Samuel Messenger Bradley, born 1841 in Middlesex to Benjamin William Smith Bradley and Emma Maria Johnson. The family moved from Islington to Manchester sometime between 1841 and 1851 where they are living in Birch Lane, Rusholme.  In 1861 the family are at 5 Queens Terrace, Moss Side and Samuel is a medical student.  He married Annie Gertrude Cope 11th November 1869 (just a few months after his mother had died in Wicklow, Ireland) in Ashton Upon Mersey, in the County of Chester. He was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1862 and in 1869 became an FRCS. He worked at the Royal Infirmary and then ran a private practice for a time in Bowness, Windermere. He also made several transatlantic trips between Liverpool and New York while working for Cunard. It appears he was a bit of an artist and showman as he had been known to deliver a lecture in rhyme! He made it known that he was very much against women becoming doctors. It appears he did not enjoy good health and he died while 'resting' and visiting his two sons in 1880 in Ramsgate. He left a widow Annie Gertrude, two sons John Mackenzie and Richard Walter, and a baby Gertrude. His personal estate was 'under £8,000'.

  Samuel Messenger Bradley - picture from Manchester Archives and Local Studies. Extract from Who Were They by William Brockbank.

This is a copy of his Obituary in the British Medical Journal dated June 5th 1980 (obtained from Manchester Archives and Local Studies).

'Samuel Messenger Bradley F.R.C.S. Surgeon to the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

On the 27th May, at the early age of 39, Manchester lost, by the untimely death of Samuel Messenger Bradley, a brilliant surgeon, a cultured gentleman, and one of the brightest and wittiest of companions.  Mr Bradley was born in 1841, and qualified for admission to the medical profession by becoming a Member of the royal College of  Surgeons in 1862; and, in the same year, Licentiate of the Apothecaries` Society.  He passed the examination for the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons in 1869.  After he had qualified, he entered the Manchester Royal Infirmary as Assistant Physician.  For a time, he acted as Professor of Physiology in Stonyhurst College, and was Surgeon to the Ancoats and Ardwick Dispensary.  His medical experience was exceedingly varied; for after taking charge of a practice in Bowness, Windermere, for six months, he entered the service of the Cunard Steamship Company, and in twelve months made several voyages between Liverpool and New York.  In 1865, he began practice in Longsight; and, directly after this, he had a warm controversy with the then Manchester Board of Guardians, whose treatment of the sick he condemned in unmeasured terms.  The consequence was an inquiry by the Poor-law Board, before whom Mr Bradley was called, and produced, through his solicitor Mr R B B Cobbett, such strong evidence as to completely justify his position.  His action in this matter was well appreciated by his fellow citizens, who by a subscription paid his legal expenses in the matter.  Mr Bradley was Lecturer on Practical Surgery at the Medical School of the Owens College, having previously been Lecturer on Anatomy in that institution.

Mr Bradley has wielded an industrious pen, and his productions vary from systematic treatises to occasional papers and vers de societe.  His Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology was first issued in 1869; and the second edition, issued at the close of 1873, was entirely rewritten.  A third edition appeared in 1875.  His latest book, On the Injuries and Diseases of the Lymphatic System, was published last year, and met with warm approval.  In conjunction with Mr Walter Whitehead, he edited the Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports for 1870 and 1871, and remained as one of the editors for some time after the amalgamation of the publication with a similar serial at Liverpool, when it became the Liverpool and Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports.  To this publication Mr Bradley contributed several papers of professional interest, and one of more general scientific interest on the "Shape of English Skulls".  Mr Bradley`s anatomical studies had led him to the cognate field of anthropology.  A note by him on the peculiarities of the Australian crania was read at the meeting of the Anthropological Institute on May 6th, 1872.  His observations were based upon an examination of some skulls brought by Mr G Roberts, junior, from the borders of Lake Albert, which  had belonged to members of a tribe who were "without a superstition of any kind".  In these papers, as in one read in November 1871 before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, his object was to show that the present classification of crania is no longer scientifically accurate.  In order to obtain the data for these speculations, Mr Bradley measured the heads of the male prisoners in the Manchester Borough Gaol.  "As these", he says, "were all taken from people in pretty much the same station in life, with the same environments in the past, the differences which they present and their great want of uniformity is the more interesting, as it shows the influence which civilisation has in moulding the form of even the lowest and most uncivilised classes."

