John Brogden and Sons
Encyclopedia
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 (1798–1869)
moved from his father's farm near Clitheroe
to set up in business in the rapidly expanding Manchester
(not yet a city). In 1832 he successfully tendered for a contract with the local authority (the Bororeeve) to undertake the cleansing and watering of Manchester. Around this time he obtained a similar contract in London
. In 1843, as a partner of Joseph Whitworth
(later Sir Joseph), he contracted to sweep the streets of Manchester with Whitworth's patent machines. They undertook a similar contract in Westminster
. In 1844 Brogden moved to London because the focus of his interests lay there.
Many Brogden contracts were financed and supported by Samuel Brooks
of Cunliffe, Brooks & Co.
They became acquainted during early life in North Lancashire
and this relationship was renewed in Manchester. Brooks was vice-chairman of the Manchester and Leeds Railway
so he was also well placed to help Brogden gain his first railway contracts.
was being planned, Brogden secured contracts to build the Manchester Viaduct (Number 4) (October 1837) and the Manchester Victoria Station
at Hunts Bank (March 1843). In July 1838 he obtained a contract on the Manchester and Birmingham
and in August 1840 two more contracts jointly with Easthed. In October 1845 he obtained a contract to build the Ashton Branch of the M&B (Heaton Norris
to Guide Bridge
). He obtained contracts with the East Lancashire Railway to build from Stubbins
to Accrington
in 1845 and Blackburn to Hapton in 1846 (jointly with Smith and Pearce).
In 1846 Brogden became a director of the South Eastern Railway Company
and John Brogden junior obtained contracts from that company for the North Kent Railway in November 1846 and February 1847.
The Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway
received its Act of Parliament
in 1849. It had two sections: from London Road Station to Knott Mill and the second from there to Altrincham
. Brogdens had the contract for the second section.
Brogden was joined in his business by his four eldest sons: John
, Alexander
, Henry
and James
as they reached the age of majority. His youngest son, George was never involved as he was too young.
. They took ore-mining territory at Stainton in the estate of the Earl of Burlington
and were developing mines there by December 1850. In 1850 the second largest haematite ore deposit in British history was discovered by Schneider and Co. at Park, on the Duddon shore in Furness. Mining capacity was growing fast. This ore was sent to market via the Furness Railway and then by ship.
George Stephenson had planned a West Coast main Line to cross the mouth of Morecambe Bay and this would have linked Furness with the developing national rail network. However this plan was shelved in 1843. The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Act was passed on 6 June 1844, establishing this as the route for the main line. Instead of Furness becoming part of the national rail strategy, it was now a backwater. It could only be connected to the main network by local efforts and these would involve crossing Morecambe Bay, with its notorious tidal quicksands. The Furness Railway directors collectively, led by Burlington, were not keen to take responsibility for this risky project although the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
was considering it.
In 1847, a group led by Brogden and his three eldest sons began to promote a rail link between Ulverston
and Carnforth
, on the Lancaster–Carlisle line and they eventually obtained the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway
Act (Royal Assent
on 24 July 1851). The directors were: John (sen.) John (jun.) Alexander, Henry, James Garstang (Alexander's father-in-law) and Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Paxton
. The line was planned by McClean
and Stileman at 19 miles (30.6 km) in length of which 10 miles (16.1 km) comprised embankments and viaducts across tidal water. Much of this was sand running to a depth of 30 to 70 feet (21.3 m).
Work on the line was not in full progress until September 1853. McClean and Stileman had resigned as engineers the previous February and were replaced by James Brunlees
. The viaducts over the Kent and Leven were designed and built by W & J Galloway & Sons
of Manchester. Brunlees had already completed a similar project and went on to achieve great eminence. He worked again with the Galloways on Southport Pier.
In 1851 Brogdens had been poised to take over the Furness Railway itself and a draft agreement was made between Burlington and John Brogden senior but the F.R. directors refused to ratify it. Thus Burlington's fellow directors saved him and his family from losing a great prize and prevented the Brogdens from gaining it. However as the expensive work proceeded Brogdens ran short of money and had to ask the Furness Railway for financial assistance. As the FR legally could not do this, two of their directors made a loan of £50,000 in their personal capacities.
The line was opened on 26 August 1857. Gross expenditure was over £410,000. Brogdens were struggling financially and in 1858 approached the Furness for another loan but declined to accept the stringent conditions demanded. Finally in 1862 Brogdens sold the U&L to the existing Furness Railway having made little or no direct profit. This railway link however was critical to the later industrial development of Barrow-in-Furness
and its locality and mining interests. It also caused silt to build up in former tidal areas, creating new agricultural land. Brogdens' decision to sell this valuable railway, with good growth prospects, suggests that they were short of cash.
was chairman of the Solway Junction Railway
so they clearly had a substantial stake in that railway but their precise involvement is not clear. For this railway the Act of Parliament
was passed in 1864 and the railway was opened in 1869.
in South Wales
. The bulk of iron ore mined in Furness had been sent there and the Brogdens became aware that Sir Robert Price, the owner of the Glamorgan Iron and Coal Works at Tondu
, was in difficulties. In December 1853 they purchased for £10,000 the leases of the land and mines that he held. In the following January they purchased the works itself for £35,000. In July they acquired the leases of other farms and mines previously held by Sir Robert.
who was then at 22 the junior partner. He made good progress. In 1859 he married Helen Dunbar Milne. This marriage was unhappy and was dissolved in 1865.
