Bradney, John Snr
DESCRIPTION
NameBradney, John SnrOccupationFarmer.Place of ResidenceJamberoo.BiographyIn 1817 John Bradney was charged at Warwick Summer Assizes for forgery and uttering pound bank notes. Described by the Judge Mr Baron Garrow as 'the crime of such a nature as to place beyond the reach of Mercy on this side of the grave'…'the offence of forgery, particularly as regard to the Bank of England notes had increased to a most alarming degree in this part of the country and carried on far too long, interrupting trade and commerce of the country'.
John was given the sentence of death was reprieved and transported aboard the Neptune in 1817, arriving 5 May 1818. He worked as a tinman and brazier, and supplied tin plates and cans for supply to the general hospital.
Mary Ann Bradney (nee Hill) was also convicted at Warwick Assizes for uttering forged Bank of England notes in 1819; perhaps as an attempt to follow her husband to Australia. She was transported on the Lord Wellington from England April 1819; a nine month voyage arriving Sydney 1820. Mary Ann’s indent said servant girl aged 21 years.
John and Mary Ann were both assigned to a Mrs. Hazard . Mary Ann also spent some time at the Parramatta Female Factory. On 7 July 1821 a daughter Eliza Jane was born. Mary Ann was at the female factory when their son John was born 7 July 1822.
In October of that year John Snr was convicted to serve the remainder of his life sentence at the newly established settlement at Port Macquarie. Mary and their children Eliza and John were permitted to join him.
John Snr was given a job as a warder at Port Macquarie Jail and making tin plates and other utensils. Two years later Mary Ann was charged with poisoning her husband John Bradney and stood trial at the Supreme Court Sydney.
The Sydney gazette reported on 12 August 1824 that ‘Mary Ann Bradney was indicted for feloniously maliciously and traitorously poisoning her husband at the settlement of Port Macquarie. The deceased was well known in the town of Sydney about two years since as a brazier and tinman’ . Dr Moran testified ‘there was not a more healthy and ruddy faced man on the settlement up to March last.'
On falling ill John was attended by the doctor who observed him writhing in pain bent double and delirious and expressed his apprehension to Mary Ann that something improper must have taken place and directed John to be removed to hospital. The doctor had reason to believe John’s death was caused by Mary Ann impregnating chicken soup with poison. She was committed for trial.
In evidence one witness stated Mrs Bradney never so much as tasted it and another witness declared he assisted her to make the soup and that the residue was eaten that night by her and the children as well as the two men for breakfast the next day.
John had used a good deal of arsenic in his trade as tinsmith, a dangerous ingredient. The Chief Justice observed that in order to find the prisoner guilty of the offence charged it would be essential for the ends of justice in the first place to ascertain that the deceased came by his death by poison, and in the second instance it must be proved that the poison was administered by the prisoner. The jury returned a verdict of 'not guilty’.
Mary Ann and John Bradney’s son John married Ademia Henry and settled at Jamberoo on the property known as 'Ploughweary'.
John worked as a ploughman for Doctor Menzie’s of Minnamurra House. John and wife Ademia had ten children. John had a second family with Ann Pugh Nichols, who lived on a neighbouring farm.
External LinkResult of Sale 1856Dairy Cattle, Bullocks & c 1858A Team of Bullocks and Dray 1859Central Criminal Court 1860Ademia Bradney Not Guilty 1860Inquest - Anne Bradney Death 1863Infanticide 1860Inquest 1860Theft Mrs Bradney's Farm 1862Kiama Police Court 1862Death John Bradney Jnr 1916
John was given the sentence of death was reprieved and transported aboard the Neptune in 1817, arriving 5 May 1818. He worked as a tinman and brazier, and supplied tin plates and cans for supply to the general hospital.
Mary Ann Bradney (nee Hill) was also convicted at Warwick Assizes for uttering forged Bank of England notes in 1819; perhaps as an attempt to follow her husband to Australia. She was transported on the Lord Wellington from England April 1819; a nine month voyage arriving Sydney 1820. Mary Ann’s indent said servant girl aged 21 years.
John and Mary Ann were both assigned to a Mrs. Hazard . Mary Ann also spent some time at the Parramatta Female Factory. On 7 July 1821 a daughter Eliza Jane was born. Mary Ann was at the female factory when their son John was born 7 July 1822.
In October of that year John Snr was convicted to serve the remainder of his life sentence at the newly established settlement at Port Macquarie. Mary and their children Eliza and John were permitted to join him.
John Snr was given a job as a warder at Port Macquarie Jail and making tin plates and other utensils. Two years later Mary Ann was charged with poisoning her husband John Bradney and stood trial at the Supreme Court Sydney.
The Sydney gazette reported on 12 August 1824 that ‘Mary Ann Bradney was indicted for feloniously maliciously and traitorously poisoning her husband at the settlement of Port Macquarie. The deceased was well known in the town of Sydney about two years since as a brazier and tinman’ . Dr Moran testified ‘there was not a more healthy and ruddy faced man on the settlement up to March last.'
On falling ill John was attended by the doctor who observed him writhing in pain bent double and delirious and expressed his apprehension to Mary Ann that something improper must have taken place and directed John to be removed to hospital. The doctor had reason to believe John’s death was caused by Mary Ann impregnating chicken soup with poison. She was committed for trial.
In evidence one witness stated Mrs Bradney never so much as tasted it and another witness declared he assisted her to make the soup and that the residue was eaten that night by her and the children as well as the two men for breakfast the next day.
John had used a good deal of arsenic in his trade as tinsmith, a dangerous ingredient. The Chief Justice observed that in order to find the prisoner guilty of the offence charged it would be essential for the ends of justice in the first place to ascertain that the deceased came by his death by poison, and in the second instance it must be proved that the poison was administered by the prisoner. The jury returned a verdict of 'not guilty’.
Mary Ann and John Bradney’s son John married Ademia Henry and settled at Jamberoo on the property known as 'Ploughweary'.
John worked as a ploughman for Doctor Menzie’s of Minnamurra House. John and wife Ademia had ten children. John had a second family with Ann Pugh Nichols, who lived on a neighbouring farm.
External LinkResult of Sale 1856Dairy Cattle, Bullocks & c 1858A Team of Bullocks and Dray 1859Central Criminal Court 1860Ademia Bradney Not Guilty 1860Inquest - Anne Bradney Death 1863Infanticide 1860Inquest 1860Theft Mrs Bradney's Farm 1862Kiama Police Court 1862Death John Bradney Jnr 1916
Bradney, John Snr. Shellharbour City Council, accessed 20/01/2026, https://discover.shellharbour.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1641