 at the time of the 1891 Census. Emma Bradley was living with them; her age is given as 55 or 56 (difficult to read). According to Lucy, Emma was very ill but her daughters took no interest in looking after her. When they came to visit, the neighbours sarcastically brought chairs for them to sit on, implying they were such great ladies that they needed to sit down and rest. Emma seems to have died in the September of 1891. By February l9th 1892 when Great Aunt Lucy was born the family lived at the back of 139, Alma Street,Aston.}

I do not know whether George^{1 married Amelia after Emma's death. That would be interesting to investigate. He is said to have behaved like a rich man on his return from Australia. According to Lucy he pocketed money that his son had earned in Australia preferring to throw it around in the street rather than to give it to his son and daughter-in-law. He is said to have had the first licensed motorbike in Birmingham. He is also said to have given money to his daughters; they were certainly better off than 'our' side of the family- but this could have been money from their husbands. Henry Isaac Ensall (a Jew?) was a publican and might well have had money. We don't know where Georgel} lived on his return from Australia. (Aunt Gladys did tell me but I can't remember.) This would be worth looking up on the 2001 census. George^{1 lived to be 77 according to Clara's letters to George2} so he was around till 1906,7,8,9,10 depending on his exact date of birth.

George^{2 and his family did visit his sisters but they were the 'poor' relations. One of Lizzie's daughters gave Great Aunt Gladys a doll, which she (Lizzie) did not want and I believe clothes were passed on. George Arthur used to fetch medicine for one of his aunts- Lizzie or Clara? who was suspected of being consumptive. Lizzie lived till about 1926 and Clara till about 1950 so consumption doesn't seem very likely in either case. '}

At some point perhaps around 1910, Emma Catherine and her husband Frank Green and family and (I think) Lizzie and family emigrated to Australia. The only ones who kept in touch were Lizzie's daughter, Rose and her husband Len. Hence our knowledge of the Australian branch of the family is very sketchy. Clara Bradley m. John Plant 'late in life' and had no children. After he died she went to Australia in about 1930. from where she wrote letters to her brother, George^{2. She stayed first with Emma and Frank but Emma died May 1931 at 39, Falconer St. Ryde (aged 75 according to Clara). Clara quarrelled with the family and was thrown out. Her letters are mostly undated, moaning about the family. her own health and lack of money. the weather etc. but she does tell us how old people were when they died and seems fairly accurate in this when it is possible to check with other records! She wanted to return to the U.K. but had no money.}

I began my researches with this story and the birth certificate of George^{2 and his marriage certificate to Lucy Bradbury in 1889. The only other documents which I held were George2}'s letter to his mother, Emma (1881) and Clara's letters to George^{2 in the 1930s. What I have since discovered at a great deal of labour and a little cost belongs to the next phase!}

I am deliberately avoiding the continuation of the story of the family of George² in the 20th century for the time being till I can gather more information from those who knew and remember them.