Albert James Bradley, 1899-1972

Abstract

Albert James Bradley was born in Chesterfield on 5 January 1899, and he died there on 4 September 1972. His family was closely associated with this district; two of his great-grandfathers came from Derbyshire, one being a farmer near Clay Cross and the other owning a factory making bobbins at Holymoorside, near Chesterfield. His grandfather, James Bradley, married Elizabeth Tyson, also of Chesterfield, and became a partner in his father-in-law’s chemical works. The Bradleys and the Tysons were devoted Nonconformists; Mrs James Bradley was a founder member of one of the local Congregational Churches and was one of its first two women deacons. This emphasis on nonconformity —in its more general sense—was perhaps an augury of the character of their grandson. Albert’s father, Thomas Henry Bradley, was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School and Manchester University, where he took a degree in pharmacy; after a brief career in the chemical industry, he became a retail chemist.