Frank Meeten BRADSHAW

BRADSHAW, Frank Meeten

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 20 August 1915, Melbourne, Victoria
Last Rank: Captain
Last Unit: Dental Details: AIF
Born: Hawthorn, Victoria, 29 September 1887
Home Town: Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: University of Melbourne (BDS)
Occupation: Dentist
Died: Suicide (drowned), Yarra River, Victoria, 15 March 1920, aged 32 years
Cemetery: St Kilda Cemetery, Victoria
Memorials: Adelaide Rowing Club WW1 Pictorial Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

20 Aug 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, Officer, Dental Details: AIF, Melbourne, Victoria
26 Aug 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, Dental Details: AIF, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1,

--- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '24' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: RMS Morea embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''

26 Aug 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, Dental Details: AIF, RMS Morea, Adelaide
1 Nov 1916: Promoted AIF WW1, Captain
22 May 1917: Discharged AIF WW1, Captain, Dental Details: AIF

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Biography

Born on 29 September 1887 to Alex Edward Bradshaw and Ellen Lloyd Bradshaw (nee...) 

He married Marjorie Gladys Bradshaw (nee Bayer) on 3 June 1913 at St Peters Church (officially listed as Cathedral), Glenelg.  

Honorary Lieutenant Frank Meeten Bradshaw, was a 27 year old dentist from Adelaide, South Australia when he was appointed to the AIF on 20 August 1915 with the rank of Honorary Lieutenant. He had applied for a commission on the 12 August 1915 and it was granted to him on 19 August. At the time he was currently a reservist attached to the Australian Army Medical Corps Reserve serving as a dentist.  

He embarked for overseas service with the Dental Details from Outer Harbour on 26 August 1915 aboard RMS Morea. He was promoted to the rank of Honorary Captain on 1 November 1916 and a while later on 22 November 1915 he was attached to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital (possibly with the 40th Dental Unit) from the 39th Dental Unit. While overseas as an Honorary Captain he was taken ill and faced extensive treatment for his recurring illness. After getting over the worst of the illness he was forced to return to Australia on 12 April 1917. He was officially discharged, medically unfit, on 22 May 1917.

Captain Bradshaw disappeared from his parents’ house in Melbourne on 10 March 1920. His body was found 5 days later by Hawthorn Police in the Yarra River where he had drowned. When he was pulled out of the water it was found his hands had been bound by rope and the rope was attached to a lead pipe that acted as a weight. The investigating coroner found that Captain Frank Meeten Bradshaw had committed suicide as he had been in a state of mental depression that may have been attributed to his war service. 

For his service during World War One he was awarded the British War Medal (20903.) 

Nine years later on 30 April 1929 his widowed wife, Marjorie Gladys Bradshaw (nee Bayer), would marry Repurt Leslie Bradshaw in Melbourne. She died in 1948 aged 59 years old. 

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