Alexander Brogden
Encyclopedia
Alexander Brogden was born in Manchester
on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden (1798 – 1869)
and educated at Blackburn, New College Manchester
and King's College London
, where he read mathematics
. He married Anne Garstang on 6 September 1848 at Manchester Cathedral
. He joined his father’s contracting business, John Brogden and Sons
, in 1846. He had intended to join the Bar
but was persuaded to support his father instead. Among his first work for the firm was the supervision of contracts for the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
, the Ashton Branch of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway
and the East Lancashire Railway.
In 1850 Brogdens took a lease of the South Staffordshire line
jointly with John McClean
and Alexander managed this for about six years. During the building of the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway
, Alexander supervised for the firm while James Brunlees
was the Engineer. Alexander Brogden was the first chairman of the Solway Junction Railway
, again with James Brunlees as the Engineer.
With the sudden death of his elder brother John
in 1855 and the increasing age of his father, it can be assumed that he gradually took control of the business in the late 1850s and assumed full control on his father’s death in 1869. During the 1860s he and his wife resided at Holme Island, Grange-over-Sands
, This is now in Cumbria
but was then in North Lancashire
.
The Brogden family had a majority holding in the Ulverston Mining Co. in 1857. Alexander became the sole lessee in 1872.
Brogden unsuccessfully contested Great Yarmouth
as a Liberal
in July 1865, but was elected as the first member for Wednesbury
in December 1868 and represented that constituency for 18 years.
In 1878 Brogden paid for the organ of West Bromwich Town Hall
.
In 1881 it was claimed that, when Parliament was not in session, he might be found in the space of 10 days in: Ulverston, Westminster, Cardiff, Paris, Holland and St Petersburg.
Alexander Brogden’s liquidation was announced in the London Gazette
on 11 January 1884. This was owing to the failure of John Brogden and Sons. The Gazette entry gives many addresses: Queen Anne’s Gate and Victoria Chambers, Westminster
; Aberdare
; Tondu
; Meathop, Westmorland
; Frampton Cotterell
, Gloucestershire
; The Hague
; Cross Street, Manchester
; 46 Dulwich Road, Herne Hill
; Ulverston
e; Grange-over-Sands
; and Wellington
, New Zealand
.
Alexander Brogden died at 88 Lansdown Road, Croydon
on 26 November 1892 at the age of 67. The Times
records that he had been ailing. He was sitting by the fire and accidentally fell against the grate while attempting to stir the fire, receiving severe burns. He left a widow and a married daughter. Alexander Brogden and his wife also had a son, James Garstang Brogden, who died before his father. He was born in 1850 and died in 1885.
.
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden (1798 – 1869)
John Brogden (industrialist)
John Brogden was a cleansing, building and railway contractor, railway promoter, a miner of coal and iron and an iron smelter. He was brought up on a farm near Clitheroe, Lancashire. As a young man he migrated to a rapidly growing Manchester and applied his farmer's knowledge of horses as a...
and educated at Blackburn, New College Manchester
Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as Manchester College, it is listed in the University Statutes as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at University ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et...
and King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, where he read mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. He married Anne Garstang on 6 September 1848 at Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester...
. He joined his father’s contracting business, John Brogden and Sons
John Brogden and Sons
John Brogden and Sons was a firm of Railway Contractors, Iron and Coal Miners and Iron Smelters operating from roughly 1837 to the bankruptcy in 1883. However the business essentially started when John Brogden moved from his father's farm near Clitheroe to set up in business in the rapidly...
, in 1846. He had intended to join the Bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
but was persuaded to support his father instead. Among his first work for the firm was the supervision of contracts for the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway was a suburban railway which operated a 13.7 km route between Altrincham in Cheshire and London Road Station in Manchester....
, the Ashton Branch of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway
Manchester and Birmingham Railway
The Manchester and Birmingham Railway was built between Manchester and Crewe and opened in stages from 1840. Between Crewe and Birmingham, trains were worked by the Grand Junction Railway...
and the East Lancashire Railway.
