Born on the 5th May 1892 Harold was the fourth son of Frederick and Harriet Bradley, Shipston-on-Stour. In addition to his older brothers he also had an older sister, Annie, and three more brothers who were younger than him.  The records showing Harold entering the Infants School are missing, but it is assumed to be in 1897 as the Senior School register shows him moving up on the 12th July 1899. At the time the family are recorded as living in Station Road. The 1901 census lists the family as living in Station Road, and interestingly shows the changeover in the name of the road, from Husbandman’s End to Station Road.  Just before his thirteenth birthday the School Registers show Harold leaving school on 20th April 1905. Harold’s Attestation Papers, which are available online on the Canadian Archives website, show him as living at 43 Port Street, Brantford, Ontario, which is 50km south west of the western end of Lake Ontario.  They also show that he was employed as a Clerk at the time of attesting on the 1st February 1916 at St Catherine’s, Ontario.  It is not clear why there is a gap of three months between him enlisting, in October 1915, according to the Brantford Expositor, and him attesting.  Harold is noted as being 5 ft 7 inches and to have had light brown hair and blue eyes. The Attestation Papers also show that he was in the 44th Regiment of the local Militia, and had previously served in both the 38th and 19th Regiments. It was presumably in these units that he attained the rank of Company Serjeant Major as recorded on the Shipston-on-Stour War Memorial. Harold was posted to the 75th (Mississauga) Btn, Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who sailed for Liverpool in March 1916. After four months in England they moved to France, arriving on the 12th August.  Within a couple of days they were at the front and on the 21st August the first man was killed. Harold was killed at Arras, and whilst not named is thought to be one of two men killed on the night of the 29th/30th March 1918. The Battalion war diary simply reported: The threatened Hun attack did not materialise this morning. We had two men killed and five wounded during the night,….. The Brantford Expositor of the 30th July 1918 included a photograph and ran the following report: Company Sergt.-Major Harold Edgar Bradley has been reported killed in action on the Western Front on March 30. Sergt.-Major Bradley enlisted October 1915, having tried four times to get into the service, and having his persistence finally rewarded. He was employed here for three years by the William Davies Company. In going over to France he reverted to the rank of private and was promoted to lance-corporal on the field. He left Canada with the 75th Battalion.    It is interesting to note that Harold was consistently referred to as being a Company Serjeant Major even though he had relinquished the rank to enable him to join up. Harold is buried in Roclincourt Military Cemetery and is remembered on both the Town and Council School Memorials.  He is also remembered in the Canadian Book of Remembrance held in the Memorial Chamber in the Peace Tower at the Canadian Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, Canada.

Mike Wells