Mr Bradley`s professional contributions were numerous, and may be found in various medical journals.  Amongst others may be mentioned his papers on Syphilis, Retrospect of the Advance of Modern Medicine, Moral Responsibility, Description of the Brain of an Idiot, the Evolution of Disease, etc.  An article in the Manchester Magazine of November described his scientific holiday in August last at Ilfracombe, and was delivered, we believe, as a popular scientific lecture and reprinted for private circulation.  At the conversazione and concert of the Medical Students` Debating Society, held at Owens College in February this year, Mr Bradley gave an address in facile rhyme, in which many of the professional topics of the day were mentioned.  The congratulation about the University charter was coupled with a denunciation of the denial of the right to grant medical degrees.  Mr Bradley was averse to the adoption of the medical profession by women, but deprecated any "legal bar against woman playing man".  The address ended with a well known quotation from the "Princess".  These casual rhymes reveal also Mr Bradley`s interest in art:

Though here on us no outward sun may shine, Len Inner suns illuminate the mine: Take all men`s thoughts as seed for future lore; Think none too great, and none too small, to store; And ever know fair science still demands Renewed research, fresh from her vot`ries` hands.  Her mine as deep, her realm as wide as space, `Tis his to win who hourly runs this race: Wise, too, I count you, that you seek in art An interest in life from your work apart.

Mr Bradley cultivated pictorial art with considerable success, and was an occasional contributor to the exhibitions at the Toyal Institution.  This interest in art led him to deliver, before the members at the Manchester Academy and other artists, a lecture on the "Relationship of Anatomy to the Fine Arts".  In this, he advocated the more thorough training in the knowledge of the human form for artistic purposes.

It may not be out of place to reproduce an extract in which he pleaded for a wider appreciation of artistic work.  That we were inclined to regard our noblest work frivolously was as true, he said, as that we took our pleasures sadly.  "Art should be as much to a nation as science.  The man who invented the fiddle did as much for his fellow-man a she who applied the properties of steam to the locomotive or of electricity to the telegraph; for after all, the highest good lies in increasing the sum of happiness in the masses, and raising the mental possibilities of the individual.  And do not the concord of sweet sounds and the finest works of art contribute to such ends equally with the rapid rush of the express or the flash along the electric wire?  'What a rogue and peasant slave' is he to whom art is nothing!  Like the heathen idol, he has ears, but hears not; eyes has he, but he seems not.  To lightly esteem commercial matters would be more pardonable; and I confess to always having admired Rubens` remark that 'il s`amusait a etre ambassadeur`."  The esteem felt for him by the professional painters was shown by his election as an honorary member of the Limners' Club; he was also a member of the Literary Club, and took an active interest in its proceedings.

Mr Bradley was a brilliant conversationalist, and possessed of an extraordinary memory.  Amongst his popular lectures, may be mentioned "The Antiquity of Man", "The Human Hand and Foot", "The Ear", "Natural history", "Animal Mechanics", "Physics", etc.  Amongst his students, who regarded him as much a friend as teacher, or with a mixed audience, he was equally popular.  A description of Mr Bradley in the Free Lance about 1870 conveys a very faithful impression of his appearance: "A man with peculiarly clear-cut features, firm yet kind in expression, slightly aquiline nose, high forehead and massive jaw, he gives one the idea of intellectual capacity of no mean order, of a fine mind finely cultivated; and so he is.  Whether in his lectures, his demonstrations, or his friendly intercourse with the students, he is always the same - the able and skilful anatomist and the courteous English gentleman."

Mr Bradley went to Ramsgate for rest, and to see his two boys who were at school there.  His health had not been in a perfectly satisfactory condition for several months; but not the slightest alarm was felt on the subject by  his friends here.  He caught cold shortly after his arrival at Ramsgate; pleurisy set in; and on Thursday his Manchester friends were shocked and saddened by the totally unexpected news of his death.  He was thus cut off at an early age, and when a brilliant career was opening for his talents.  In his professional duties, he won esteem and respect by his generosity and courtesy; and the students under his care - at the Royal Infirmary in particular - profited in no small degree by his lucid and skilful explanation of all matters pertaining to their course of instructions.  He was a very fair musician, spoke several languages fluently, and was a prolific writer.  Endowed with natural gifts calculated to secure success in life, possessed of an amiable, kind, and lovable disposition, of winning matters and varied culture, he bid fair to attain a brilliant position in the profession which he had adopted.

