Biographical Details
Sir Donald Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001)
Sir Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in rural town Cootamundra in New South Wales. He had one brother and three sisters. He grew up in Bowral as an athletic child where he began by playing backyard cricket. He attended Bowral High School and continued to show talent throughout his participation in cricket teams. Bradman quit his studies at the early age of 14 and got serious about cricket when he turned sixteen.
Bradman first met Jessie Martha Menzies in 1920 when she boarded with the Bradman family, to be closer to school in Bowral. The couple married at St Paul's Anglican Church at Burwood, Sydney on 30 April 1932. The Bradmans lived in the same modest, suburban house in Kensington Park in Adelaide for all but the first three years of their married life. They experienced personal tragedy in raising their children: their first-born son died as an infant in 1936, their second son, John (born in 1939) contracted polio and their daughter, Shirley, born in 1941, had cerebral palsy from birth.
On November 10 1926 Sir Donald Bradman was selected for state cricket. From this, his cricketing coureer soon took off. During his 21 years of first-class cricket, Bradman achieved everything that was possible in the sport - he captained his South Australian Sheffield Shield team; was a State selector; Test selector; and captain of the Australian Team for almost a decade, including the 1948 Australian Test team known-The Invincibles. Bradman's legacy to the cricketing world was a remarkable Test batting average of 99.94.
Don and Jessie, Adelaide 1935
Jessie and Donald were married for 65 years. On September 14 1997, Don’s wife, Jessie, died from cancer. This tragic event in his life proved to have a dispiriting effect on Bradman. Hospitalised with pneumonia in December 2000, he returned home in the New Year and died there on 25 February 2001, aged 92.
Bradman first met Jessie Martha Menzies in 1920 when she boarded with the Bradman family, to be closer to school in Bowral. The couple married at St Paul's Anglican Church at Burwood, Sydney on 30 April 1932. The Bradmans lived in the same modest, suburban house in Kensington Park in Adelaide for all but the first three years of their married life. They experienced personal tragedy in raising their children: their first-born son died as an infant in 1936, their second son, John (born in 1939) contracted polio and their daughter, Shirley, born in 1941, had cerebral palsy from birth.
On November 10 1926 Sir Donald Bradman was selected for state cricket. From this, his cricketing coureer soon took off. During his 21 years of first-class cricket, Bradman achieved everything that was possible in the sport - he captained his South Australian Sheffield Shield team; was a State selector; Test selector; and captain of the Australian Team for almost a decade, including the 1948 Australian Test team known-The Invincibles. Bradman's legacy to the cricketing world was a remarkable Test batting average of 99.94.
Don and Jessie, Adelaide 1935
Jessie and Donald were married for 65 years. On September 14 1997, Don’s wife, Jessie, died from cancer. This tragic event in his life proved to have a dispiriting effect on Bradman. Hospitalised with pneumonia in December 2000, he returned home in the New Year and died there on 25 February 2001, aged 92.