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General First nameFrederick T.
LastnameBradbury
GenderMale
CountryEngland
Date of birth1864-06-01
Place of birthSheffield, Yorkshire, England
Date of death1949-01-26
Place of deathSheffield, Yorkshire, England


About

Frederick T. Bradbury was the brother of fellow lawn tennis players Arthur, Harold, Joseph and Walton T. Bradbury. Frederick worked for the family’s Sheffield-based silver-plate manufacturing company. For more on the Bradbury family’s firm, see below.

From:
https://mail.hawleysheffieldknives.com/n-fulldetails.php?val=bR&kel=1734

Thomas Bradbury & Sons, Ltd.

This company has traditionally been regarded as the oldest in the Sheffield silver-plate trade. The Bradburys traced their industrial lineage to Joseph Bradbury, who was apprenticed in June 1750 and was admitted as a Freeman in 1760. His son, Thomas Bradbury I (1763-1838), was apprenticed to Matthew Fenton & Co. (later Fenton, Creswick, Oakes & Co.).

In 1773, Matthew Fenton, Richard Creswick, and William Watson, “plate workers”, Mulberry Street, registered a silver mark (only the second to appear in the Sheffield Assay Office registers). William Watson (1719-1793), of Shirecliffe Hall, was a wealthy vinter and landowner, who became a sleeping partner (Crosskey, 20111). He died on 22 July 1793, aged 74. A tablet memorial inside the parish church (now the Cathedral) marks his grave.

In 1795, Matthew Fenton died, aged 48 (he was buried at the parish church on 7 February) A descendant of the Shirecliffe Hall family, Thomas Watson (1772-1832), then acquired the business. The latter was the son of Thomas (the landlord of The George, Hartshead) and Hannah, née Newbould.

In 1795, Thomas Bradbury first appeared in the Assay Office register as a plate worker, with Thomas Watson and James Fenton (Matthew’s younger son), at the Methodist meeting yard (Mulberry Street). James Fenton left almost immediately and Thomas Bradbury became Watson’s co-partner.

The firm was styled Thomas Watson & Co, which indicated Watson’s seniority. He travelled for the company both at home and on the Continent. He was appointed a Guardian of the Assay Office in 1803. Not until 1818 was Watson & Bradbury listed at Mulberry Street. They registered a silver mark in 1826. The partners conducted a particularly profitable trade with the USA, where George H. Newbould was agent. According to a brief house history, this trade expanded steadily until it was crippled by the Monroe Tariff (1824), though even then the firm never ceased entirely trading with America (Bradbury, 19242).

Thomas Watson died at Harrogate on 30 July 1832, aged 59, after a “severe illness”. At his death, he was a director of the Sheffield Banking Co. (Leader, 19163). He was a Church Burgess and closely connected with local charities. He was buried at the parish church (Sheffield Cathedral), where a memorial and bust by local sculptor Edward Law commemorates him as “an active and munificent benefactor to the various charities of this town”. He left a fortune of over £70,000 (Clay, ii, 18954). Several benefited from his will, including the Deaf & Dumb Institution (Sheffield Independent, 11 August 1832).

Thomas Watson’s nephew, William, had joined the Mulberry Street business. He soon left and the Watson interest ended. The business became Thomas Bradbury & Son, with workshops at the corner of Arundel Street/Surrey Street. Thomas Bradbury I was the senior partner, alongside his son, Thomas Bradbury II (1786-1855), who had joined in 1800. A London office had operated since at least the 1820s.

Thomas Bradbury I died on 10 December 1838 (aged 75), and was buried at the parish church. In that year, the firm registered its first mark under the name Thomas Bradbury & Son, Arundel Street. When electro-plate appeared, the company doggedly continued to make Sheffield Plate. Bradbury’s displayed a modest selection of Sheffield Plate products – coffee and tea services and the like – at the Great Exhibition (1851). Not until 1853 did Bradbury’s take out an electro-plate license from Elkington.

