Educated at Manchester and the Manchester Infirmary; soon after he was qualified he served as Resident House Physician. He then had a varied experience as locum tenens for six months of a general practice in Bowness, Windermere, and next for twelve months he made several voyages between Liverpool and New York in the Cunard Company’s service. He began general practice at Longsight, which involved him in a warm controversy with the Manchester Board of Guardians over the treatment of the sick. At an inquiry by the Poor Law Board he produced such strong evidence as to justify his statements, and his legal expenses were paid by a public subscription. For a time he acted as Surgeon to the Ancoats and Ardwick Dispensary and lectured on physiology at Stonyhurst College, for he was a successful and popular lecturer on natural history subjects, and a brilliant conversationalist. He published the first of numerous books, a *Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology*, in 1869, of which a third edition appeared in 1875. Having qualified as FRCS in 1869, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Manchester Infirmary and Lecturer on Anatomy at Owens College; later he lectured on practical surgery, and in 1879 became Surgeon to the infirmary. In 1870 he joined Walter Whitehead and edited the *Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports*, later amalgamated with the *Liverpool Reports*. He wrote much in a popular style on the “Shape of English Skulls”, “On Controversial Aspects of Syphilis”, “On the Relationship of Anatomy to the Fine Arts”. Besides he was so skilful a painter as to be elected an honorary member of the Manchester Limners’ Club and exhibited pictures. He was also a member of the Literary Club and a composer of casual verses. He had striking clear-cut features, a slightly aquiline nose, high forehead, and massive jaw; he was a good linguist and possessed of musical talents. His contributions to surgery appear to have been limited to the “Treatment of Hydrocele” (*Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1872), and *Injuries and Diseases of the Lymphatic System*, 1879. His health not being good he went to Ramsgate for rest, where after getting wet he was seized with acute pleurisy and pericarditis, from which he died on May 27th, 1880, and was buried at Ramsgate. Publications: *Retrospect of Advance of Modern Medicine: an Introductory Address, Manchester Royal School of Medicine*, 8vo, Manchester, 1869. “The Unity of the Syphilitic Virus.” – *Med. Press and Circ.*, 1871, ii, 269. *Notes on Syphilis, with an Appendix on the Unity of the Syphilitic Poison*, 8vo, London, 1872. “A New Method of Treating Hydrocele.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1872, i, 508. *Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology*, 8vo, 1st ed., 1869; 3rd. ed., 1875. “Moral Responsibility,” 8vo, Lewes, n.d.; reprinted from *Jour. Ment. Sci.*, 1875-6, xxi, 251. *A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Art of Surgery: a Lecture*, 8vo, Manchester, 1876. *Injuries and Diseases of the Lymphatic System*, 8vo, London, 1879. “The Evolution of Disease.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1871 ii, 19. *The Collateral Statistics of English Surgery in Public Medical Charities for* 1870 (with Walter Whitehead), 8vo, 1871. “Description of the Brain of an Idiot.” – *Jour. Anal. and Physiol.*, 1872, vi, 65. *The Relationship of Anatomy to the Fine Arts*. A Lecture delivered in the Royal Institution, Manchester, 8vo, Manchester and London, 1880, etc. *A List of S. M. Bradley’s Published Writings* (1863-1876), was issued from the press without date. Bradley was Editor, in conjunction with Walter Whitehead, of the *Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports* in 1870-1871, and remained as an Editor for some time after the amalgamation of the publication with a similar one at Liverpool, when it became the *Liverpool and Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports*. He contributed several papers to these *Reports*, including one on the “Shape of English Skulls”, his object being to show that the existing classification of crania was no longer accurate. With the same object in view he also wrote on Australian crania (1871-1872). His paper on the shape of English skulls was based upon his measurements of the heads of male prisoners in the Manchester Borough Gaol, and he concluded that the skull is greatly modified by civilization.