Soldier, Liar, Policeman Rapist. The Extraordinary saga of Patrick Bradley (1874 – 1937).
Steve Seargent
Abstract
Steve Seargent investigated the life and times of a soldier, liar, policeman and rapist who was the recipient of a Queen Victoria Medal. Patrick Bradley served in the SA Constabulary from 1900 to 1902.
Keywords
- Patrick Bradley
- QSA Medal
- SA Constabulary
I did not know on buying an unusual no bar QSA Medal to the SA Constabulary that it fell into my fascination for medals to “Interesting” servicemen or more bluntly naughty boys. Those tending to be on the less disciplined side of their chosen Regiment or Corps resulting in more than just a mundane service record for their medals. Patrick is just such a man. Although his ultimate crime was outside of his police service he was just as rotten throughout it.
Patrick Bradley was born on 9th September 1874 in the Parish of St George, Dublin the son of Hugh Bradley and Ellen nee Rourke. Nothing is known of his youth until in January 1891 when at the tender age of 17 he enlisted into the Royal Dublin Fusiliers but after only 64 days his father purchased his discharge on 27th March 1891. More than likely on the basis that he was under the accepted age for taking the Queens Shilling. No doubt Patrick had lied about his age and the fact that he was bought out so quickly attests to the fact that the Military probably accepted he had deceived them at this time.
Undeterred he arrives at the recruiting office in Dublin where he attested for service with the 8th Hussars who were to be stationed in Norwich on the 25th of February 1892. He claimed to be 18 years and seven months old.
His Army Form B263 gives his trade as an engine cleaner. His medical examination went off without a hitch and the 5’7” tall recruit weighing in at 134 Lbs with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair with no scars, P. Bradley was deemed acceptable cannon fodder as Trooper 3461.
One can only assume that once again his father, on getting wind of the matter, went to the recruiting office and once again demanded the release of his son from service. This time however he was rebuffed so he took up the matter with his local MP.
Patrick’s deception had well and truly thrown the cat into the pigeons as the matter was taken up by the MP bringing the whole Enlistment Law under the microscope in a debate in the House of Commons as a direct consequence of his underage attestation. As Reported in Hansard 10th May 1892 1.
Mr Patrick O’Brien MP for Monaghan North asked
I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office what is the minimum age fixed by
the Army Regulations for the enlistment of boys; if a boy gets enlisted under age, can
he or his parents claim discharge on proof being given that he was under age at the time
of enlistment; whether he is aware that a boy named P. Bradley, No. 346, P.C., joined
the 8th Hussars in Dublin last April, being then only 17 years and six months; whether his
father, with his consent, has claimed his discharge on the ground that he is under age, and
supplied certificate of birth in proof; whether his discharge has been refused; and, if so, on
what grounds; and will he see that Bradley is at once discharged?
Mr Brodrick in reply
There is no minimum age fixed by law, but under the Army Regulations recruits are not
enlisted before the age of 18 years unless they possess the physical equivalents of that age.
If through false pretences a boy under that age enlists, his parents cannot claim his discharge, although occasionally it is allowed as an act of grace. P. Bradley did enlist last April, and his
father has since supplied a certificate showing that he was then only 17½ years old. He gave
his age on enlisting as over 18 years, and as the medical officer who examined him found
him to be physically equivalent to 18½ years of age his discharge has been refused. Under the circumstances the Secretary of State sees no reason for overruling the recommendation of the General Officer commanding the district by ordering Bradley’s discharge.
The Huddersfield Daily Chronicle of 11th May 1892 and The Birmingham Daily Post of the same day ran a verbatim article on the answer in their House of Commons Reports.2
For the moment his father was stumped, however, his service was short-lived and Bradley exited the army on 24th May 1892 after only 90 days, his discharge again being purchased by his father for £10. During his time with the Regiment, he was admitted to the hospital at Norwich on 4 March 1892 for a “Wound”. He was discharged on 10 March after seven days and was thereafter the subject of a Court of Inquiry where the Surgeons held that his injury “would not incapacitate him from further service as a soldier”. He spent a further six days in hospital between 25-30 April, with Rheumatism before re-joining his unit. Again, one can only assume that the powers that be, in view of his controversy and his record to date were only too happy to take his father’s purchase out money as swiftly possible.
Nothing is found on our man until on the 29th of November 1900, now living at 1 Eccles Street Dublin and employed as a “Stereotyper” he enlisted into the South African Constabulary at their recruiting office at Inns Quay Police Courts in London.
