Bradley, Francis Herbert (1846–1924)

1. Life and works

Bradley was born in Clapham, England, on 30 January 1846. The literary critic A.C. Bradley was a younger brother. Educated at fee-paying schools and University College, Oxford (where he studied classical languages and literature, and ancient history and philosophy), he began the study of German, and is recorded to have read some at least of Kant’s Critique, while still at school. In 1870 he was elected to a fellowship requiring no teaching and terminable only on marriage, at Merton College, Oxford. Six months later he suffered a severe inflammation of the kidneys: he had little public life thereafter, for cold, fatigue or stress was apt to make him ill. He occupied his fellowship until his death from blood poisoning on 18 September 1924. His major works are Ethical Studies (1876), The Principles of Logic (1883), Appearance and Reality (1893), Essays on Truth and Reality (1914) and the posthumously published Collected Essays (1935). He was awarded honours both foreign and domestic, including the Order of Merit. Though a freethinker, he was said to be politically conservative. His writings reveal a character far from narrowly intellectual.