John Bradbury obituary
My former husband John Bradbury, known as Brad, who has died aged 75, was a talented sculptor and artist. He specialised in stone carving and architectural ornament and worked from 1978 to 1980 on Westminster Abbey, including sculpting a lifesized figure of William Caxton in stone.
He also produced distinctive work in pastels, acrylic and watercolours, and in later life developed a new and contemporary style of sculpture.
John Bradbury working on a statue of James I for Trinity College, Cambridge, 1983
Continuing his career as a stone carver after leaving the Abbey, Brad worked at Rattee and Kett, a building contractor in Cambridge. In 1985 he won the RIBA craftsmanship award for his restoration work on the Great Gate, Trinity College, Cambridge, featuring a statue of James I.
A personal highlight of his working life was being featured in Vogue magazine with a carved piglet as part of a feature on the Chelsea flower show. In 1991 he won another RIBA craftsmanship award for his stonework restoration of the West Door, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.
Born and raised in Derby by John Bradbury, a police constable, and Noreen (nee Justice), Brad was educated at the Joseph Wright School of Art, where we met. We married in 1968 in Nottingham and had two children.
In 1978 Brad completed a diploma in restoration at the City and Guilds of London Art School. His love of working in stone had started in 1964 when he trained as a letter cutter with a monumental masonry company in Derby, but he put that passion aside for seven years and became a farm worker to support his young family. However, he continued to paint and produced cards to sell.
We divorced in 1986 (we remained friends), and five years later Brad moved with his partner, Dee Price, to north Norfolk. There he continued with trade carving and commissioned work from his rural studio. He also taught ornamental design, modelling and stone carving at the City and Guilds of London Art School, and collaborated with the goldsmith Jocelyn Burton, modelling pieces in wax and plaster that were subsequently cast in gold and silver.
Brad moved to Norwich in 2014 following Dee’s death in 2012, and continued to produce small sculptures, pastel and watercolour paintings and experimental textile collages. He became ill in July and moved to live with our daughter, Thea, and her family in Cambridge.
He is survived by his children, Thea and Josh, his grandchildren, Sam, Jack, Cameron and Saskia, and a sister, Josephine, and brother, Robert.