BRADLEY, Joseph

Joseph Bradley was born in Brierley Hill and volunteered in early September 1914 for the South Staffords. He served in the 1st Battalion which joined the forces on the Western Front in October 1914 for the first battle of Ypres. In 1915 they moved to Artois and in May suffered heavily at Festubert. The largest of the 1915 Allied attacks was at Loos and the target for the Staffords was the well protected Quarries and the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The Quarries were reached but the German defence was well-entrenched and not overcome. The Staffords were out of the line for only two days and on the 8th October had to resist a sudden German attack. In both actions the losses were high. It was probably on the 8th that Private Joseph Bradley was seriously injured. He was sent to a base hospital where he died of wounds on the 12th October. He is buried in Longuenesse Souvemir Cemetery (II A 57) at St. Omer and is commemorated on the Brierley Hill and Brierley Hill church Memorials.