In accordance with his wish, he was quietly interred in Ramsgate last Tuesday.  A few of his oldest and dearest friends along followed him to his grave; but, had he been removed to Manchester, a public funeral had been arranged to do honour to his memory.`.

Another tribute from the Honorary Medical Staff of the Manchester Royal Infirmary 1830-1948 by William Brockbank (from Manchester Archives and Local Studies) states 'he was educated in the Pine Street School'. 'It was quite impossible to upset him.  On one occasion they dressed up the corpse in an old woman`s frilly cap and fixed her thumb to her nose, making her cock a snook at the place where Bradley would stand.  He gave a little start when he saw it and then "Ah yes, gentlemen.  Now, Mr....(naming a known joker) come and explain all the muscles required to make this rather ribald gesture." '. His friend and colleague was Professor Walter Whitehead. "He and Whitehead were excellent surgeons, worshipped by the students, partly for their personalities, partly because of the stories told about them.  Whitehead at that time sported a magnificent pair of Dundreary whiskers.  One day he startled everyone by arriving clean shaven.  The story got out that Bradley had said over a pipe ant the etceteras "Walter, I don`t like that left whisker of yours," and forthwith put a match to it.  Of course the other had to go.  Their most astonishing escapade concerned an old lady in Bowdon, who asked Bradley to come and operate on her parrot.  "My dear lady, I`m a surgeon.  You want a veterinary surgeon." "No, Mr Bradley.  Nothing less than your skill for my dear bird."  Out of mischief he said Yes and he would bring Whitehead to give chloroform.  All went well.  Some small trouble with the beak, when poor poll suddenly gave up the ghost.  The problem now was how to escape.  There was a train in half an hour.  They covered the cage with a shawl and went downstairs.  "The dear bird is sleeping, madam.  Don`t disturb it for half an hour." And so they got out of the house.  On another occasion Sam sent Dr M A E Wilkinson`s coachman to a public house for a drink and then getting on the carriage drove it all round the town finally abandoning it outside an inn.  He was very friendly with two sisters.  One evening he was with them at a dance.  It went well and he enjoyed himself greatly.  Next morning he remembered he had proposed to one of them and been accepted.  But he had forgotten which sister it was.  It needed all his tact when next he visited the house to find the answer.  The marriage duly came off.'  'His friends decided to found a memorial scholarship in his memory, but after a few years it got into financial difficulties.  It was finally firmly established by a bequest from Whitehead in 1913.` (These sources Brit.med.J. 1880,I 870, Momus, 1880, April 22 and Library records).

Also from Manchester Archives and Local Studies and again by William Brockbank 'Who Were They'

'The Bradley Memorial Scholarship. The Scholarship was founded in 1883 in memory of Samuel Messenger Bradley and refounded under the will of Walter Whitehead in 1913.  It provides an annual scholarship of £20 in surgery, to be awarded by the Senate on the recommendation of the Medical Board of the Royal Infirmary.  The Bradley Memorial Scholarship was founded in 1883 in memory of Samuel Messenger Bradley by a committee organised by his friend and colleague Mr Walter Whitehead, one of the most distinguished surgeons ever to serve on the Infirmary`s staff.  The money was to be used as a scholarship or prize of £20 in clinical surgery.  The "fervent hope" was expressed "that the scholarship or prize will ever remain associated with the name of him whose memory the funds wer esubscribed to petpetuate".  It has to be recorded sadly that these pious hopes have not been complied with.  Up to 1963 the Calendar perpetuated a wrong Bradley and gave a wrong date.  There is some slight reason for this because in the records of the bequest the Christian names or initials of Bradley were never given but in a short biography on Whitehead written by my Father who knew him well the full name ~Samuel Messenger Bradley is given.  In any case the dates agree.  The original bequest suggested an examination in three parts: a written commentary on surgical cases, a viva voce clinical examination at the bedside and a viva voce  examination on practical surgery.  The examination was to be held in the early part of July and conducted by the whole surgicel staff.  Twenty pounds would be paid once a year on application to the Trustees.  But the scholarship ran into financial difficulties until the death of Mr Whitehead in 1913 when it was learned that in his will he had bequeathed a capital sum to provide an annuity of £20 for the purposes of the Bradley Scholarship.  He had been a Trusgtee up to the time of his death and this provision in his will was to provide for the contination of the scholarship.  This it has done by the method and date of the examination have been changed from to time.  It has remained a clinical examination in surgery.'

