Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Usher Bradbridge
The Wiltshire Regiment, 4th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.
Accidentally shot
Date of Birth: 16th of April 1872
Place of Birth: Clifton, Gloucestershire
Date of Death: 4th of September 1933
Awarded the British War Medal, the 1914 star, and the Victory Medal
Son of Thomas Adolphus Bradbridge, Gentleman Captain 1st Wiltshire Regiment, and Mary Nelson Bradbridge.
Boer War
Awarded the Queen's
medal 3 clasps and
the King's medal 2 clasps, also mentioned in despatches.
Operations in Cape Colony south of Orange river including the action to Colesberg and in Orange river colony, May and June 1900, including actions at Bethaleberry and Wittbergen Transvaal east of Insforia, 1901-1902 as Commanding Officer of the Eastern Mobile Force. This information was obtained from written war records so there maybe errors in the place names.
![British dead at battle of Spion Kop 24th of January 1900 By Unknown author - museeniepce.com [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2205315](/images/survived/bradbridge-eu-1900-brits-dead-spion-kop-pic.jpg)
British dead at the battle of Spion Kop 24th of January 1900 By Unknown author - museeniepce.com [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2205315
In the 1901 census, Edward is staying at Elms, Barnpark Road, East Teignmouth, Devon with his sister, Edith J Thompson, and her husband, James Yarell Thompson.
Edward was baptised on the 29th of July 1910 at Devizes Barracks, Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire.
Death
Edward Usher Bradbridge was found shot in a field with a gun close by him.
An open verdict was returned at his inquest. The jury said that they were not satisfied that it was a case of suicide and that there was insufficient evidence for them to say that it was accidental.
He was last seen by a gardener who said that Edward Bradbridge had come to him and said, 'I am going to shoot a rabbit'.
A nurse at the hall said that Edward Bradbridge suffered from nerve and heart trouble. She said that on 2 September 1933 she went into the meadow and saw Edward Bradbridge apparently sitting on a stile near a tree. She said that she rushed up to him and found that he was dead. She said that he was in a crouched position and that the muzzle of the gun was under him.
At the inquest, a policeman that had been called out said that the top of Edward Bradbridge's head had been blown off.
A doctor suggested that Edward Bradbridge had slipped whilst getting over the stile.
Other medical evidence disclosed that Edward Bradbridge had been complaining of feelings of insecurity and that he was going to collapse.
After his estate was settled it was reported that he had left £4,271 6s 5d with net personalty £1,770.
He was a Lieutenant-Colonel and was formerly the secretary of the Essex Territorial Army Association and before that of the Ayshire Association. He had also served in the war.
Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum © IWM HU 114228, Major E U Bradbridge. Unit: 4th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers; Staff. Death: Not known.
