Monument to Thomas Bradbury, West Enclosure

Chest tomb of Thomas Bradbury, 1759

The monument takes the form of a stone chest constructed in Portland stone, with a sandstone plinth. It features a moulded lid and base, and is distinguished by fluted and gadrooned corner balusters and fielded inscription panels. The principal inscription records Bradbury's virtues and career details, concluding with an exhortation: "Remember, also, that as surely as night succeeds the longest day, so surely will death conclude the longest life. Work, therefore, while it is day." An inscription on one of the end panels records the burial of his wife Mary.

Thomas Bradbury (c.1676–1759) was an Independent minister and a prominent figure in early 18th-century religious controversy. Born near Wakefield in Yorkshire, he was educated at Leeds free school and Timothy Jollie's academy at Attercliffe before becoming minister at Beverley in 1697. He moved to London in 1703, becoming minister at the meeting house in Fetter Lane in 1707. He became renowned for his controversial and highly political sermons in support of religious liberty and the Hanoverian succession. In 1714 he claimed to be the first person to proclaim the accession of King George I after news of Queen Anne's death was secretly conveyed to him whilst he was preaching. Within the Dissenting community he was known as a controversialist, particularly for his defence of orthodox views of the Trinity during and after the Salters' Hall dispute of 1719. His publications, mainly collections of sermons and lectures, include The Power of Christ (1724), The Mystery of Godliness (1726) and A Confession of Faith (1729).

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground was first enclosed in 1665. Thanks to its location just outside the City boundary and its independence from any Established place of worship, it became London's principal Nonconformist cemetery, the burial place of John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, William Blake and other leading religious and intellectual figures. The ground was closed for burials in 1853, laid out as a public park in 1867, and re-landscaped following war damage by Bridgewater and Shepheard in 1964–5.