(Be free and wise)
The name Bradly is (obviously) a corruption/miss spelling of the name Bradley or Brady but the name can be found as early as 1619 when the above Coat of Arms was created by Francis Bradly of Coventry (grandson of William Bradley of Yorkshire). There seemed to be large numbers of Bradly's around Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, but considerably fewer in the latter half of the 20th. There are however surviving descendents in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
There are stories of links with the Penn's of Pennsylvania and a marriage between Edward VII and a Bradly, but this site does not confirm any of this! The information below has been obtained from personal memories as well as the IGI site, Free BMD, census, parish records and other sources. It focuses of five (so far separate) Bradly family trees, which can be viewed using the links below.
The Penn Bradly's. This tree has its roots in Woolwich (Kent) moving to Southwark (Surrey) where John (1730-87) and James (1766-1828) worked as ironfounders. James' eldest son, John married Harriott Penn (a possible descendent of the Penn family of Pennsylvania) from Rochester in 1811 at St Sepulchre's. They had 11 children, 4 of whom emigrated to Australia between 1837 and 1852, many of whom have adopted the name Penn as a Christian name.
The Wyborn Bradly's. These are two families which may be linked because of the common Wyborn christian name. Both families lived in Sandwich in Kent in the 18th century working as jurats and brewers. A William Wyborn Lloyd Bradly emigrated to New Zealand in 1840 from whom the New Zealand Bradly's are descended.
Joseph Bradly (1756-1824) was a Baptist miller in Kent. He probably worked at one of the mills at Horton Kirby where he met and later married Ann Tyler in 1785 at St. Olave's, Hart Street, London. He then became the owner/manager of the new mill at Catford Bridge near Lewisham in 1808 (see below). They had four children, James (1788), Joseph (1792), Maria (1795) and Samuel (1796). James, the eldest, also had four children all baptised at St. Mary's in Lewisham from where the family grew and moved into south-east and east London.
Henry Harry Bradly (circa 1774-) and his wife Maria came from Marylebone in London where their three children were born, Maria (1803), Henry Harry (1805) and Thomas (1807). Henry, the second eldest, moved up into the Midlands, marrying Mary Bull in Somerby, Leics. and having eight children, all being born in the Melton Mowbray area of the same county. From there, the family moved into East Anglia and for two generations were mostly involved with horses and jockeying.
Please note that each of the above four tree's are not linked. If you can't find a known individual in one tree, try searching each tree in turn. If you can't find the individual in any, please contact the author of this site along with any additional information or any corrections.
Last Updated : 19/04/12