Fred's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Fred Bradley was born in 1884, the son of Emma (née Wheawell) and Thomas Bradley, a silk winder and silk weaver respectively. In 1891, six-year-old Fred was living at 15 Statham St, Macclesfield with his parents and older brother James, aged 10.
Fred enlisted (as Frederick) with the North Staffordshire Regiment at Lichfield on 24 August 1901 with service number 6537; he stated that he had previously served with the 4th Cheshire Regiment and his father lived at 3 Townley Street, Macclesfield. Fred elected to serve for eight years, and served in India from 3 October 1903, but bought himself out of the Army on 24 November 1906 on payment of £25, £9 of which was refunded to him when he re-enlisted in 1915.
Fred later lived at 17 St George's Street, Macclesfield and was a member of the Macclesfield General Burial Society (Lord Street).
Fred married Lilian Alathea Nixon in north Staffordshire in 1910; in 1911 the couple lived at 2a Cartlidge Street, Sandyford, near Tunstall, Staffordshire where Fred was employed as an underground collier and his wife was a potters transferer.
WW1 SERVICE
Fred re-enlisted into the North Staffordshire Regiment on 25 May 1915, receiving service number 9061, and was drafted to the Balkans by the end of the year.
Fred must have been wounded or became seriously ill and he died at No. 41 Field Ambulance, Mesopotamia on 27 August 1916.
In late 1917, Fred's widow Lilian married Alfred Maxfield.
COMMEMORATION
Private Fred Bradley has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel Ref. 34 of the Basra Memorial, Iraq. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Fred Bradley.
Fred Bradley is not known to be commemorated on any local war memorials.
Research by Rosie Rowley, Macclesfield.