Dr Samuel Messenger Bradley - sketch from 'MOMUS' Thursday April 15th 1880 (From Manchester Archives and Local Studies.) Poem by Dr Samuel re Lady surgeons!

It would be interesting to find out the origin for the 'Messenger' name. Samuel`s wife Annie Gertrude was a daughter of Richard Cope a Manchester merchant. Her younger sister Alice Maud married Emile Cornet d'Auquier, who became headmaster at St Lawrence College, then known as South Eastern College, Ramsgate, Kent. This school appears to have survived a few generations of Bradley attendance! After Samuel`s death in 1880 the two boys remained at St Lawrence under the guidance of their uncle. Sadly both boys died through tragic circumstances - John Mackenzie died age 17 whilst on a walking holiday with his uncle in Switzerland, and Richard Walter died in the Jamaican earthquake in 1907.

Samuel is buried in Ramsgate Cemetery along with his wife Annie who died in 1884 (graves BC 224/225). The grave has a kerb and low railing but is now in a poor condition.

John Mackenzie (Jack) born in Manchester 1870. He was one of the first five pupils at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate (formerly South Eastern College). The following is an extract of the description of the accident in Switzerland,  from the school magazine December 1887 which the school have very kindly allowed me to reproduce:

'THE LATE JOHN MACKENZIE BRADLEY

Those of our readers who are not already acquainted with the news will share in the sorrow universally felt and expressed by all who have learnt the sad intelligence of Jack Bradley`s death.  He was one of the very first pupils of this College, having entered it only a few days after its foundation in 1879, when he was almost a child barely 9 years old, and he continued a pupil until his death.  No boy ever was more popular.  Of a singularly loveable nature, gentle, pure, unselfish, winning in all his ways, of great promise intellectually and, both morally and spiritually such that those who most deeply mourn his loss can feel the deepest consolation, in the knowledge that he has gone up to the Master whom he loved and served upon earth.

The following details have been supplied by one who was with him up to the moment when he was last seen alive.

 'Jack Bradley had gone to Switzerland, where he had been invited to spend his holidays with his uncle, the Headmaster. The party had been at Finshauts only 3 days when the sad accident occurred. During those three days Jack had been full of fun and merriment. On the 3rd August some time in the afternoon, a walk was proposed as far as the Hotel de Tete Noire a distance of not much more than an hour from Finshauts. The party consisted of Mr and Mrs d'Auquier, Mr Montgomery, Jack and Walter Bradley and Haire. Every one was in the highest possible spirits and Jack contributed his full share to the merriment of the party.

Cari`s note - For those Bradleys who were pupils at St Lawrence - did you ever notice the memorial brass which is in the passage at the entry to the present Chapel (1927)? Dr D A Scales, Senior Classics Master and de facto archivist has been most helpful in supplying all this information after my initial enquiry some years ago. On reading the above, my father Howard, recalled from his school days, a talk mentioning the recovery of a body many years later.

Richard Walter, the second son, attended St Lawrence College and was school captain in his uncle`s last year as headmaster (1888-1889). In 1891 he went to Magdalene College, Cambridge to read Maths. He died in the Jamaican earthquake in 1907. He had married Flossie Ivy Louis Verley and lived at Bamboo Cottage, Kingston. On his death his effects totalled £45.19! It is believed that Flossie was not killed or injured in the earthquake but her whereabouts after this are not known.

Gertrude age 1 and born in Manchester on the 1881 census, a visitor with her mother in the household of James Blain a farmer of Washway Road, Sale. On the 1891 census Gertrude is living with her aunt (mother`s sister?) Edith Penelope Findersen and her husband Ernest, also in Washway Road. In 1901 Edith and Gertrude are living in Duke Street, Southport.  In 1909 Gertrude Messenger Bradley married William Thomas Cope in Brentford Register Office, Middlesex. William was a Foreign Banker and 12 years older