Soon after 1860 the prospects of the Tondu and Maesteg
areas improved and in 1863 Brogdens obtained a new lease of the Tywith
lands in the Llynfi
valley, from which they raised coal and iron in large quantities.
Tywith is very close to Coegnant and later there was a court case in which Brogdens were alleged to have extended their mine into Coegnant's territory (see below).
In 1864 they leased the Garth land, sank the Garth pit and erected coke-ovens, which they worked until the depression in 1877 forced their closure. Richards (1982) says (re Garth Colliery, 1864), "J. Brogden & Sons bought Garth Fach and Cwmdu Canol Farms and sank this pit in 1865. The sinking operations were supervised by James Barrow, who was later President of the South Wales Institute of Engineers
. He was also mineral agent to the Margam Estate. In 1867 there was an explosion but no-one was hurt. It resulted in the closure of the colliery for a year. About 1880 the pit was idle for another year but in 1882 it was sunk to a depth of 250 yards, 3 seams being worked. In addition there were 60 coke ovens producing 1,000 tons of coke weekly. It was after the sinking of Oakwood and Garth Pits that the village of Garth developed. Garth Pit closed in 1930 when it employed 616 men.".
valley, first at the top of the valley but in 1865 they sank the Wyndham pit and opened the Tynewydd level. They worked both of these until 1872 when a new joint stock company was formed. In July 1863 they obtained an Act for the Ogmore Valley Railway of which Alexander became the chairman. This was a Standard gauge
railway from Nantymoel at the head of the valley to a junction with the Llynvi Valley Railway (Broad gauge
) at Tondu. They also gained power to lay a third rail along the Llynvi Valley line from Tondu to Porthcawl
.
(via Stormy) or Blackmill via the Ely Valley Extension Railway. They therefore decided to build a new port at Porthcawl as the old tidal dock was unsatisfactory.
They obtained the cooperation of the Llynfi company and jointly obtained the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway
s Act in June 1864. This included the new dock, to be run jointly by the two companies. This covered 7 ½ acres, had 2300 ft (701 m). wharfage, four high level loading stages and a capacity of 5,000 tons of coal per day. It cost £250,000. In July 1866 the Lynvi and Ogmore companies were amalgamated to make the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway with Alexander Brogden as chairman. When the new dock was opened on 22 July 1867 it was part of this new company. The place of honour went to the Brogden screw steamer SS John Brogden. By 1868 all lines were dual gauge so the essential motivation for the dock was no longer present.
It is not entirely clear why they built the Ogmore Valley as a standard gauge railway in a broad gauge area, forcing the decision to build a dock at considerable expense. It may have been unavoidable owing to the Gauge Act
of 1846. If so then perhaps it would have been cheaper to build the line as dual gauge from the start instead of building a dock. Perhaps even this was not permissible. The Llynvi Valley Railway was formed in 1861 by reopening pre-1846 lines. This is probably why it was permitted to use broad gauge. What is clear is that Brogdens sold off the Ulverston and Lancaster at about the same time as they started the Ogmore Valley Railway.
The trade of the new dock grew rapidly. In 1864 only 17,000 tons of coal passed out of the old outer basin but in 1871 the new inner dock shipped over 165,000 tons. In July 1873 the Great Western Railway
took it over from the Llynvi and Ogmore, guaranteeing a dividend of 6%.
At the end of January 1865 James Brogden acquired 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) of land adjoining the dock on behalf of the firm. In May 1867 he granted leases on the western side of what was to be the main street, to be called John Street in honour of his father. When Alexander later assumed control he stopped this venture. However when the firm was dissolved, Mrs James Brogden acquired the land and she and her husband established on it the nucleus of modern Porthcawl
.
, ruled in favour of the Llynvi Coal and Iron Co. and the Brogdens had to face a very large demand for compensation or an expensive appeal. The merger of the two companies quickly followed. Although the Brogden family were the main shareholders in the new company and Alexander Brogden was the chairman, the family, for the first time, relinquished control over their fortunes as the new company had a large number of 'vocal' shareholders in the Manchester and Southport areas who closely monitored the progress of the new venture. In 1873, during a major strike among the iron company workers in South Wales, Alexander Brogden acted unilaterally and settled amicably with the workforce a month before the strike eventually ended in the rest of the coalfield. By 1874, after a brief period of prosperity, profits slumped as the Tondu and Llynvi works faced competition from cheaper producers abroad and, more importantly, from cheap Bessemer steel. Losses accumulated until the company's debenture holders opted for voluntary liquidation in January 1878. The company would have probably survived the trade depression of the late 1870s were it not for the untimely intervention of one of the old Llynvi company's Debenture Holders, probably George Moffatt, former chairman of the Llynvi Coal and Iron Co Ltd. Moffatt decided to withdraw his large debenture holding in December 1877, a move which would have resulted in bankruptcy proceedings with disastrous consequences for the debenture holders. As a result the holders opted for the lesser evil of voluntary liquidation. The merger of 1871-2 proved to be disastrous for the Brogdens as they forfeited effective control over their Welsh enterprises at a time when the south Wales wrought iron trade was about to enter a period of terminal decline.