In 1850 Brogdens took a lease of the South Staffordshire line
South Staffordshire Line
The South Staffordshire Line was a railway line that connected Lichfield in Staffordshire, England with Dudley, formerly in Worcestershire. However, it joined the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's line just north of Dudley Station, where it, in essence, continued to Stourbridge, in...
jointly with John McClean
John Robinson McClean
John Robinson McClean CB FRS , was a British civil engineer and Liberal Party politician.-Early life:He was born in Belfast. Educated at Belfast Academical Institution and University of Glasgow.-Engineering career:...
and Alexander managed this for about six years. During the building of the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway
Ulverston and Lancaster Railway
The “Ulverstone” and Lancaster Railway Company was short-lived as a business but the line that it built is still in daily use. The line runs from Lindal-in-Furness to Carnforth where it joins what was then the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway...
, Alexander supervised for the firm while James Brunlees
James Brunlees
Sir James Brunlees was a Scottish civil engineer. He was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders in 1816.In 1850, Brunlees worked on the Londonderry and Coleraine Railway...
was the Engineer. Alexander Brogden was the first chairman of the Solway Junction Railway
Solway Junction Railway
The Solway Junction Railway ran between the Caledonian Railway near Kirtlebridge and the Brayton station of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. The Act of Parliament was granted on 30 June 1864 and the line was opened in 1869. It involved a iron girder viaduct between Bowness-on-Solway and Annan...
, again with James Brunlees as the Engineer.
With the sudden death of his elder brother John
John Brogden Jun. (industrialist)
John Brogden Junior was the eldest son of John Brogden . He was born in Manchester in 1823. He was educated at the academy in Blackburn and then studied chemistry in Manchester. He joined his father’s business in 1846 and was closely involved with all the work...
in 1855 and the increasing age of his father, it can be assumed that he gradually took control of the business in the late 1850s and assumed full control on his father’s death in 1869. During the 1860s he and his wife resided at Holme Island, Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish by the sea – with a wide tidal range, hence the "sands" name – in Cumbria, England. Historically, Grange-over-Sands was part of the County of Lancashire until 1974, when Cumbria was created under Local Government re-organisation which absorbed the area...
, This is now in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
but was then in North Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
.
The Brogden family had a majority holding in the Ulverston Mining Co. in 1857. Alexander became the sole lessee in 1872.
Brogden unsuccessfully contested Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Yarmouth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
as a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
in July 1865, but was elected as the first member for Wednesbury
Wednesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election....
in December 1868 and represented that constituency for 18 years.
In 1878 Brogden paid for the organ of West Bromwich Town Hall
West Bromwich Town Hall
West Bromwich Town Hall is a Grade II listed town hall in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. It is part of the Walk West Bromwich Heritage Trail....
.
In 1881 it was claimed that, when Parliament was not in session, he might be found in the space of 10 days in: Ulverston, Westminster, Cardiff, Paris, Holland and St Petersburg.
Alexander Brogden’s liquidation was announced in the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
on 11 January 1884. This was owing to the failure of John Brogden and Sons. The Gazette entry gives many addresses: Queen Anne’s Gate and Victoria Chambers, Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
; Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
; Tondu
Tondu
Tondu is a village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, located about north of the town of Bridgend.Tondu lies on the A4063 from Bridgend to Maesteg, and was established in the late 18th century as a coal mining village servicing the Parc Slip Colliery...
; Meathop, Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
; Frampton Cotterell
Frampton Cotterell
Frampton Cotterell is a village and parish, in South Gloucestershire, south west England on the River Frome. The village is continuous with Winterbourne to the south-west and Coalpit Heath to the east. The parish borders Iron Acton to the north and Westerleigh to the south-east, the large town of...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
; The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
; Cross Street, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
; 46 Dulwich Road, Herne Hill
Herne Hill
Herne Hill is located in the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London. There is a road of the same name which continues the A215 north of Norwood Road and was called Herne Hill Road.-History:...
; Ulverston
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria in north-west England. Historically part of Lancashire, the town is located in the Furness area, close to the Lake District, and just north of Morecambe Bay....
e; Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish by the sea – with a wide tidal range, hence the "sands" name – in Cumbria, England. Historically, Grange-over-Sands was part of the County of Lancashire until 1974, when Cumbria was created under Local Government re-organisation which absorbed the area...
; and Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Alexander Brogden died at 88 Lansdown Road, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
on 26 November 1892 at the age of 67. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
records that he had been ailing. He was sitting by the fire and accidentally fell against the grate while attempting to stir the fire, receiving severe burns. He left a widow and a married daughter. Alexander Brogden and his wife also had a son, James Garstang Brogden, who died before his father. He was born in 1850 and died in 1885.
.