Born on 30 March 1894, the second son of Sir Henry Braddon, he was educated at the Sydney Church of England Grammar School. He started on a business career as a junior clerk in the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, where he spent two and a half years mostly in the chemical department, picking up knowledge useful to him later in his preclinical years. In 1915 he began medical studies at the University of Sydney, but shortly afterwards enlisted in the Australian Imperial force as a private, was posted to the Army Service Corps as a particularly daring dispatch rider, and served in Egypt and France. He was later commissioned as a lieutenant in the Motor Transport Company. Returning to Australia in 1919 he joined the second year in medicine, one of record size. In spite of many distractions such as tennis, motoring and bridge he graduated in 1923 and became a junior resident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. His senior resident year was held at the Coast Hospital, after which he went to England in 1925, serving his way as an assistant ship's surgeon. In London he became a close friend of Bedford Russell, a fellow Australian, and, like him, an expert skier. Braddon returned to Australia in 1927 and started private practice as a consulting surgeon, working as private assistant to his former master, Hugh Poate. In 1930 he was appointed clinical assistant at the Royal Prince Alfred and in 1936 assistant surgeon radiotherapist. He became assistant surgeon at the Eastern Suburbs Hospital in 1939. In April 1952 he had to retire prematurely after a series of minor coronary attacks. Paul Braddon was a man of many interests. He had a considerable knowledge of botany and maintained a tropical garden in Sailor Bay, which held his collection of cymbidium orchids and paw-paw trees, but his main collection was of sea shells, particularly those of the Great Barrier Reef. This collection was started in 1934 when he organised an expedition with Eric Pope to Hayman Island. The internal combustion engine, too, fascinated Braddon. His dispatch-riding exploits during the first world war have been mentioned, and his peacetime driving lost none of its fearlessness and daring. However he was a good and patient instructor, and taught many of his friends to drive. He owned a motor cruiser Ionia, and delighted in taking his friends on weekend cruises. He was an unusual and entertaining character, with many friends outside the medical profession. He was very fond of children and godfather to many, although he remained a bachelor. His nephew is Russell Braddon, author of *The Naked Island*. He died of a massive coronary infarction at the Cabarisha Private Hospital, Castlecrag, NSW on 8 July 1963.