Valley (see above) and since the beginning of 1870 had supplied coal weekly to the Metropolitan Railway
at favourable prices. A draft contract had never been completed and Alexander decided to cease deliveries without notice. The Metropolitan held that the draft contract was valid and had been breached. A case
was tried at the Surrey
Spring Assizes (1873), The Court of Common Pleas
and the House of Lords
(1877), each of which held for the Metropolitan. This case is an important precedent
in the law of contract
.
Government, dominated by Sir Julius Vogel
, the, Colonial Treasurer and soon to be Prime Minister, authorised the colony's first major railway construction programme. Vogel came to London to negotiate loans and concluded an agreement with Brogdens to construct railways and provide plant to the value of £500,000. He also negotiated a much larger alternative contract, subject to Parliamentary approval, which would give the colony £ 4,000,000 of railways and 10,000 immigrants in return for transferring 3000000 acres (12,140.6 km²) of land to the contractors.
James Brogden went out to New Zealand to complete them. He left Liverpool
in August 1871 and returned to England early in 1873. The diary that he kept during his journey shows that he was engaged in very difficult and protracted negotiations. In October 1871 the New Zealand Parliament rejected the larger contract but allowed the ministry to negotiate an extension to the smaller one.
The government started their own immigration programme and also made an agreement with Brogdens that Brogdens would dispatch up to 2000 able-bodied men plus wives and children to a maximum of 6,000 adults. For this privilege Brogdens had to pay the government £10 per adult and could take promissory notes from the adult immigrants not exceeding £16 each. Brogdens hoped for great things and, under pressure from the New Zealand government began in April 1872 to ship immigrants. These immigrants, and rail workers in general in New Zealand, gained the nickname Brogdenites.
In England Brogdens were offering better terms than the New Zealand government, mainly in the sense that they paid most of the necessary costs themselves, relying on promissory notes from the immigrants, whereas the government wanted substantial payments in advance which were hard for a working man to find. For this reason the colony's Agent-General in London, Dr. Isaac Featherston
directed staff to support the Brogden programme.
It was not easy to persuade men or families to leave their homeland. However the 1866 recession in copper
-mining in Cornwall
and bitter disputes between farmers and farm labourers assisted the recruiters. Charles Rooking Carter
(1822–1896), a member of Featherston's recruitment staff who interviewed nearly all the "Brogden navvies", had been a Chartist sympathiser and an active propagandist for improved working class conditions before emigrating to New Zealand in 1850 and the campaign worked closely with the unions.
In 1872 the Company were given six rail contracts as follows:
Auckland
and Mercer
Wellington
and Hutt
Napier
and Paki Paki
Picton
and Blenheim
Dunedin
and Clutha
Invercargill
and Mataura
for sections of railway totalling 159 miles (255.9 km) at a cost of £808,000.
There were considerable difficulties in the operation of the contracts and the management of the men. Brogdens got less work than they had hoped and it became available more slowly than expected. Communications between UK and New Zealand were obviously slow so it was difficult to know how many men to send at any given time. Sometimes Brogdens could not find work for the men when they arrived. Men reneged on their promissory notes. There were disputes over working hours, wages and whether they should be paid when the weather stopped the work. Gradually the men drifted away. By August 1873, 1299 men had been brought out and only 287 were working for Brogdens. Most of the men were agricultural labourers, rather than true navvies and they found local agricultural labour and working conditions more attractive than navvy work.
Consequently work was slower than expected and in 1879 the Company was in dispute with the New Zealand Government over contract payments. Bankruptcy soon followed.
Although this was not a happy result for Brogdens, the results for New Zealand and the families themselves were good. New Zealand obtained useful citizens who were very happy with their work, wages, food and social conditions. Their letters home encouraged more people to come. Many of today's New Zealanders have ancestors who were members of the families who emigrated at this time.
and Peterborough
Railway, from Oundle
to Peterborough. They also doubled the line from Oundle to Peterborough (contracted 11 Dec 1845).
They built sluices and tidal gates at St Germans, Norfolk
, one of the outlets of The Fens
.
In 1850 They joined Mr McClean
in a lease of the South Staffordshire line
which they held and worked for about six years. with Alexander Brogden as manager. This line ran through Wednesbury
and Alexander was elected as the first M.P.
of that town in 1868. This suggests a long-standing relationship with the area.
