Brackenbury, Robert Carr, an English gen- tleman of wealth and family, one of the earliest Wes- levan Methodist ministers, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1752. After studying at St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge, with the intention of entering the Established Church, he was converted, and joined the Methodist Society. He frequently itinerated in com- pany with Mr. Wesley, who esteemed him highly, and in 1782 was sent as preacher to the Channel Islands. In 17x9 he returned to England, and continued his em- inently useful ministry in different parts of the coun- try until his death in 1818. See Raithby Hall, or Me- morial Sketches of Robert Carr Brackenbury, Esq. (Lond. 1859).
Bradburn, Samuel, a distinguished Wesleyan minister, was born at Gibraltar, where his father's reg- iment was stationed, October 5, 1751, and settled at Chester, England. He became a local preacher in 1773, and an itinerant in 1784. He soon became re- markably popular, and was considered one of the first preachers of the land. Adam Clarke says of him, " I have never heard his equal ; I can furnish you with no adequate ideas of his powers as an orator; we have not a man among us that will support any thing like a comparison with him." After a long and pre-emi- nently popular career, he died on the 24th of July, 1816.— Wesleyan Mag. 181(3 ; Wakeley, Heroes of Mi th- odism, p. 209 ; Life if Sam. Bradburn, by his daugh- ter (Lond. 1816, 12mo).
Bradbury, Thomas, an English Dissenting min- ister, born at Wakefield in 1G77, was educated at Leeds, and became pastor in Fetter Lane in 1709. In 1727 he succeeded Daniel Burgess in Care}' Street Chapel, and was said to be an imitator of that eminent preacher's style of pulpit eloquence. He died 1759. lie wrote The Mystery of Godliness, 61 Sermons on 1 Tim. iii, 16 (Edinb. 1795, 2 vols. Svo) : — Justification Explained ( Lond. 1710, 12mo): — Duty and Doctrine of Baptism (Lond. 1749, 8vo) : — Sermons (10 vols. 8vo, n. v.).
Bradford, John, an English divine and martyr, was born at Manchester soon after the accession of Henry VIII. He received a good education, and about 1547 began to study in the Temple, intending to pursue the law as a profession, but in 1548 he changed his plan, proceeded to Cambridge, and entered at Catharine Hall. In 1552 he received the appointment of chap- lain to Edward VI. He held this post only a short time, the king's death following soon after. Upon Mary's accession, he. together with all those who es- poused tie- cause of the Reformation, fell into disgrace, and, upon a trumped-up charge of raising a tumult at
Paul's Cross, he was committed to the Tower. Here ho remained, but not in strict confinement, until 1554, when he was removed to Southwark, and examined before Gardiner, Bonner, and some others. Condemn- ed to death, his life was for some time spared, under the hope that he might be won over to the Roman doc- trines. This, however, he steadily refused to listen to, preferring death to a dishonest profession. He was cruelly burned at Smithfield, July 1, 1555, as a here- tic, together with John Lyefe. His writings, edited by Townsend, have been republished by the "Parker Society" (Camb. 1848, 8vo). See also Stevens, Me- moirs of the Life and Martyrdom, of Bradford (Lond. 1832, 8vo); Burnet, Hist, of Reformation, ii, 379, 488.
Bradford, John M., D.D., was born in Danbury, Conn., May 15, 1781, graduated at Brown University, and studied theology with Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green of Philadelphia. He was pastor of the North Ref. Dutch church at Albany from 1805 to 1820. Dr. Bradford was one of the most eloquent and distinguished pulpit orators of his day. Two sermons are all of his produc- tions now in print, one entitled The Word of Life, and the other The School of the Prophets. They are master- pieces of pulpit eloquence. He died in 1827 at the age of forty-six years.
Bradford, Joseph, the travelling companion of John Wesley, was for 38 years an itinerant Methodist minister, dying at Hull in 1808. He was a man of in- tegrity and perseverance, and a very successful preach- er. He was honored in 1803 by being chosen presi- dent of the British Conference. — Wakeley, Heroes of Methodism, p. 211.
Bradford, Samuel, a divine of the Church of England, was born in 1652, became bishop of Carlisle in 1718, was translated to Rochester iii 1723, and died in 1731. He published a work on The Credibility of the Christian Religion — one of the Boyle Lectures (Lond. 1699, 4to; 1739, fol.) — and a number of sermons, and also assisted in the publication of the works of Arch- bishop Tillotson (q. v.).
Bradford, William H., a Presbyterian minister, was born at Cooperstown, N. Y., August, 1814. He was educated for the law, but was led to change his purpose ; and, having studied divinity at the Theolog- ical Seminary, Auburn, he was licensed by the Cay- uga Presbytery. His only charge was the church at Berkshire,, N. Y., where he remained two years. In 1840 he became connected with the New York Evan- gelist as assistant, and at times sole editor. This po- sition he held for seventeen years, proving himself an accomplished scholar, an able writer, and a courteous gentleman. He died April 1st, 1861, of heart disease. — Wilson, Presbyterian Almanac, 1862.