Killed on railway at Castle Bromwich whilst on leave
When researching our stories we usually start with a name on a headstone and look to discover more about the person named. David’s story was different, we came across a newspaper report about a sailor who was killed at Castle Bromwich railway station. We had our story, we had to work to identify the person and family it belonged to.
The newspaper article reported on a sailor who whilst returning from leave to his ship at Chatham jumped out through a window of a train at Castle Bromwich and was killed. The tragedy of the story being that the death was avoidable, the sailor having been invited by a group of soldiers to join them in drinking a bottle of whiskey. One soldier drunk so much that he became “insensible” and the sailor fell from the train and was killed.
At first the identity of the sailor was a mystery. He was covered in tattoos including a wreath of flowers around his neck, a man with a Lion’s jaw on his chest, and a tombstone with a sailor standing by, and a scroll “In memory of my brother” on his forearms. A ticket in the name of Bradbury, first-class stoker was later found on the line.
Sailing cultures tend to be rich in traditions. Over time, tattoos became one of the more popular traditions among mariners. It is believed that tattooing on European sailors originated with Captain Cook’s crew after he arrived in the Pacific. Sailor tattoos eventually became one of the attributes that identified them as a sailor; their purpose being to record important events or experiences such travels, achievements, naval hierarchy, rank, status, membership, and any other significant event in life.
So who was the mystery sailor, Bradbury? Our research discovered that he was David Bradbury from Walsall. Born on 20th May 1891, David was the son of David Bradbury and Hannah Bloomer. He’d joined the navy in 1910 with his first date of service being on 15th January onboard HMS VividII. Over the years he also served on board HMS Defence and HMS Skirmish.
David Bradbury is buried in Ryecroft Cemetery Walsall. His navy service records read:
[custom-related-posts title=”Related Posts” none_text=”None found” order_by=”title” order=”ASC”]Killed or died by means other than disease, accident or enemy action.
