William Bradbery

Variations of the name – Bradberry, Bradbury

Origin of the name –

Birth date – 11 July 1776

Birth Place – Didcott, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England

Baptism/Christening –

Date of Death – 11 August 1860 (BMD Sep Quarter Watford Vol 3a page 180. On the same page is Phoebe Bradbery Vol 3a page 181)

“William died on the 11th of August 1860, a little over a month before his wife Phoebe, who died on the 19th of September 1860. They are buried together in the churchyard of St Thomas, in West Hyde.” [1]

Place of Death – Wartford

Burial - St Thomas, in West Hyde

Memorials/Tributes

An image of his headstone can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Bradbery%27s_Headstone.jpg

“In 1960, the Three Rivers District Council, marked the achievements of William and his family, by naming one of the roads in nearby Maple Cross "Bradbery". This was also done in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, less than four miles (6 km) away, where they named a street "Bradbery Gardens", where William's eldest son Richard, also ran a watercress farm, to complement the one in West Hyde.” [1]

Parents:

Father – Thomas Bradbery

Mother – Catherine Jackson

Siblings -

one of seven children – Thomas, William, Cyrus Jackson, James Michael, Richard, Jonathan, Mary Ann [2]

Marriage – Phoebe Whiting who died on the 19th of September 1860

Date – 6th July 1796 Marcham, Berkshire

Place - Marcham, Berkshire

Children

From [2]
Richard Whiting Bradbery (Whose son Thomas died in Maitland NSW Australia
in 1882 – Ancestry Tree Betts)

James Bradbery 6/3/1800 – 6/8/1881

Mary Anne Bradbery 6/2/1803

William Whiting Bradbery 10/2/1805 – 1874

Job Bradbery 1812-1890 – “William retired in his sixty's, and let his son Job take over the running of the business” [1]

Ruth Bradbery 1815

Harriet Bradbery 1820

Amelia Bradbery 1821

Occupation

Entrepreneur; the first person in England to cultivate and sell watercress on a commercial basis.

In the 1841 census return, William described himself as a "Market Gardener", employing 22 workers from West Hyde and surrounding area.

Retired in his 60’s

Career

Until around 1805 he stayed in the Marcham area, then they moved to Springhead, Northfleet in Kent, where he first started to cultivate watercress.

“The watercress business continued on in the ownership of the Bradberys for some years after William died. Richard the grandson,it seems,lacked the same entrepreneurial spirit and drive of his grandfather William. So in 1927, after over a century of cress production, the watercress beds were sold off to another local grower, thus ending the Bradbery dynasty in West Hyde” [1]

Publications

Family History and Biographical Notes

1851 Census – Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1714; Folio: 475; Page: 21; GSU roll: 193622.

William Bradbery Hd M 74 Market Gardener employing 12 men and 10 women born Berks Dudcott

Pheebe Bradbery Wi M 73 born Frilford Berkshire

Harriet Bradbery Daur U 31 born Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

Mary A Bradbery G.Daur u 14 born Fulmer, Buckinghamshire

William Bradbery G.son u 16 Garden Labourer born Fulmer, Buckinghamshire

Rickmansworth, West Hyde

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1714; Folio: 472; Page: 14; GSU roll: 193622.

Job Bradbery Hd m 39 Gardener born Southfleet, Kent

Mary Bradbery Wi m 31 Harefield, Middlesex

Eliza Bradbery Da 9 Scholar born Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

Thomas Bradbery So u 8 Scholar born Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

George Bradbery So u 7 Scholar born Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

Joseph Bradbery So u 2 born Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire

Elizabeth Groves M-in-L W 73 Proprietor of Houses born Perby, Berkshire

1841 Census Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece 438; Book: 21; Civil Parish: Rickmansworth; County: Hertfordshire; Enumeration District: 5; Folio: 48; Page: 16; Line: 21; GSU roll: 288827.

Rickmansworth Watford

Job Bradbery 25 Market Gardener Not born in the county

Mary Bradbery 20 Not born in the county

and at Apple Grove

William Bradbery 60 Market Gardener Not born in the county

Phoebe Bradbery 63 Not born in the county

Ruth Bradbery 25 Not born in the county

Harriet Bradbery 20 Born in the County

Amelia Oliver 30 Not born in the county

William Oliver 1 Not born in the county

Notes, References, Sources/Links, Family Trees etc.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bradbery

[2] Ancestry public tree Hirst Tree, Owner – rchirst46 New South Wales Australia

• Residence: Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England - 1841
• Residence: St Mary Newington, Surrey, England - 1841
• Residence: Relation to Head of House: Head, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England - 1851
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jul 15 2018, 7:21:06 UTC