Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and archaeologist, best known for his multivolume '' A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time''.

Life

Joseph Bradney was born at Greet,

Tenbury Wells Tenbury Wells (locally Tenbury) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the northwestern extremity of the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Its northern border adjoins Shropshire, and at the 2011 census it ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, and educated at Harrow and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He acquired, partly by inheritance and partly purchase, Tal-y-coed Court, an estate at Talycoed, Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, near

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, where he settled at an early age. He entered the army, serving as captain of the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers Militia from 1882 to 1892, and lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2nd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment from 1892 to 1912. In the Territorial Force Reserve from 1912 to 1919, he served in France in 1917–18. Bradney was

High Sheriff of Monmouthshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, an office which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the shrievalty of Monmouthshire was abolished, and replac ...

in 1889, Deputy lieutenant of the county, and a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

lor from 1898 to 1924. He was also a governor and on the Council of the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

and the National Museum of Wales. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. He was appointed a Companion of the Bath in 1911, and knighted in 1924. He wrote extensively on the history of Monmouthshire, his major work being '' A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time'', published in twelve volumes between 1904 and 1933. A final volume, drawing on his notes, was published posthumously. The books have been described as a "monumental survey, extensively illustrated and containing dozens of pedigrees, hich remainsa basic reference work essential for the serious study of local history or genealogy in Monmouthshire." He shared an interest in vulgar limericks with the antiquarian

Egerton Phillimore Egerton Grenville Bagot Phillimore (20 December 1856 – 5 June 1937) was a British antiquarian of Welsh literature, language, and history. He published little but was widely regarded as the greatest living expert on Welsh placenames. Early li ...

though Bradney's letters to Phillimore were often written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. He was married twice, first to Rosa Jenkins (d. 1927), and then to Florence Prothero. A Latin tablet in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern records his achievements.

Works

*''Genealogical memoranda relating to the families of Hopkins of Llanfihangel Ystern Llewern, Co. Monmouth, and Probyn of Newland, Co. Gloucester'', 1889 *''A History of Monmouthshire: From the coming of the Normans into Wales down to the present time'', 4 vols, 1904-1933 *(ed.) ''The diary of Walter Powell of Llantilio Crossenny in the county of Monmouth, gentleman 1603-1654'', 1907 *(ed.) ''Llyfr Baglan : or The book of Baglan'', by John Williams, London: Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910 * ''A History of the Free Grammar School in the Parish of Llantilio-Crosseny in the County of Monmouh'', 1924

''A History of Monmouthshire''

Bradney's History comprised twelve volumes, divided by the traditional administrative areas of Hundreds. The work covered six of the seven hundreds of Monmouthshire. * Volume I Part 1, The Hundred of Skenfrith, (1904)

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

896129125 * Volume I Part 2, The Hundred of Abergavenny, (1906),

895940655 * Volume II Part 1, The Hundred of Raglan, (1911),

895940653 * Volume II Part 2, The Hundred of Trelech, (1913),

895939552 * Volume III Part 1, The Hundred of Usk, (1921)

502610834 * Volume III Part 2, The Hundred of Usk, (1923),

502610826 * Volume IV Part 1, The Hundred of Caldicot, (1929),

896116356 * Volume IV Part 2 The Hundred of Caldicot, (1932),

502610829 * Four volumes consisting of a List of Subscribers, Addenda and Corrigenda, and Indices of Names and Places. Between 1991 and 1993, the history was reprinted by Academy Books, and subsequently the Merton Priory Press, as an 80% sized

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...

. The work was arranged slightly differently to the original history, the indices were included in their respective Parts, and a fifth volume covering the last Hundred of Newport, was compiled from Bradney's manuscript notes by Dr Madeleine Gray. The re-ordered works were: * Volume 1 Part 1, The Hundred of Skenfrith, (1991) * Volume 1 Part 2a, The Hundred of Abergavenny, (1992), * Volume 1 Part 2b, The Hundred of Abergavenny, (1992), * Volume 2 Part 1, The Hundred of Raglan, (1992) * Volume 2 Part 2, The Hundred of Trelech, (1992), * Volume 3 Part 1, The Hundred of Usk, (1993), * Volume 3 Part 2, The Hundred of Usk, (1993), * Volume 4 Part 1, The Hundred of Caldicot, (1994), * Volume 4 Part 2 The Hundred of Caldicot, (1994), * Volume 5 The Hundred of Newport, (1993),

Footnotes

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradney, Joseph 1859 births 1933 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of Monmouthshire Monmouthshire Regiment officers 19th-century British historians English archaeologists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London History of Monmouthshire Welsh justices of the peace High Sheriffs of Monmouthshire Military personnel from Shropshire 20th-century British historians