Once again Patrick lied on his form stating that he was “single” a crucial requirement for service as married men were ineligible for recruitment at the time. Interestingly his height is now 5’11” he has Hazel eyes and black hair!!
Patrick Bradley Initial Application 29 November 1901
He provided several testimonials and his Discharge Certificate from the 8th Hussars confirming that his parents had purchased his discharge from the 8th Hussars.
The testimonials produced showed that he had been a personal servant for most of his working life doing rather menial tasks; cleaning silverware, running errands and waiting on tables. The first from a Mr. O’ Keefe of Mountjoy Prison dated 31 October 1894 reads,
”Patrick Bradley has been employed by me for over two years as an indoor
servant. During this time I have always found him to be honest and sober.”
Another dated February 1897 from Ada Meade of St. Michael’s, Aylesbury Road, Dublin, read,
”P Bradley has lived in my service as an indoor man for one year and seven months during
which time I have found him sober, honest and steady. He understands his duties thoroughly (cleaning of silver, lamps etc.) and can wait at table nicely. He is much useful at doing odds
and ends about a house. He leaves at his own request.”
The third and last testimonial came from the pen of Captain Pilcher of 14 Ely Place in September 1897 stated
”Captain Pilcher can recommend Patrick Bradley, who is leaving here, for no fault as an indoor servant.”
After passing his riding and shooting proficiency tests he was sent to South Africa as 3rd class Trooper 5048 on the SS Canada, Boer War Transport vessel No. 69 Her claim to fame being that on the 12th December 1900 after a luxury refit, she sailed to England carrying Lord and Lady Roberts the latter having erroneously surmised the war in South Africa was over. 3
Once again his lying streak came to the fore when he claimed Mary Ellen Bradley (his wife) as his next of kin but stating she was his mother! All will be revealed later in the article on this aspect.
On 10th February 1901 he arrived at the SAC HQ at Modderfontein in the Transvaal where he signed a fresh Attestation Paper. Once again deception ruled the day as he still claimed to be single on the form. This is the crossed out and “married” inserted on these papers. There are two sets of papers on record however; the hand written one by Bradley himself with Queen Victoria’s Cypher and a typed version clearly showing his married status with King Edwards Cypher. I suspect this latter document was drawn up to correct his previous marital status deception (See Below) despite its date of 10th February 1901. His rank is given as 3rd Class Trooper with number 231 on the first and the number amended to B1022 on the second.
Promoted to 1st Class Trooper on 16 April 1901 which was the equivalent of a Lance Corporal, he was however reduced back to 3rd Class Trooper on 9 June 1901 following a disciplinary hearing before being transferred to the Reserve “B” Division on 1 October 1901.
On 1 January 1902 he was transferred to No.10 Troop at the Depot, and on 16 December 1902, some six months after the Boer War had come to an end, he took his discharge from the S.A.C. ostensibly to join the Transvaal Town Police , where incidentally no record of him ever joining could be found by researcher Dewald Nel.
Attestation Papers 10th February 1901
His character was described as’ Good’ on discharge and he was credited with service of 1 year and 310 days. For his efforts Bradley was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal with three State clasps and the two Date clasps.
Medal Roll Entries confirming Bradley’s entitlement to the various clasps.
The request for a reference for the Transvaal Town Police and confirmation of a supposed “good and reliable man”
Despite his character rating, his service had not been without incident and his name appeared several times on the Defaulter’s Register. The first time was at Modderfontein on 11th of May 1901 where he appeared on two charges, disobeying of Orders and making use of improper language to a Senior NCO. Bradley was severely reprimanded on this occasion.
Trooper Bradley’s conduct sheet
On 8th June 1901 he was found guilty of Conduct to the prejudice of Good Order and Discipline and reduced back to the rank of 3rd Class Trooper. His final act of defiance came on 12th of October 1902 at Proclamation Hill outside Pretoria where he was guilty of “Not handing in his pass at the guard room when returning to camp”. A fine of 5/- was levied for this offence.
It will be remembered that Bradley had claimed to be single on enlisting with the S.A.C. but of course, in a deliberate act of deception, he lied about his marriage to Mary Ellen Clarke at St. Joseph’s Parish Church Berkeley Road, Dublin on 12 July 1898. This was finally revealed in a letter in June 1901 clearly written on his behalf as it is not in his hand.
The letter sent concerning his marital status
Marriage Certificate Patrick & Mary Ellen Clarke4
His Troop Commanding officer passed the letter to the Adjutant of the Reserve Depot under cover of his memo dated the 3rd of June 1901.
