Owen was born on 1st May 1896, the son of Owen and Louisa Bradley who are believed to have then been living in Manchester.

The 1901 census shows Owen Snr living in New Street with his parents. He is clearly indicated as being married, but there is no sign of Louisa and the young Owen in the Shipston area, and the Infants School records covering this period are no longer in existence.  

On the 1st July 1903 Owen moved up from the Infants School to the Senior School.  It is not known whether he started at the Infants two years before, but in the 1904-05 school year Owen was awarded a certificate for regular attendance. At the time of this move the family are noted as living in New Street, Shipston-on-Stour.  In November 1907 the family moved to Brailes and Owen changed schools to Brailes Boys’ School. He remained there until April 1909 when he left for employment.  In 1911 the family returned to Shipston, and lived on the Stratford Road.

The Army records show that Owen enlisted in York in 1914 at the age of eighteen.  On the 16th January 1915 the Divisional Train for the Army Service Corps was created for the 23rd Division. It comprised the 190th, 191st, 192nd and 193rd Companies, and Owen Bradley was posted to the 192nd Company as a Driver.

Training was undertaken as part of the Division at Shorncliffe in Kent, from the end February 1915, and at Bordon in Hampshire from the end May 1915.  It was from here that the division left for France, arriving in Boulogne between the 21st and 26th August 1915, with Owen arriving on the last day.  From Boulogne they proceeded immediately to the front line near Tilques, about 30 miles southeast of Calais.

Whilst not involved on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the Division were in action from the 2nd July at Contalmaison where they helped capture the village. The Division remained active on the Somme until wet weather ground everything to a halt in late October, early November.

Having been successful on the Somme, 1917 saw the Division move north to Ypres and in early June they were on the northern edge of the Messine Ridge, opposite the infamous Hill 60.  On the 7th June Owen must have been witness to one of the most startling events of the war when the British exploded nineteen mines below the Ridge. The resulting sound was reportedly heard in London.

On the 31st August the 23rd Division were still in the same position of the front line when the bombardment started for the next push. It lasted twenty-one days, but sadly Owen was killed by retaliatory shellfire on the 31st August 1917.  Unusually the Battalion War Diary reports a named single death, stating simply;

Driver O. Bradley 192 Co. Killed by shell fire on 31st.

On the 21st September 1917 the Stratford Herald reported:

Mrs O. Bradley of Stratford Road has received the news that her eldest son Driver O. G. Bradley ASC has been killed in France. Driver Bradley who was only 21 at the time of his death volunteered in 1914 and he was a keen soldier, greatly respected and highly popular with both his officers and comrades, as several letters received by his mother testify. He was killed by shrapnel, death being instantaneous. The deepest sympathy is felt for Mrs Bradley and his other relatives.

Owen is buried in The Huts Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium and is remembered on Brailes War Memorial, and the Shipston Council School and Town Memorials.  

Mike Wells