A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bradley, John
BRADLEY. (Lieut., 1825. f-p., 22; h-p., 16.)
John Bradley was born, 26 Oct. 1795, at Cowbridge, in Glamorganshire.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Sept. 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Jason 32, Capt. Hon. Jas. Wm. King, under whom he soon attained the rating of Midshipman, and continued actively to serve, in the West Indies and off the coasts of Newfoundland and Holland, until Nov. 1814. During the unfortunate attack on Bergen-op-Zoom, in the latter year, he was occasionally employed on shore with the army, and carried the despatches from that place to Helvoetsluys. He next joined the Centaur 74, Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, stationed at the Cape of Good Hope; passed his examination Dec. 1815; and subsequently served, as Admiralty-Midshipman – from the latter date until Jan. 1819, in the Pique 36, Capts. Jas. Haldane Tait and John M‘Kellar, on the West India station, where he was frequently detached in the boats for the suppression of piracy – for the four succeeding years, in the Severn and Ramillies, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, lying in the Downs for the purposes of the Coast Blockade – and, from Dec. 1823, to July, 1824, in the Parthian 10, Capt. Hon. Geo. Barrington. In the boats of that vessel, then in the Gulf of Mexico, he captured the 'San Jose' piratical schooner, the command of which he retained, with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant, until within a few days of the receipt of his commission, 18 Jan. 1825, when he returned home in the Surinam 18, Capt. Chas. Crole. Lieut. Bradley – who, from 11 Dec. 1826, to 19 March, 1830, in the Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, Capt. Hugh Pigot, was again employed on the Coast Blockade service – obtained command of the Camelion brig, of 10 guns, 15 Dec. 1834. On leaving the Tagus, previously to being put out of commission in April, 1838, he received from Sir J. A. Ommanney, the Commander-in-Chief, one of the strongest possible recommendations for preferment, in consequence of the exemplary zeal and ability of his services during the disturbances in Spain and Portugal; yet, singular as it may appear, Lieut. Bradley is the only unpromoted officer who held a command at that period. On one occasion, when the Philippa merchant-brig was wrecked near Beachy Head, Lieut. Bradley courageously put off in a galley and had the happiness of saving the crew from a watery grave, a service which was duly acknowledged by a vote of thanks from Lloyd’s. He is at present unemployed.
He married, 22 Sept. 1831, and has issue two children.