In the Netherlands Brogdens held the concession to construct about 50 miles (80.5 km) of railway – the Tilburg
and Nijmegen in North Brabant
and Gelderland
, which formed part of the Dutch South Eastern Railway Company (DSERC) and a new direct route from London
to Berlin
via Flushing (Vlissingen)
. There was some dispute with the DSERC but the nature of this dispute is not clear.
The Mont Cenis Pass Railway
was promoted and constructed by the firm, together with Thomas Brassey
, J B Fell
, the Duke of Sutherland
, Lord Abinger
and others. This temporary "Fell Railway" operated from 1868 to 1871, and was replaced by the railway through the Mont Cenis Tunnel.
Richardson (1881) page 46 also refers to an ironworks in Finland and copper mines in Russia. An obituary of Henry Brogden refers to work in Australia
and South America
.
Brogden Grove and Brogden Terrace come off Marsland Road close to the junction with Washway Road in Sale
, Greater Manchester
. They are occupied by Victorian terrace houses with good front gardens. This is about 500 metres from Brooklands station on what was the Brogden-built section of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway and 400 metres from Raglan House, Raglan Road, which is where John Brogden, Sr. died. It seems likely that Brogden Grove and Brogden Terrace and their houses were a John Brogden and Sons project.
in the City of London
, was dissolved on 31 July 1880 by order of the Chancery Division of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice with effect from 26 July. On 11 January 1884 the liquidations of Alexander and Henry were announced in the London Gazette. They had presented petitions for liquidation estimating their liabilities upwards of £500,000 with assets of £3,830.
The properties associated with the Brogdens in Tondu
and Maesteg were purchased by North's Navigation Collieries Ltd in 1889. The new company, initially led by Colonel John T. North, the 'Nitrate King', produced iron at the Tondu site until 1896 before concentrating on the booming coal trade in the Llynfi and Ogmore valleys.
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...
moved from his father's farm near Clitheroe
Clitheroe
Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...
to set up in business in the rapidly expanding 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...
(not yet a city). In 1832 he successfully tendered for a contract with the local authority (the Bororeeve) to undertake the cleansing and watering of Manchester. Around this time he obtained a similar contract in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1843, as a partner of Joseph Whitworth
Joseph Whitworth
Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for screw threads...
(later Sir Joseph), he contracted to sweep the streets of Manchester with Whitworth's patent machines. They undertook a similar contract in 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...
. In 1844 Brogden moved to London because the focus of his interests lay there.
Many Brogden contracts were financed and supported by Samuel Brooks
Samuel Brooks
Samuel Brooks was born at Great Harwood, near Whalley in Lancashire, England, the second son of William Brooks. In 1815 he became a partner in his father’s Blackburn-based business, Cunliffe Brooks & Co. This business supplied cotton and/or textile equipment, and also ran a bank as a sideline...
of Cunliffe, Brooks & Co.
Cunliffe, Brooks
Cunliffe, Brooks and Co. was a bank founded in Blackburn, Lancashire, England in 1792. In 1819, Samuel Brooks, son of one of the founders, opened a branch of the bank in Manchester. In the 1820s, a second generation Cunliffe opened a London house, at 29 Lombard Street...
They became acquainted during early life 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...
and this relationship was renewed in Manchester. Brooks was vice-chairman of the Manchester and Leeds Railway
Manchester and Leeds Railway
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton....
so he was also well placed to help Brogden gain his first railway contracts.
First Railway Contracts
When the Manchester and Leeds RailwayManchester and Leeds Railway
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton....
was being planned, Brogden secured contracts to build the Manchester Viaduct (Number 4) (October 1837) and the Manchester Victoria Station
Manchester Victoria station
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is the city's second largest mainline railway station. It is also a Metrolink station, one of eight within the City Zone...
at Hunts Bank (March 1843). In July 1838 he obtained a contract on the Manchester and Birmingham
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 in August 1840 two more contracts jointly with Easthed. In October 1845 he obtained a contract to build the Ashton Branch of the M&B (Heaton Norris
Heaton Norris
Heaton Norris is now a mainly residential area of Stockport, England bordering on Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Formerly it was the name of the parish, that included Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor and was in Lancashire....
to Guide Bridge
Guide Bridge railway station
Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge, a part of Audenshaw, Tameside in Greater Manchester, England and is operated by Northern Rail. The station is 4¾ miles east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Glossop Line.-History:...
). He obtained contracts with the East Lancashire Railway to build from Stubbins
Stubbins
Stubbins is an industrial village in the southern part of the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire.It is half a mile north of Ramsbottom town centre on the A676 between Bolton and Edenfield. For local government purposes, it receives services from Rossendale Borough Council and Lancashire County Council...
to Accrington
Accrington
Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...
in 1845 and Blackburn to Hapton in 1846 (jointly with Smith and Pearce).
In 1846 Brogden became a director of the South Eastern Railway Company
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
and John Brogden junior obtained contracts from that company for the North Kent Railway in November 1846 and February 1847.
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....
received its Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
in 1849. It had two sections: from London Road Station to Knott Mill and the second from there to Altrincham
Altrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
. Brogdens had the contract for the second section.
