The First Bradleys

The first strictly verifiable sighting of the Bradley family in this area comes in 1813 with the marriage of one Thomas Bradley to Elizabeth Hounsell on 21st April in St. Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, in the borough of Tower Hamlets in the presence, amongst others, of one Edward Bradley. Six children followed, the first three baptised in the same very church, and the last three at All Saints, Poplar.
In the 1841 census the family were all living in Robinhood Lane, Poplar. The houses in Robinhood Lane were originally built as part of the East India dock development and according to the British Survey of History were generally two-up and two down with a washroom at the back. Some had been converted into shops, including a baker’s at number four. This may well have been both the Bradley bakery and home, since we know from the 1841 census that Thomas was a baker.

Robinhood Lane. The Beehive Pub to the right was Number 12. The Bradley home would therefore have been just a few doors away. From: http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/Poplar/Beehive.shtml

Unlike Maria West up in Stoke Newington who on that very same census day, baldly and quite falsely stated that she was from Middlesex, the Bradleys made no such profession. In fact, we know from later censuses, when the actual place of birth was recorded, that Elizabeth Hounsell was from Bristol.

As for Thomas Bradley, it is hard to say. He died in a madhouse in 1851, just before the census of that same year.  All we categorically know is that he was not born in the County of Middlesex.