Private Richard Bradburn, 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was killed in action on 15th April 1918. He was the first of two brothers to be killed, as his younger brother, Harry Matthew Bradburn, died on 23rd October 1918.
Richard Bradburn was born in Whitbourne, Herefordshire in 1881. He was the second of the six children (four sons, two daughters) born to parents Richard (a labourer) and Amy (née Roberts) who had married in 1876.
By 1883, the family had moved to Amy’s home town of Clifton-on-Teme, Worcestershire, moving to Wootton Wawen by 1887 and then to Tanworth-in-Arden by 1901, where they remained. In 1905, Richard (junior) married Hilda Gertrude Lee, at which time he was working as a carpenter and living in the hamlet of Aspley, in the parish of Wootton Wawen.
The newlyweds set up home in Earlswood and, in 1911, were living in Crabtree Cottage with their two-year-old son, Selwyn Ernest, who was born on 15th March 1909 and baptised at Tanworth on 25th April 1909. Selwyn’s son, born in 1941, was named Richard, presumably in memory of his grandfather.
Private Richard Bradburn has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial. His name is also included on the Tanworth-in-Arden war memorial.
If you have any further information, please let us know.
Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian
tel.: 0121 704 6977
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk
Solihull Life 
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