Ernle Dusgate Selby Bradford | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 11 January 1922 Cole Green, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 8 May 1986 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Uppingham School |
| Known for | Author, historian and sailor |
Ernle Dusgate Selby Bradford (11 January 1922 – 8 May 1986) was a noted 20th-century British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and naval topics.[1][2][3][4] He was also an authority on antique jewellery and was the founder editor of the Antique Dealers and Collector's Guide.[1][5][6]
Bradford was the son of Jocelyn Ernle Sydney Patton Bradford MBE MC,[7][8] and his wife, Ada Louise Dusgate.[9] He was born in Cole Green, Norfolk and educated in England at Uppingham School.[1][10] He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, initially as an Ordinary Seaman but rising to the rank of first lieutenant of a Hunt Class Destroyer.[11]
A keen yachtsman himself, Bradford spent almost 30 years sailing the Mediterranean, and many of his books are set there.[12][13][14] His book, The Journeying Moon describes some of these voyages.[15] It ends with the sale of his Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter, Mischief, to HW Bill Tilman, who made a number of significant voyages in it to high latitudes.[16]
A sometime BBC broadcaster and magazine editor, Bradford was also a prolific author and popular historian, many of his books remaining in print to this day.[9] He regularly wrote letters to the British press, in particular The Times and Country Life, on matters of history and sailing.[17][18]
Bradford lived in Kalkara, on Malta for a number of years, this also being where he died, and where a commemorative marble plaque exists to his memory and a street next to his old home is named after him.[9]