Brogden was joined in his business by his four eldest sons: 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...
, Alexander
Alexander Brogden
Alexander Brogden was born in Manchester on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden 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...
, Henry
Henry Brogden (industrialist)
Henry Brogden was born in Manchester, the third son of John Brogden. He was educated at King’s College, London and spent a year at the locomotive works of George Stephenson, Newcastle-on-Tyne...
and James
James Brogden (industrialist)
James Brogden ) was a British businessman, the fourth son of John Brogden . He spent most of his adult life in Mid-Glamorgan, first at Tondu and later at Porthcawl...
as they reached the age of majority. His youngest son, George was never involved as he was too young.
Ulverston and Lancaster Railway
In the late 1840s the Brogdens became interested in iron ore mining in the Furness area of North Lancashire (now Cumbria). In 1846 John senior became a shareholder of the Furness RailwayFurness Railway
The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...
. They took ore-mining territory at Stainton in the estate of the Earl of Burlington
William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire KG, PC , styled as Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1831 and 1834 and known as The Earl of Burlington between 1834 and 1858, was a British landowner, benefactor and politician.-Background and education:Cavendish was the son of William Cavendish, eldest...
and were developing mines there by December 1850. In 1850 the second largest haematite ore deposit in British history was discovered by Schneider and Co. at Park, on the Duddon shore in Furness. Mining capacity was growing fast. This ore was sent to market via the Furness Railway and then by ship.
George Stephenson had planned a West Coast main Line to cross the mouth of Morecambe Bay and this would have linked Furness with the developing national rail network. However this plan was shelved in 1843. The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was a British railway company authorised on 6 June 1844 to build a line between Lancaster and Carlisle in North-West England...
Act was passed on 6 June 1844, establishing this as the route for the main line. Instead of Furness becoming part of the national rail strategy, it was now a backwater. It could only be connected to the main network by local efforts and these would involve crossing Morecambe Bay, with its notorious tidal quicksands. The Furness Railway directors collectively, led by Burlington, were not keen to take responsibility for this risky project although the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway
The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was a British railway company authorised on 6 June 1844 to build a line between Lancaster and Carlisle in North-West England...
was considering it.
In 1847, a group led by Brogden and his three eldest sons began to promote a rail link between 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....
and Carnforth
Carnforth
- References :...
, on the Lancaster–Carlisle line and they eventually obtained 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...
Act (Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 24 July 1851). The directors were: John (sen.) John (jun.) Alexander, Henry, James Garstang (Alexander's father-in-law) and Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Paxton
Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing The Crystal Palace.-Early life:...
. The line was planned by 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 Stileman at 19 miles (30.6 km) in length of which 10 miles (16.1 km) comprised embankments and viaducts across tidal water. Much of this was sand running to a depth of 30 to 70 feet (21.3 m).
Work on the line was not in full progress until September 1853. McClean and Stileman had resigned as engineers the previous February and were replaced by 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...
. The viaducts over the Kent and Leven were designed and built by W & J Galloway & Sons
W & J Galloway & Sons
W & J Galloway and Sons was a British manufacturer of steam engines and boilers, based in Manchester, England. The firm was established in 1835 as a partnership of two brothers, William and John Galloway. The partnership expanded to encompass their sons and in 1889 it was restructured as a limited...
of Manchester. Brunlees had already completed a similar project and went on to achieve great eminence. He worked again with the Galloways on Southport Pier.
In 1851 Brogdens had been poised to take over the Furness Railway itself and a draft agreement was made between Burlington and John Brogden senior but the F.R. directors refused to ratify it. Thus Burlington's fellow directors saved him and his family from losing a great prize and prevented the Brogdens from gaining it. However as the expensive work proceeded Brogdens ran short of money and had to ask the Furness Railway for financial assistance. As the FR legally could not do this, two of their directors made a loan of £50,000 in their personal capacities.
The line was opened on 26 August 1857. Gross expenditure was over £410,000. Brogdens were struggling financially and in 1858 approached the Furness for another loan but declined to accept the stringent conditions demanded. Finally in 1862 Brogdens sold the U&L to the existing Furness Railway having made little or no direct profit. This railway link however was critical to the later industrial development of Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
and its locality and mining interests. It also caused silt to build up in former tidal areas, creating new agricultural land. Brogdens' decision to sell this valuable railway, with good growth prospects, suggests that they were short of cash.
Solway Junction Railway
Alexander BrogdenAlexander Brogden
Alexander Brogden was born in Manchester on 3 November 1825, the second son of John Brogden 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...
was 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...
so they clearly had a substantial stake in that railway but their precise involvement is not clear. For this railway the Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was passed in 1864 and the railway was opened in 1869.
Work in South Wales
Another area of expansion was in Mid-GlamorganGlamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
in South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
. The bulk of iron ore mined in Furness had been sent there and the Brogdens became aware that Sir Robert Price, the owner of the Glamorgan Iron and Coal Works at 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...
, was in difficulties. In December 1853 they purchased for £10,000 the leases of the land and mines that he held. In the following January they purchased the works itself for £35,000. In July they acquired the leases of other farms and mines previously held by Sir Robert.