The Adjutant in turn passed it the commanding officer of the SAC Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powel, stating “I am afraid that there will be other cases like this – Lance Corporal Bradley has done his work well since he attested- But of course he is guilty of a False Declaration on attestation”. The inference being that the matter be accepted. Baden Powel however was not swayed. Bradley could not be placed on the married establishment “until all other properly enlisted married men are on it” a direct instruction initialled RssBP.
Of interest is the secondary note stating that an apportionment of his pay be made presumably to his wife which later once again brought his name up in corridors of government.
Correspondence on Bradley’s Marital Status
On 6 June the Chief Staff Officer wrote to Bradley’s O.C. stating that “he should be required to produce a copy of his marriage certificate certified by a minister of religion as well as a certificate from a police officer that his wife is alive and living at the address shown. On receipt of these the entry on his attestation papers should be amended in accordance with the facts.”
Clearly this was done as Bradley was taken on to the Married strength from the 9th September 1901 per the document alongside.
But being married and being Bradley he thought little of his commitment to his marriage vows and in the absence of his wife he was certainly not leading a celibate life.
In fact he was having a grand time with the ladies of the night. His Medical records show that he appeared to suffer from bouts of Gonorrhoea. Firstly at Johannesburg on the 21st of November 1901 when he was admitted to hospital with a dose, being transferred to the S.A.C. Hospital at Heidelberg for “local and constitutional” healing before being discharged. He contracted Gonorrhoea again at Heidelberg where he spent from 7 December to 20 December 1901 in hospital before transfer to the “B” Division Hospital Pretoria on 21 December for the same complaint, and he was discharged just before Christmas.
Medical record Trooper Bradley
On 16th December 1902 Trooper Bradley and the S.A.C. parted company but this “good” and “reliable” man was soon to be under the microscope again by the powers that be. Clearly Patrick did not join the Transvaal Town Police and it would appear that industry held more attraction as it would appear that he took up employment with the Central South African Railways.
However, Bradley continued in his devious ways purposefully “disappearing” from view, at least as far as his wife and children were concerned. On the 20th of March 1903 Mary E. Bradley wrote to Mr Joseph Chamberlain Secretary of State For The Colonies from 1 Eccles Street, Dublin as follows,
“Dear Sir
I have been recommended to write to you, my husband, Trooper P. Bradley, 1022 B
Division joined the South African Constabulary in January 1901 and I have been informed
by the Crown Agents he has been discharged.
I have had no money since January last, and as I haven’t heard since July last I would be
thankful if you would give me his address. I have two children aged 4 1/2 and 3 and we
cannot exist on nothing.
If there are any funds to meet such a case as mine I would be thankful if you would consider
my case. I have written to the Captain of his Company also to the Officer Commanding
since November and never received a reply.”
Chamberlain’s secretary, H. Bertram Cox, wrote back to Mrs. Bradley from Downing Street on 27 March 1903,
“Madam
I am directed by Mr Secretary Chamberlain too acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 20th of March and to state in reply that as your husband Mr Bradley was discharged
from the South African Constabulary on the 16th of December last it is not possible to
assist you except by asking the Governor of the Transvaal to endeavour to ascertain the
address of your husband, which will accordingly be done. As he is no longer in the service
of the Government he cannot be compelled by the Transvaal Government to contribute
to the support of his family”
This was cold comfort for a destitute Mrs Bradley. Nevertheless Chamberlain wrote to Viscount Milner, the Governor of the Transvaal on 28 March stating that he
“should be glad to learn whether he (Bradley) gave any address on quitting the South
African Constabulary and whether he can be traced.”
The reply came on a letter dated 24 April 1903 from Milner stating that,
“I have the honour to inform you that Mr P. Bradley, late No. B 1022, Trooper in the South African Constabulary, is now employed as a Fitter in the Maintenance Works of the Central
South African Railways, Pretoria.”
All went quiet on the Bradley front after this, his family, now that they had tracked him down, seem to have joined him and he settled down to employment in Pretoria as a Boilermaker with the Railways but in 1912 this was all about to go horribly wrong for him and his family.
On 8 May 1912 aged 38 he appeared before Sir William Smith in the Supreme Court of South Africa, Transvaal Provincial Division, to answer to a charge of Rape.
Electing to defend himself he entered a plea of “Not Guilty” and the case, with the jurors sworn in, commenced.
The case lasted a single day. On the 9th May, a verdict of Guilty was brought in and the Judge sentenced him to 6 years with hard labour. Bradley had called two witnesses; Dr Savage and Mr Willis, a Time Keeper at the Transport Department of the CSA Railway – neither of them had done him any good. Unfortunately, despite me having sourced the trail transcripts we do not know what evidence was led, as these are unreadable to being in court shorthand. If any kind soul is able to transcribe these for me please do get in touch via Brig. Heymans.
