Patrick Lawrence ‘Lal’ Brady

BRADY, Patrick Lawrence -‘Lal’- – – – SPC 1909-1910

DoB:– – 1895, St Kilda, Victoria

Father:– – Henry Augustine Brady, 23 Daisy St, Essendon

Mother:– – Catherine, nee Donnelly

Lal Brady was a boarder at St Patrick’s, as was his brother Henry Campbell -‘Cam’ (SPC 1907-1909) who also enlisted (Service No. Sergeant).

Service No:– 21

Rank:– – Private, later Sergeant, later Corporal

Unit:– – Australian Postal Corp

Lal Brady enlisted at Melbourne on 3 August 1915. He was a 20 year old postal worker, of fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was five feet, seven and a quarter inches tall.

He proceeded overseas for postal duty on 31 March 1916, and was attached to the 3rd Echelon in France in April. He was made Corporal, and transferred first to London then to Calais in June 1916.

When back in London in early 1917, Lal married Winifred Stevens, of Archibald Rd, Tuffnell Park N17, London.

Newly promoted Sergeant Brady was recommended for a Meritorious Service Medal for his services rendered during the war. Winifred received a letter from the War Records Office in November 1919, informing her that the recommendation had been accepted, and her husband recognised for his conspicuous service. The London Gazette of 3 June 1919 published the following notice:

‘AWARDED THE MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL

HIS MAJESTY THE KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Meritorious Service Medal to the undermentioned warrant officer in recognition of valuable services rendered in connexion with the War:-

No. 21 Warrant Officer (Class I) P. L. BRADY.’

At the end of the war, Lal requested that he be discharged in England. Not only did he want to remain with his wife in the UK, but his father-in-law had died since he and Winifred married, leaving her mother in unforseen financial difficulty. -‘She is practically dependent upon me at the present time,’ wrote Lal in his letter to Australia House. -‘It is necessary that I be near at hand to watch her interests in business concerns now in the course of adjustment, as there are only two daughters in the family [and] there is no one else to whom they can look for assistance.’

When Lal Brady was discharged on 15 November 1920, he remained in England at 114 Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, N4, London. At some point Lal returned to Australia and became a hotelkeeper in East Melbourne. He died on 1 May 1944, aged 49 years, and was buried at Preston Cemetery. He had no children, and his wife was not with him at the time of his death.

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