Llynvi Valley / Cwm Llynfi
These purchases were put under the control of James BrogdenJames Brogden (industrialist)
James Brogden ) was a British businessman, the fourth son of John Brogden . He spent most of his adult life in Mid-Glamorgan, first at Tondu and later at Porthcawl...
who was then at 22 the junior partner. He made good progress. In 1859 he married Helen Dunbar Milne. This marriage was unhappy and was dissolved in 1865.
Soon after 1860 the prospects of the Tondu and Maesteg
Maesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
areas improved and in 1863 Brogdens obtained a new lease of the Tywith
lands in the Llynfi
River Llynfi
The River Llynfi, otherwise referred to as the Llynfi River or Afon Llynfi in Welsh , is one of three main tributaries of the River Ogmore or Afon Ogwr....
valley, from which they raised coal and iron in large quantities.
Tywith is very close to Coegnant and later there was a court case in which Brogdens were alleged to have extended their mine into Coegnant's territory (see below).
In 1864 they leased the Garth land, sank the Garth pit and erected coke-ovens, which they worked until the depression in 1877 forced their closure. Richards (1982) says (re Garth Colliery, 1864), "J. Brogden & Sons bought Garth Fach and Cwmdu Canol Farms and sank this pit in 1865. The sinking operations were supervised by James Barrow, who was later President of the South Wales Institute of Engineers
South Wales Institute of Engineers
South Wales Institute of Engineers was founded in 1857 as a learned society for engineers and scientists in the area, arranging lectures and publishing the Proceedings of the South Wales Institute of Engineers. In 2007, the body was re-constituted as South Wales Institute of Engineers Educational...
. He was also mineral agent to the Margam Estate. In 1867 there was an explosion but no-one was hurt. It resulted in the closure of the colliery for a year. About 1880 the pit was idle for another year but in 1882 it was sunk to a depth of 250 yards, 3 seams being worked. In addition there were 60 coke ovens producing 1,000 tons of coke weekly. It was after the sinking of Oakwood and Garth Pits that the village of Garth developed. Garth Pit closed in 1930 when it employed 616 men.".
Ogmore Valley / Cwm Ogwr
The Brogdens also worked the OgmoreRiver Ogmore
The River Ogmore is a river in South Wales popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Pentre, past Bridgend and Ogmore...
valley, first at the top of the valley but in 1865 they sank the Wyndham pit and opened the Tynewydd level. They worked both of these until 1872 when a new joint stock company was formed. In July 1863 they obtained an Act for the Ogmore Valley Railway of which Alexander became the chairman. This was a Standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railway from Nantymoel at the head of the valley to a junction with the Llynvi Valley Railway (Broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
) at Tondu. They also gained power to lay a third rail along the Llynvi Valley line from Tondu to Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
.
Aberdare
The Bwllfa Dare No. 1 Pit was opened in 1856 by E Lewis and worked by the Byllfa Colliery Co. Ltd., then Brogdens and then the Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Coal Collieries Ltd. There seem to have been two Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare companies. The first was founded in November 1876 to purchase the lease from Brogdens. George, the only Brogden son not to be a partner in John Brogden and Sons, was connected with this first Bwllfa-Merthyr company. It seems to have been reorganised in 1881. On 17 April 1890 a meeting was held at the pit head, attended by about 700 colliers, at which George was presented with an illuminated address and described as the proprietor.Porthcawl
The decision to build standard gauge in a broad gauge area prevented them from sending their coal either to CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
(via Stormy) or Blackmill via the Ely Valley Extension Railway. They therefore decided to build a new port at Porthcawl as the old tidal dock was unsatisfactory.
They obtained the cooperation of the Llynfi company and jointly obtained the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway
Llynvi and Ogmore Railway
* Ada * Una The railway owned two 0-6-0STs for goods traffic. Built by Slaughter, Grunning and Company, they were similar to the South Devon Railway Dido class built at around the same time....
s Act in June 1864. This included the new dock, to be run jointly by the two companies. This covered 7 ½ acres, had 2300 ft (701 m). wharfage, four high level loading stages and a capacity of 5,000 tons of coal per day. It cost £250,000. In July 1866 the Lynvi and Ogmore companies were amalgamated to make the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway with Alexander Brogden as chairman. When the new dock was opened on 22 July 1867 it was part of this new company. The place of honour went to the Brogden screw steamer SS John Brogden. By 1868 all lines were dual gauge so the essential motivation for the dock was no longer present.
It is not entirely clear why they built the Ogmore Valley as a standard gauge railway in a broad gauge area, forcing the decision to build a dock at considerable expense. It may have been unavoidable owing to the Gauge Act
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
of 1846. If so then perhaps it would have been cheaper to build the line as dual gauge from the start instead of building a dock. Perhaps even this was not permissible. The Llynvi Valley Railway was formed in 1861 by reopening pre-1846 lines. This is probably why it was permitted to use broad gauge. What is clear is that Brogdens sold off the Ulverston and Lancaster at about the same time as they started the Ogmore Valley Railway.
