Anglican priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
who was eminent as a preacher and writer of sermons published between 1818 and 1853.
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. He was born at
Halstead
Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011Wallingford, where their son Charles, the elder of two sons, passed the greater part of the first twenty-five years of his life. He married, in 1810, Catherine Shepherd of Yattenden, took pupils and edited several school books, one or two of which are still in use. He was, for a time after his marriage, a member of
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...
, but was ordained on reaching the age of 23, without proceeding to a degree, and in 1812 became curate of
High Wycombe
High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...
. Here for many years he combined the work of a private tutor with the sole charge of a large parish. Among his pupils were the late Mr.
William Smith O'Brien
William Smith O'Brien ( ga, Liam Mac Gabhann Ó Briain; 17 October 1803 – 18 June 1864) was an Irish nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) and a leader of the Young Ireland movement. He also encouraged the use of the Irish language. He ...
, the leader for a short time of the so-called national party in Ireland; Mr.
Bonamy Price
Bonamy Price (22 May 18078 January 1888) was a British political economist.
Biography
Price was born at Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, where he lived until age 14, when he left Guernsey and entered the tutelage of Reverend Charles Bradley in High ...
, professor of political economy in the university of Oxford; and Archdeacon Jacob, well known for more than half a century in the diocese and city of Winchester. His powers as a preacher soon attracted attention. He formed the acquaintance of
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
,
Thomas Scott Thomas Scott may refer to:
Australia
* Thomas Hobbes Scott (1783–1860), Anglican clergyman and first Archdeacon of New South Wales
* Thomas Scott (Australian politician) (1865–1946), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Thomas Sco ...
, the commentator, Daniel Wilson, and others; and a volume of sermons, published in 1818 with a singularly felicitous dedication to
Lord Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
, followed by a second edition in 1820, had a wide circulation. The sixth edition was published in 1824, the eleventh in 1854.
Career as a preacher
In the year 1825 he was presented by
Henry Ryder
Henry Dudley Ryder (21 July 1777 – 31 March 1836) was a prominent English evangelical Anglican bishop in the early years of the nineteenth century. He was the first evangelical to be raised to the Anglican episcopate.
Life
Ryder was the ...
(then bishop of St. Davids, afterwards of Lichfield) to the vicarage of
Glasbury
Glasbury ( cy, Y Clas-ar-Wy), also known as Glasbury-on-Wye, is a village and community in Powys, Wales. The village lies at an important crossing point on the River Wye, connecting the historic counties of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire, and ...
in Brecknockshire. Here a volume of sermons was published in 1825, which reached a ninth edition in 1854. He retained the living of Glasbury till his death, but in the year 1829 became the first incumbent of St. James's Chapel at
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history
T ...
in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
(now in
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
), where he resided, with some periods of absence, till 1852.
By this time his reputation as a preacher was fully established. His striking face and figure and dignified and impressive delivery added to the effect produced by the substance and style of his sermons, which were prepared and written with unusual care and thought. A volume of sermons published in 1831, followed by two volumes of ‘Practical Sermons’ in 1836 and 1838, by ‘Sacramental Sermons’ in 1842, and ‘Sermons on the Christian Life’ in 1853, had for many years an exceedingly large circulation, and were widely preached in other pulpits than his own, not only in England and Wales, but in Scotland and America. Of late years their sale greatly declined, but the interest taken in them has revived, and a volume of selections was published in 1884.
Quite apart from the character of their contents, as enforcing the practical and speculative side of Christianity from the point of view of the earlier leaders of the evangelical party in the church of England, the literary merits of Bradley's sermons will probably give them a lasting place in literature of the kind. No one can read them without being struck by their singular simplicity and force, and at the same time by the sustained dignity and purity of the language.
Personal life
Bradley was the father of a numerous family. By his first wife, who died in 1831, he had thirteen children, of whom twelve survived him. The eldest of six sons was the Rev. C. Bradley of
Southgate
Southgate or South Gate may refer to:
Places Australia
*Southgate, Sylvania
*Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria
Canada
*Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County
* Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario
Ed ...
, well known in educational circles. The 4th,
George Granville Bradley
George Granville Bradley (11 December 1821 – 13 March 1903) was an English divine, scholar, and schoolteacher, who was Dean of Westminster (1881–1902).
Life
George Bradley's father, Charles Bradley, was vicar of Glasbury, Brecon, mid Wales ...
, was dean of Westminster 1881 to 1902, having been previously master of University College, Oxford, and headmaster of Marlborough College. By his second marriage in 1840 with Emma, daughter of Mr. John Linton, he also left a large family, one of whom,
F. H. Bradley
Francis Herbert Bradley (30 January 1846 – 18 September 1924) was a British idealist philosopher. His most important work was ''Appearance and Reality'' (1893).
Life
Bradley was born at Clapham, Surrey, England (now part of the Greater ...
, fellow of Merton College, Oxford, was the most famous of the British Idealist philosophers, writing on ethics and logic. His youngest son,
Andrew Cecil Bradley
Andrew Cecil Bradley, (26 March 1851 – 2 September 1935) was an English literary scholar, best remembered for his work on Shakespeare.
Life
Bradley was born at Park Hill, Clapham, Surrey. His father was the preacher Charles Bradley (1789†...
, who was best known for his writings on Shakespeare, was fellow of Balliol, and professor of English literature at Liverpool.
Bradley spent the last period of his life at Cheltenham, where he died in August 1871, aged 82.