Bradley was born in Sharptown, Maryland, on May 5, 1852, the oldest child of Thomas Dryden Badley and Margaret Matilda Morris.
In 1873 he joined the American Dredging Company of Philadelphia as a patternmaker, and rose through the ranks to become Chief Engineer and later General Superintendent of the Camden yards.
[2] In 1911, Bradley diverged from his Republican colleagues, supporting a number of legislative reforms favored by Governor Woodrow Wilson.
[2] His widow received the following condolences from President Wilson: "My dear Mrs Bradley, It is with genuine grief that I have heard of the death of your husband.
I learned in my association with him at Trenton to respect his character and judgment very deeply, and I feel that in him we have lost a man of high principle and great public usefulness.