Skip to main content

Ben Bradley papers

  • Home
  • Collections
  • Indian Communists and Trade Unionists on Trial: The Meerut Conspiracy, 1929–1933

Ben Bradley papers

Collection: Indian Communists and Trade Unionists on Trial: The Meerut Conspiracy, 1929–1933    Volumes    Ben Bradley papers
Benjamin Francis Bradley (1898-1957) was a communist metalworker, born in Walthamstow, who was sent to India to promote militant trade unionism in 1927 and sentenced in the Meerut Conspiracy Trial five years later. Bradley's papers are an indispensable source for the episode and include extensive prison correspondence, documents from the Meerut trial and records of the international campaigns of solidarity with the defendants. They also contain his notes for a projected autobiography and materials relating to his later political activities. For several years Bradley continued to be involved in anti-colonial activities and between 1934 and 1940 served as secretary of the League Against Imperialism and its successor, the CPGB's Colonial Information Bureau. He also spent periods as the Daily worker's circulation manager and, briefly before his death, as national organiser of the Britain-China Friendship Association. His papers bear witness to the genuine internationalism that was one of the outstanding qualities of many communist activists.
View Volume Metdata

Filter Documents

Showing 18 of 48

Filter results
View document: Autobiographical note and possibly biographical statement.

Autobiographical note and possibly biographical statement

CP/IND/BRAD/01/01. This document contains a manuscript autobiographical note c.1943 describing Ben Bradley's working and political life up to 1942; alongside a transcript biographical (?) statement. circa 1929. These items provide...

Date:1929-1943
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-01
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/01
View document: Pocket diary with notes of engagements.

Pocket diary with notes of engagements

CP/IND/BRAD/01/02. This pocket diary with notes of engagements, mainly with Trades Unions and his Communist Party branch, covers the period from Sunday 8th January 1956 to Sunday 6th January 1957.

Date:1956-1956
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-02
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/02
View document: Letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len.

Letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len

CP/IND/BRAD/01/03. Letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len Bradley, with correspondence of Len Bradley's regarding Ben Bradley's case. Issues covered include legal representation issues, President Elect...

Date:1929-1931
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-03
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/03
View document: Further letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len.

Further letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len

CP/IND/BRAD/01/04. Letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his brother Len Bradley, with letter to C.W. Bowerman MP, draft 'Appeal to the International Working Class for the Defence of...

Date:1929-1933
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-04
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/04
View document: Letters from Ben Bradley in India—Mainly to his Parents and Brother.

Letters from Ben Bradley in India—Mainly to his Parents and Brother

CP/IND/BRAD/01/05. Letters from Ben Bradley in India mainly to his parents and brother Len Bradley; also Reginald Bridgeman and the National Meerut Prisoners Defence Committee. These letters focus on issues...

Date:1929-1931
Contributor:
Identifier:72696b-05
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/05
View document: Letters to Ben Bradley.

Letters to Ben Bradley

CP/IND/BRAD/01/06. Correspondents include Percy Glading (several letters); Ellen Fairbrother; Muzaffar; Nancy Price, Catholic Crusade, Stoke-on-Trent; Alex Gossip, NAFTA; William Rust; Mary Knight, Manchester; B.S. Horniman, Herald; Jack Tanner; A.A. Purcell,...

Date:1929-1932
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-06
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/06
View document: Summing up of cases for prosecution in conspiracy case.

Summing up of cases for prosecution in conspiracy case

CP/IND/BRAD/01/07. Transcripts of summing-up of cases for prosecution in the conspiracy case, with manuscript notes of depositions in Bradley case. These items include detailed plans of specific events arranged to...

Date:1929-1929
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-07
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/01/07
View document: Applications, orders, etc. during Meerut conspiracy case.

Applications, orders, etc. during Meerut conspiracy case

CP/IND/BRAD/02/01. Includes petitions and enquiries of the accused to the Governor General and sessions judges, orders of the additional sessions judge and related papers; evidence given by H.N. Brailsford Nov....

Date:1930-1930
Contributor:Labour History Archive & Study Centre
Identifier:72696b-08
Archive Reference(s):CP/IND/BRAD/02/01
Back to Top