What was he guilty of? The Charge Sheet read as follows,
Charge sheet courtesy of the Transvaal Archives5
The Star newspaper on 8 May 1912 The Star newspaper on 9 May 19126
Bradley’s troubles weren’t yet over, after five years apart and plenty of time to reflect on her married state on 1st May 1917 his wife, Mary Ellen Bradley (born Clark) appeared in the Supreme Court in a quest to have her marriage ended. The grounds were:
- Divorce on the grounds of adultery
- Custody of the minor children – issue of the marriage between the plaintiff and the defendant
- Costs of suit
- Other and further relief
Bradley had been served summons at the Pretoria Central Prison the previous December. The plaintiff’s Declaration read as follows,
1. The Plaintiff is Mary Ellen Bradley (born Clarke) residing at Johannesburg and domiciled
in the Transvaal, the Defendant is Patrick Bradley at present in the Central Gaol Pretoria and
also domiciled in the Transvaal.
2. The said parties were married at Dublin on July 12, 1898, which marriage still subsists.
3. There are four minor children of the marriage, three boys, aged 15, 12 and 5 years
respectively, and one girl, aged 17 years.
4. On the 8th of May 1912 at the Criminal Sessions held at Pretoria on that day, defendant
was convicted of the crime of rape, the indictment alleging that he had the carnal connection
with one Alice Blomson, a girl of tender years on February 28th 1912.
The Judge granted the motion and the Bradley’s marriage was no more.
Once released from prison he resumed employment as a Boilermaker and, at some point, entered into a liaison with a Bessie “Bradley”.
Whether or not they ever married is not known but she took his name and bore him three children,
Mary Margaret Bradley (15.8.1921),
Dennis Ray Bradley (28.3 1924) and
Sheila Violet Bradley (25.10.1926)
They were his beneficiaries when he died in the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs on 6th February 1937 at the age of 62. Interestingly this is the first time his full name is used.
The cause of death was lung cancer and he was resident at 18 Jones Avenue, Brakpan. He was still a Boilermaker on the Surface of the Gold Mines by occupation.
They are however mentioned in the death notice of his wife who passed away on Friday 7th November 1941 aged 64 years and 6 months intestate and her only possessions being noted as a bank book. The death notice below contains some rather interesting points. Clearly the family from the union with Mary Ellen were long estranged from Patrick but they were aware of his demise which was placed as being approximately 1932 when it was of course in February 1937.
Of further interest is that Mary Ellen Bradly was living with her second son Patrick Joseph Bradley at 23 Roux Street Rouxville Johannesburg at the time of her death and here it becomes rather poignant. As a caveat to Bradley’s inglorious life along comes one of his “original offspring” to redeem his honour in the best possible way – a Death Notice in respect of Lance Corporal Patrick Joseph Bradley (junior) appears in the Transvaal Archives with the date of death being 24th October 1942. He perished at the Battle of El Alamein fighting for civilisation as we know it, just under a year after his mother’s death. Perhaps this sacrifice atoned for the sins of his father? We will never know.
His elder brother Richard Joseph Bradley was also serving in North Africa at the time of both his brothers and his mothers death and it fell on him to report the death officially when he returned to the Union sometime around on 12th May 1943.
There is an annotation on the notice that the interested parties were in Egypt at the time of death and could not report the matter. Whether this included Evelyne Banks Patricks eldest daughter now married and his youngest son John Hubert Bradley is not known
This tale goes to prove that occasionally, the Boer folks refrain that the S.A.C was staffed by riff-raff did ring true. Despite Colonel Baden Powel’s attempts to weed them out on enlistment he was unsuccessful at times, as like all forces some slip by. The tale of Captain Andre Stander in the SAP springs to mind in his regard. Unfortunately, while Bradley left the S.A.C., he did not leave South Africa.
My thanks go to Rory P Reynolds who after learning of the sale of this medal to me assisted in the compilation of this article and to researcher Dewald Nel dewald@nelantiques.co.za.
Notes
2. The British Newspaper Archives
3. Free Intellectual use https://www.norwayheritage.com/Terms_Conditions_Copyright.asp
4. Transvaal Supreme Court Records Divorce proceedings Mary Ellen Bradley v Patrick
Bradley 1/5/1917 certificate of evidence of marriage
5. Transvaal Law Reports and Court Archives Pretoria
6. Star Newspaper Archives Commons Use