William Bradbury

William Bradbury (13 April 1799 – 11 April 1869) was an English printer and publisher. He is known for his work as a partner from 1830 in Bradbury and Evans, who printed the works of a number of major novelists such as Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, as well as leading periodicals such as Punch, which they also owned. Early life Bradbury was born in Bakewell in Derbyshire, where he was baptized on 14 April 1799. He was the son of John Bradbury (1776–1834), a shoemaker, and his wife, Elizabeth née Hardwick (1775-1820). By 1811 the family had moved to Lincoln where Bradbury was expected to follow his father into shoemaking. Instead, in 1813 he entered into a seven-year apprenticeship as a compositor under John Drury (1757-1815) and after his death his son John Wold Drury (1789-1850). By 1821 Bradbury had set up his own printing firm on Castle Hill in Lincoln. From 1822 to 1830 he went into business with his soon-to-be brother-in-law William Dent (1792-1858), who married Bradbury's sister Mary in June 1825. On 6 July 1826 Bradbury married Sarah Price (c1803-1896) in his native Bakewell. The couple had five children: Letitia Jane Bradbury (1827-1839); the writer Henry Riley Bradbury (1831-1860), who killed himself by drinking acid, possibly on being refused in marriage by a daughter of Frederick Mullett Evans, his father's partner, or perhaps as a result of being accused of plagiarism by Alois Auer; William Hardwick Bradbury (1832-1892), who in 1865 was to take over the business on his father's retirement; Walter Bradbury (1840-1891); and Edith Bradbury (1842-1910). Move to London