The trade of the new dock grew rapidly. In 1864 only 17,000 tons of coal passed out of the old outer basin but in 1871 the new inner dock shipped over 165,000 tons. In July 1873 the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
took it over from the Llynvi and Ogmore, guaranteeing a dividend of 6%.
At the end of January 1865 James Brogden acquired 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) of land adjoining the dock on behalf of the firm. In May 1867 he granted leases on the western side of what was to be the main street, to be called John Street in honour of his father. When Alexander later assumed control he stopped this venture. However when the firm was dissolved, Mrs James Brogden acquired the land and she and her husband established on it the nucleus of modern Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
.
Alexander Takes Charge
When John Brogden senior died in December 1869, Alexander assumed his father's position as head of the firm and came to Tondu to take control. He chose to reside in the vacant house of the co-respondent in James's divorce, despite the latter's protestations and offer to vacate Tondu House. This decision made it difficult to maintain the cordial relationship necessary to manage the business.Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company
In December 1871 the fortunes of the Brogdens began to change when the firm made an agreement with the neighbouring Llynvi Coal and Iron Company Ltd which owned a large integrated ironworks at Maesteg, six miles (10 km) north of Tondu. As a result of the agreement, the two companies merged to form a new joint stock company, the Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company which was 'floated' in May 1872. The merger was probably inevitable as, in 1870, the Brogdens were challenged by the Llynvi company in the High Court after the former company had crossed the boundary of the latter in the Coegnant district and mined large quantities of Llynvi coal without permission. The Vice-Chancellor, Sir James BaconJames Bacon (judge)
Sir James Bacon was a British bankruptcy judge and a Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery, and a member of the Privy Council....
, ruled in favour of the Llynvi Coal and Iron Co. and the Brogdens had to face a very large demand for compensation or an expensive appeal. The merger of the two companies quickly followed. Although the Brogden family were the main shareholders in the new company and Alexander Brogden was the chairman, the family, for the first time, relinquished control over their fortunes as the new company had a large number of 'vocal' shareholders in the Manchester and Southport areas who closely monitored the progress of the new venture. In 1873, during a major strike among the iron company workers in South Wales, Alexander Brogden acted unilaterally and settled amicably with the workforce a month before the strike eventually ended in the rest of the coalfield. By 1874, after a brief period of prosperity, profits slumped as the Tondu and Llynvi works faced competition from cheaper producers abroad and, more importantly, from cheap Bessemer steel. Losses accumulated until the company's debenture holders opted for voluntary liquidation in January 1878. The company would have probably survived the trade depression of the late 1870s were it not for the untimely intervention of one of the old Llynvi company's Debenture Holders, probably George Moffatt, former chairman of the Llynvi Coal and Iron Co Ltd. Moffatt decided to withdraw his large debenture holding in December 1877, a move which would have resulted in bankruptcy proceedings with disastrous consequences for the debenture holders. As a result the holders opted for the lesser evil of voluntary liquidation. The merger of 1871-2 proved to be disastrous for the Brogdens as they forfeited effective control over their Welsh enterprises at a time when the south Wales wrought iron trade was about to enter a period of terminal decline.
Metropolitan Railway
Brogdens had other difficulties. They owned the Bwllfa Colliery in the AberdareAberdare
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...
Valley (see above) and since the beginning of 1870 had supplied coal weekly to the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
at favourable prices. A draft contract had never been completed and Alexander decided to cease deliveries without notice. The Metropolitan held that the draft contract was valid and had been breached. A case
Brogden v Metropolitan Railway Company
Brogden v Metropolitan Railway Company L.R. 2 App. Cas. 666 is an English contract law case, which established that a contract can be accepted by the conduct of the parties.-Facts:...
was tried at the Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
Spring Assizes (1873), The Court of Common Pleas
Court of Common Pleas (England)
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common...
and the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
(1877), each of which held for the Metropolitan. This case is an important precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
in the law of contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
.
Work in New Zealand
Towards the end of 1870 the New ZealandNew 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...
Government, dominated by Sir Julius Vogel
Julius Vogel
Sir Julius Vogel, KCMG was the eighth Premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works...
, the, Colonial Treasurer and soon to be Prime Minister, authorised the colony's first major railway construction programme. Vogel came to London to negotiate loans and concluded an agreement with Brogdens to construct railways and provide plant to the value of £500,000. He also negotiated a much larger alternative contract, subject to Parliamentary approval, which would give the colony £ 4,000,000 of railways and 10,000 immigrants in return for transferring 3000000 acres (12,140.6 km²) of land to the contractors.
James Brogden went out to New Zealand to complete them. He left Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in August 1871 and returned to England early in 1873. The diary that he kept during his journey shows that he was engaged in very difficult and protracted negotiations. In October 1871 the New Zealand Parliament rejected the larger contract but allowed the ministry to negotiate an extension to the smaller one.
