Cpl 15246 Paul Blanchard Bradley

• Age: 22
• From: Ormskirk, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Paul Blanchard Bradley was born in Ormskirk in the March quarter of 1895 the son of James Oliver Bradley and his wife Beatrice Marie Josephine (nee Steel) who married in Southport on 08th June 1893. 

Their marriage was reported in the Manchester Times on 16th June 1893: 

BRADLEY-STEEL - On 8th June at St Mary's Church, Southport, by the Very Rev. Dean Cahill, James Oliver Bradley, second son of Joseph Bradley, Esq., of Aughton Park, Ormskirk, to Beatrice Marie Josephine, second daughter of Edmund F. Steel, Esq., of 14 Queens Road, Southport. 

His father who was a Cotton Broker living at 14 Queen's Road, Southport died on 15th November 1897 at Newport, Shropshire, aged 34. Probate was granted to his widow Beatrice Marie Josephine Bradley. Effects of £20.  

The 1901 Census finds Paul, aged 7, living with his uncle Henry Edmond and aunt Cissie Steel at Briars Hall, Briars Lane, Lathom. Henry Edmond Steel is a Cotton Broker just as Paul's father was. 

By 1911 Paul is living with his mother at 95 Aigburth Road, Liverpool. He is 17 years of age and is a cotton broker's apprentice. His mother is shown as having been born in Manchester in 1865. There is also a servant present at the house. 

Paul enlisted at St George's Hall, Liverpool joining the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 15246. 

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915. 

SDGW record that Paul died of wounds on the 30^th July 1916, most likely received on the same day, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.  

His death was reported in the local press:   

KILLED IN ACTION   

BRADLEY - July 30, killed in action, aged 22 years. Corporal Paul Blanchard Bradley, elder son of the late James Oliver and Beatrice Bradley of 97 Aigburth Road, Liverpool. 

Paul's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.     

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

His death was reported in the local press:

KILLED IN ACTION

BRADLEY - July 30, killed in action, aged 22 years. Corporal Paul Blanchard Bradley, elder son of the late James Oliver and Beatrice Bradley of 97 Aigburth Road, Liverpool.

Paul earned his three medals which were found offered for auction in 2014 for £60-£80.

Paul is commemorated on the Memorial at the Liverpool Cotton Association at Walker House on Exchange Flags, Liverpool.

His mother died in the December quarter of 1950, aged 85.

We currently have no further information on Paul Blanchard Bradley, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.