BRADNEY, John
| Service Number: | 2376 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 56th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gundaroo, New South Wales, Australia, 1874 |
| Home Town: | Wagga Wagga, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Private tuition |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Bullecourt, France, 2 April 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Coolamon St. Andrew's Anglican Church Honour Roll, Coolamon War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Wagga Wagga Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga Victory Memorial Arch |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2376, 56th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 2376, 56th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 2376, 56th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
John Bradney was born at Gundaroo NSW and was privately tutored at home. According to his sister, Emily, "he understood all kinds of machinery and farming".
His parents were John and Catherine Bradney of Coolamon, New South Wales. His mother had passed away during 1908 and his father died just prior to John’s enlistment in March 1916.
He went to the Boer War as a Riverina Scout Recruit with the Hon. Rupert Carington’s Force shortly before the end of that conflict. In 1907 he received a Soldier Settlement Grant, ‘Gobbagombalin’, Farm No. 150 in the Parish of Cottee near Wagga Wagga.
He subsequently enlisted for WW1, at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales during March 1916 and arrived in England some seven months later. Taken on strength of the 56th Battalion during February 1917 he was killed in France near the town of Louverval, two months later. The 56th Battalion made an advance to push the German troops back to the Hindenburg Line on 2 April 1917. He was reported to have been hit by a shell and his remains could not be found after the fight.
John's brother 1620 Pte. Wentworth Edward Bradney 54th Battalion AIF was killed in action in Belgium on 24 September 1917, aged 34. Another brother Donald Bradney was severely wounded in 1918. His nephew, for whom he was guardian, Reginald Raymond Bradney/Wildman was also killed in France, at Fromelles, with the 54th Battalion on 20th July, 1916 and was identified and re-interred in the new Fromelles Cemetery in 2010.
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