Admiral Sir Edward Eden Bradford, (10 December 1858 – 25 November 1935) was a British naval officer, who commanded the 3rd Battle Squadron of the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the ...

until May 1916, and wrote Admiral of the Fleet

Arthur Knyvet Wilson Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson, 3rd Baronet, (4 March 1842 – 25 May 1921) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the Anglo-Egyptian War and then the Mahdist War being awarded the Victoria Cross during the Battle of El Teb in ...

's biography.

Early career

Edward Eden Bradford joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1872, serving on the modern

ironclad battleships An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

''Hercules'', ''Monarch'', and ''Sultan'' in the Channel Fleet. He was promoted to Midshipman in 1876, and served aboard the screw-frigate ''Doris'', the screw-corvette ''Danae'' and the iron screw-frigate ''Raleigh''. It was during this time that he passed his lieutenant's exam on 14 November 1878. Bradford was then appointed sub-lieutenant on the survey schooner ''Sandfly''. In October 1880, whilst surveying ashore in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...

, the ''Sandfly''s commanding officer, Lieutenant Bower, and five crewmen were murdered by the natives. Bradford took charge of the ''Sandfly'', recovered the bodies of his shipmates, and punished the natives by burning their village. This earned him a special promotion to Lieutenant in December 1880.National Maritime Museum catalogue box BRD/5
/ref> Bradford joined the old ironclad ''Achilles'' from 1881 to 1883 and took part in the

1882 Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. ...

for which he was decorated. He served in the China Station from 1883 to 1891 aboard the screw-corvette ''Sapphire'' and the screw-sloop ''Mutine''. During his time on the ''Mutine'', he was made acting-commander, on 20 January 1891. In 1886, Bradford won the Royal United Services Institute's silver medal award for his essay, ''The Maritime Defence of the United Kingdom (including its Colonies and Dependencies), and its Trade, in a War with a Great Maritime Power'', which was published in the R.U.S.I. journal. From 1894 to 1896, Bradford served on ''Boadicea'', flagship of the East Indies Squadron as commander. Bradford married his wife Sheila in June 1896.

Captain

Bradford was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 30 June 1899. In March 1900 he was posted to the

HMS President Five ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''President'', after the office of president meaning "one who presides over an assembly". In the case of the first two British ships, the name may have applied to the ...

, home of the London division of the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

, for transport service in Thames District. He had an essay published entitled ''Remarks on Organisation and Coaling'' in 1900. Bradford served under Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson as his flag-captain in the modern battleships , ''Revenge'' and ''Exmouth''. Bradford was Commodore of Chatham Naval Barracks from 1907 to 1908.

Admiral

Bradford was then made Rear-Admiral of the Home Fleet, with his flag in the ''King Edward VII''-class battleship ''Hibernia''. He then commanded the Training Squadron aboard the armoured cruiser ''Leviathan'' from 1911 to 1913. Bradford was promoted to vice-admiral on 10 February 1914, and given command of the 3rd Battle Squadron, flying his flag in the battleship ''King Edward VII''. The 3rd Battle Squadron supported

Admiral Beatty Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (17 January 1871 – 12 March 1936) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Mahdist War and then the response to the Boxer Rebellion, he commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadr ...

Dogger Bank Dogger Bank (Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age the bank was part of a large landmass c ...

and left the Grand Fleet in May 1916. Bradford was awarded the KCB in the 1916 New Year Honours.

Retirement

At his own request, Bradford retired in 1918 with the rank of admiral. Bradford was awarded the G.B.E. on 1 January 1930.

External links

Footnotes