John David Bradley (1920-2004)

Dates

Birth: 24 December 1920 Fulham, London, UK
Father: Henry Albert Bradley 1885-1975
Mother: Elsie Chalcraft 1892-1977

Marriage: April-June 1953 N Surrey, UK
Wife: Diana Mary Syms 1932-2010

Death: 4 January 2004 Taunton, Somerset, UK

Children

Notes

Birth of John D Bradley, mother's maiden name Chalcraft, in FreeBMD in January-March 1921 in Fulham (1a 478).

Entry in Ancestry London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965 for John D Bradley address 5/7 Belvedere Hostel, Grenville Place, Queensgate, Kensington in 1952.

Marriage of John D Bradley and Diana M Syms in FreeBMD in April-June 1953 in Surrey N (5g 776).

Entry in Ancestry UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 for John David Bradley aged 32 of 157 South Park Road, SW19, and an etomologist departed from London on 4 June 1953 for bound for the Solomon Isles on the Mooltan, P&O. Although it indicates he was not accompanied by his wife there is an entry for Diana Mary Syms (now Bradley) aged 21, of 48 Palewell Park, SW14 and a secretary. I assume the reservation was made before his marriage, and the voyage took place afterwards.

His son was born in Kensington in 1954 and daughter in Ealing in 1957.

His son was registered in January-March 1963 in Ealing.

There are ten entries in Ancestry London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965 for John D Bradley address 58b Kenway Road, Earls Court, Kensington in 1955, and 53 Osterley Road, Spring Grove, Isleworth in 1956 to 1965, other occupant Diana M Bradley (wife?) in all.

Entry in 192.com for John D Bradley in the Electoral Roll 2002-03 living in Chard, Somerset TA20.

Entry in Free Search Electoral Roll for John D Bradley - Conifers, Chard Junction, Chard TA20 4QJ from 2002-2004.

Entry in the Register of Deaths for John David Bradley, born on 24 December 1920, in January 2004 in Taunton (A78B 724/1A 260).

Entry in the European Journal of Entomology 25 June 2004

In memory of Dr. John D. Bradley FRES (24 December 1920 - 4 January 2004)
At the beginning of this year, we read with great regret an e-mail from David Bradley on the death of his father Dr. John David Bradley. John was not only outstanding lepidopterist, but also a faithful friend of both of us and an extremely helpful English language editor of this journal. His contribution was invaluable, especially in the early years of Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca (predecessor of EJE) when the editors were striving to transform a local periodical into an internationally respected journal. As a scientist at the Department Entomology of the British Museum (Natural History) and at the Identification Service of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology John Bradley was well known all over the world and was warmly regarded by many colleagues. His biography was published in Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca (1991, Vol. 88, pp. 79-80). An obituary by David Agassiz will be published in Entomologist's Record, and another obituary with biographical and personal notices will appear (in Czech) in Klapalekiana.

