Bradbury Street, Downfield was called after Mrs Bradbury, who succeeded her father, Colonel David Laird, in the estate of Strathmartine, in 1872. This estate was acquired by Admiral Laird in 1785 for £15,000, and he expended large sums in improving it. He was the son of a Dundee corn-merchant, and entered the Royal Navy as a youth, attaining distinction during the American War, rising to the rank of Admiral.
After his retirement he resided at Strathmartine Castle, where he died in 1811, and was buried in the churchyard of Strathmartine, though no stone marks his grave. The Admiral’s grandson, Colonel David Laird, of the Forfar and Kincardine Militia, succeeded to the estate, and continued the work of improvement which had been initiated, thus greatly increasing the value of the property. The Colonel died in 1872, and his daughter, Catherine, became proprietrix.
She married in 1874 August Beatty Bradbury, who died in the succeeding year. It was in her time that Bradbury Street and Laird Street were laid out, hence the two names. After her death in 1887 the estate was purchased from the Trustees by the late Mr. Thomas H. Cox, of Maulesden.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925