Background
He was born in Barton Blount, South Derbyshire, England, the son of a clergyman.
He was born in Barton Blount, South Derbyshire, England, the son of a clergyman.
He was a gold prospector and miner in Australia before becoming a bank assayer. In Otago he was also an assayer, before becoming the editor of the Lake Wakatip Mail newspaper in 1863. During his political career he worked for reform of the laws relating to gold mining and for labour law reform and small landholders.
He played cricket for Otago and competed in the 1864 game against the English team led by George Parr touring in New Zealand in 1863/64.
He first stood for the Otago Provincial Council in 1864, but was unsuccessful. He was elected to the provincial government in the Mount Benger electorate on 23 March 1871 and served until the dissolution of the Council"s sixth session on 22 May 1873.
He represented the Gold Field Towns electorate from 1866 to 1870. Then from 1871 the Waikaia electorate, until he retired in 1875.
He then represented the Dunedin Central electorate from 1884 until he died in 1886.
Bradshaw died of a stroke in Dunedin on 1 September 1886.
He was a member of the Otago Executive Council from 2 June 1871 to 19 November 1872.