Thomas Bradbury II died on 4 January 1855, aged 69, and was buried at Saint Paul’s. His sons, Joseph Bradbury Sen. (1825-1877) and Edward Bradbury, promptly named the firm Thomas Bradbury & Sons. A mark under that name was registered in 1861 (with further silver marks in 1867, 1878, 1889, and 1892). After 1877, the partners were Thomas Bradbury III (brother of Joseph), Edward Bradbury, and John Sutherland Henderson (see White, Henderson). The latter told the Census (1881) that the work roll was fifty men, a dozen boys, and ten women. Henderson left in 1888.

Three of Joseph Bradbury Sen.’s sons became partners: Walton Turner Bradbury (d. 1906, leaving £16,207); Joseph Bradbury Jun. (1858-1944); and Frederick Bradbury (1864-1949). The firm became a private limited company in 1905, with £50,000 capital.

Thomas Bradbury III, “retired silver manufacturer”, died that year on 29 December, aged 65, and was buried in the General Cemetery. He had been Sheffield Assay Master and a president of the Sheffield Silver Association. He left £11,162. He was remembered as a “retiring man”, who was a bibliophile and silver collector. His collecting tastes were shared by Joseph and particularly by Frederick (a traveller for the firm), who became an authority on Sheffield Plate (Bradbury, 19125).

This family firm survived the Depression, though it was probably the most conservative of Sheffield silver firms. A trade catalogue, dating from the 1920s (in the author’s possession), illustrated cased tableware (such as dessert sets) that looked relatively modern. But Bradbury’s also offered an array of reproduction silverware, such as Charles II spoons. It also restored antique silver and Old Sheffield Plate.

At the start of the Second World War, the directors – Joseph Bradbury Jun. and Frederick Bradbury – retired. According to Culme (19876), Joseph and Frederick wanted to hand over to a nephew, S. W. Turner, but in 1939 he had been interned as a former Blackshirt. In 1945, the company was liquidated and the goodwill and dies sold to Atkin Bros.

Frederick’s collection of silver was auctioned. It was bought by the Sheffield philanthropist Stuart Goodwin, who gifted the 600 pieces to the Company of Cutlers (the Bradbury collection of Old Sheffield Plate had meanwhile been bought by Sheffield City Council in 1943). Joseph died on 3 May 1944, aged 86, at his home in Broomfield Road. Frederick died, aged 84, on 26 January 1949 at his residence Tapton Lodge, Tapton House Road. They died wealthy, leaving £41,630 and £84,727, respectively.

Media


Archive statistics Career1885 - 1895
Tournament wins1
Matches89
Match wins47


Tournament wins 1887 - Hull Westbourne Avenue (Amateur)


Tournaments Irish Championships - 1895 Sheffield - 1895 West of Scotland Championships - 1894 North of England Championships - 1893 Colchester Championship - 1893 Sheffield - 1893 Warwickshire Championships - 1893 Edgbaston - 1893 North of England Championships - 1892 Sheffield - 1892 Buxton - 1892 Whitehouse - 1892 Whitby - 1892 Pollokshields - 1892 Taylor Challenge Cup - 1892 North of England Championships - 1891 Sheffield - 1891 Buxton - 1891 North of England Championships - 1890 Sheffield - 1890 Pollokshields - 1890 Taylor Challenge Cup - 1890 North of England Championships - 1889 Sheffield - 1889 Burton on Trent - 1889 Darlington - 1889 Filey - 1889 Yorkshire Championships - 1888 Sheffield - 1888 Buxton - 1888 Ilkley - 1888 Burton on Trent - 1888 Norton Counties Challenge Cup - 1888 Northern Open - 1888 Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club - 1888 Yorkshire Championships - 1887 Buxton - 1887 Ilkley - 1887 Northumberland Cricket Club Lawn Tennis Tournament - 1887 Hull Westbourne Avenue - 1887 North of England Championships - 1886 Yorkshire Championships - 1886 Buxton - 1885 Hull Westbourne Avenue - 1885