Entry in Entomologist's Record VOL. 116 pp92-93

Obituary John David Bradley, 1920 - 2004
Like many lepidopterists John Bradley began his interest in insects during his childhood. Born in the Wimbledon area of south-west London on 24 January (sic) 1920, he left school at 16 to become a laboratory assistant in bacteriology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He then joined the British Museum (Natural History) as a Preparator in 1938, but the war interrupted and he spent six years in the armed forces serving in North Africa, Italy and Austria. He returned to the BM(NH) after the war and began work on the curation of Meyrick s collection and from then on his emphasis was on microlepidoptera, in due time specialising in the Tortricidae. Together with E. L. Martin he produced an illustrated checklist of British Tortricidae in 1936-59. In 1964, he joined the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, still based in the British Museum (Natural History). His main task was identifying microlepidoptera sent in from many parts of the world, and so he became familiar with many pest species. He published some 120 papers between 1950 and 2000 of which many were on tropical pests, but best known are his works with Gerry Tremewan and Arthur Smith in British Tortricoid Moths, published by the Ray Society, on whose council he served. He was editor of the Entomologist s Gazette from 1960 until late 1964. John worked on a revision of Kloet & Hincks Checklist of British Lepidoptera, taking care of the microlepidoptera whilst Steve Fletcher did the macros and the new list was published in 1972. His interest in the British fauna was shown by continued work on checklists producing The Log Book in 1979 (A Recorder s Log Book or label list of British Butterflies and Moths. Harley Books) and then a privately published Indexed list in 1986 which was rather spoilt by many errors in the process of publication. Subsequent checklists in 1998 and 2000 have proved very useful and his numbers introduced with the Log Book have proved invaluable in an increasingly computerised world. On his desk was a list entitled 2004 , even though he was admitted to hospital for the last time on 2 January; he died two days later on 4 January 2004. For amateur microlepidopterists John was a fountain of knowledge, with resources of the BM(NH) at his disposal. He took trouble to keep us informed of changes in the nomenclature and was always ready to help - even if he appeared a little shy at first. In addition he was often keen to get involved with fieldwork, joining expeditions to the Burren with Robin Mere and Teddy Pelham-Clinton; as if to reinforce this a picture of the Burren Green Calamia tridens occidentalis Cockayne was painted over his garage at Osterley! A survey of Buckingham Palace gardens began in 1960 and he identified the microlepidoptera trapped there until the time when he left London after his retirement from the Museum in about 1980. As a full time employee at the Natural History Museum he was not permitted to keep a personal collection, but within the Museum he built up a collection of micros from Buckingham Palace, as well as from the Burren. He also developed a collection of microlepidoptera of economic importance. After he left London and settled in Somerset he became involved with the Somerset Moth Group and made his experience and expertise available to them, although poor health prevented him from getting out into the field in recent years. As a scientist in the BM(NH) John had dealings with entomologists all over the world. He appears in the Acknowledgements section of almost every work on microlepidoptera in recent decades and was warmly regarded by many colleagues; his friend Prof Dalibor Povolny in the Czech Republic enabled his studies to be submitted to the Charles University. Prague where he was awarded a Ph.D. degree. As well as being a knowledgeable entomologist John was a very likeable person with a dry sense of humour. He will be missed by many as a friend as well as a colleague. Our sympathy is extended to his family: Jane, Michael and David.
David Agassiz

Entry in The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals By Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson The John Hopkins University Press Baltimore 2009 ISBN-13 978-0-8018-9304-9 P109

Diana Long-eared Sheath-tailed Bat Emballonura dianae Hill 1956
Mrs. Diana Mary Bradley (b. 1932) was the collector of the holotype of the bat. She worked for a short time for the bird-banding committee of the British Trust for Ornithology at the Natural History Museum in London. She was Treasurer of the British Ornathorlogits' Union from 1978 to 1990. In 1953 she, with her husband Dr. J. D. Bradley of the Entomological Department of the Natural History Museum, visited Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands. In 1956 she co-authored, with Thorben Wolff, the birds section of Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands. The bat was first found on Rennell Island and was later found on other islands in the Solomons amnd in Papua New Guinea.

Entry in The Times Diana Mary Bradley Obituary (Archived) Published in The Times on Aug. 21, 2010 First 25 of 50 words: "Diana Mary (n e Syms) peacefully on 11th August 2010 after a long illness, aged 78. Cremation at Salisbury on Thursday 2nd September at 12.45pm. Family..." and the following comment "I wonder if this was Diana Bradley, widow of John who was a director of Shell Mex and Chairman of Governors at Queen's College Taunton. If so my sympathies to the family, Robert Lintott"

He was a joint author of Microlepidoptera from the New Hebrides. Records and descriptions of microlepidoptera collected on the island of Aneityum by Miss Evelyn Cheesman by John David Bradley; Evelyn Cheesman, 1962, and of British Tortricoid Moths 2 Volumes 1973 by Bradley, J.D.; Tremewan, W.G.; Smith, A and of British Tortricoid Moths: Tortricidae - Olethreutinae v. 21 Dec 1979 by John David Bradley and W. G. Tremewan.

His name is commemorated in the dragonfly Teinobasis bradleyi Kimmins 1957 Solomon Islands 1953.

Obituary and photogragh

Relationship

John David Bradley was the husband of Diana Mary Syms, my half fourth cousin.

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