Bradford was admitted at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge around August 1548, having been born in Manchester c. 1510. He went on to be a Fellow of Pembroke. He was admitted at the Inner Temple in 1547, and ordained deacon (London) in August 1550. He was committed to the Tower in 1553, on the charge of seditious preaching. He was condemned for heresy and burnt at Smithfield on the 1st July 1555.