Author: Bradberry, David
Biography:
BRADBERRY, David (1735-1803: ODNB)
He was born at Reeth, North Riding, Yorkshire, on 12 Nov. 1735, but his parents are not known. He underwent a conversion experience listening to George Whitfield preach and in 1759 began training for the independent ministry at Mile End Academy, London. He left the course in February 1762 to take up a post as assistant to Rev. John Sayers at Alnwick, Northumberland, where he remained until 1764. He was minister at Cheese Lane Independent Chapel, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (1764-7), but left to become a regular preacher at the Ebenezer Chapel Ramsgate from 10 Oct. 1767. He was finally ordained on 24 Oct. 1770 and remained as minister in Ramsgate until 1785 when he moved to Cannon Street Chapel, Manchester. He came into conflict with Scottish presbyterians when he objected to and tried to remove “ruling elders”—actions which led to secessions and the establishment of Mosley Street Chapel. He probably resigned around 1795 but had gone down to London earlier where he became minister at Glovers’ Hall, Beech Lane, City of London from 1793 and at St. James’s Congregational Chapel, Kennington, Surrey (now south London), from 1797 until his death. He died at Walworth, south London, on 13 Jan. 1803 and was buried at Bunhill Fields. Tetelestai(1794) describes The Last Judgment and calls God “Governor-general of the world, Chief Shepherd or Archbishop of Souls, Chief Justice of Final Appeals . . . Finisher of Fates, Father of Mercies and Friend of Man.” He also contributed 11 of the 42 original hymns in A Supplement to the Version of the Psalms and Hymns of Dr. Watts (Manchester 1787). He married Dorothy Curling Tomson (1754-1834), on 2 Sept. 1771 at St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, London. They went on to have at least ten children, with several infant deaths. (ODNB 31 May 2023; DNB; ancestry.co.uk 31 May 2023; Josiah Miller, Singers and Songs of the Church [1869], 263; Julian, 168; Dissenting Academies Online, qmul.ac.uk; Surman Index, DWL; GM Jan. 1803) AA