The government started their own immigration programme and also made an agreement with Brogdens that Brogdens would dispatch up to 2000 able-bodied men plus wives and children to a maximum of 6,000 adults. For this privilege Brogdens had to pay the government £10 per adult and could take promissory notes from the adult immigrants not exceeding £16 each. Brogdens hoped for great things and, under pressure from the New Zealand government began in April 1872 to ship immigrants. These immigrants, and rail workers in general in New Zealand, gained the nickname Brogdenites.
In England Brogdens were offering better terms than the New Zealand government, mainly in the sense that they paid most of the necessary costs themselves, relying on promissory notes from the immigrants, whereas the government wanted substantial payments in advance which were hard for a working man to find. For this reason the colony's Agent-General in London, Dr. Isaac Featherston
Isaac Featherston
Dr. Isaac Earl Featherston was a New Zealand politician, and was known for his advocacy for the establishment of New Zealand self-government, and the importance of the provincial governments.-Early life:...
directed staff to support the Brogden programme.
It was not easy to persuade men or families to leave their homeland. However the 1866 recession in copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
-mining in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
and bitter disputes between farmers and farm labourers assisted the recruiters. Charles Rooking Carter
Charles Rooking Carter
Charles Rooking Carter was an New Zealand contractor, politician, and philanthropist from England.-Biography:Carter was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the son of a builder, John Carter. Carter lived in London from the age of 21 and through adult education classes at the Westminster Institution,...
(1822–1896), a member of Featherston's recruitment staff who interviewed nearly all the "Brogden navvies", had been a Chartist sympathiser and an active propagandist for improved working class conditions before emigrating to New Zealand in 1850 and the campaign worked closely with the unions.
In 1872 the Company were given six rail contracts as follows:
Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and Mercer
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...
and Hutt
Hutt Valley, New Zealand
The Hutt Valley is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zealand Company in early colonial New Zealand.The river flows roughly along...
Napier
Napier, New Zealand
Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...
and Paki Paki
Picton
Picton, New Zealand
Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001...
and Blenheim
Blenheim, New Zealand
Blenheim is the most populous town in the region of Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the regional council. It has a population of The area which surrounds the town is well known as a centre of New Zealand's wine industry...
Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
and Clutha
Clutha River
The Clutha River / Mata-Au is the second longest river in New Zealand flowing south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of ,...
Invercargill
Invercargill
Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
and Mataura
Mataura
Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill....
for sections of railway totalling 159 miles (255.9 km) at a cost of £808,000.
There were considerable difficulties in the operation of the contracts and the management of the men. Brogdens got less work than they had hoped and it became available more slowly than expected. Communications between UK and New Zealand were obviously slow so it was difficult to know how many men to send at any given time. Sometimes Brogdens could not find work for the men when they arrived. Men reneged on their promissory notes. There were disputes over working hours, wages and whether they should be paid when the weather stopped the work. Gradually the men drifted away. By August 1873, 1299 men had been brought out and only 287 were working for Brogdens. Most of the men were agricultural labourers, rather than true navvies and they found local agricultural labour and working conditions more attractive than navvy work.
Consequently work was slower than expected and in 1879 the Company was in dispute with the New Zealand Government over contract payments. Bankruptcy soon followed.
Although this was not a happy result for Brogdens, the results for New Zealand and the families themselves were good. New Zealand obtained useful citizens who were very happy with their work, wages, food and social conditions. Their letters home encouraged more people to come. Many of today's New Zealanders have ancestors who were members of the families who emigrated at this time.
Other work
Brogdens built part of the NorthamptonNorthampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
and Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
Railway, from Oundle
Oundle
Oundle is an ancient market town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 5,345 or 5,674 . It lies some north of London and south-west of Peterborough...
to Peterborough. They also doubled the line from Oundle to Peterborough (contracted 11 Dec 1845).
They built sluices and tidal gates at St Germans, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, one of the outlets of The Fens
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
.
In 1850 They joined Mr 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:...
in 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...
which they held and worked for about six years. with Alexander Brogden as manager. This line ran through Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
and Alexander was elected as the first M.P.
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
of that town in 1868. This suggests a long-standing relationship with the area.
In the Netherlands Brogdens held the concession to construct about 50 miles (80.5 km) of railway – the Tilburg
Tilburg
Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
and Nijmegen in North Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...
and Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
, which formed part of the Dutch South Eastern Railway Company (DSERC) and a new direct route from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
via Flushing (Vlissingen)
Flushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...
. There was some dispute with the DSERC but the nature of this dispute is not clear.
The Mont Cenis Pass Railway
Mont Cenis Pass Railway
The Mont Cenis Pass Railway operated from 1868 to 1871 during the construction of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel. The line used the Fell design of mountain railway with three rails. The railway, opened in June 1868, was long, with a gauge of and a maximum inclination of 9 per cent. It was used...
was promoted and constructed by the firm, together with Thomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one...
, J B Fell
John Barraclough Fell
John Barraclough Fell , was a British railway engineer and inventor of the Fell mountain railway system.Fell spent the early part of his life in London, living with his parents. About 1835 he moved with them to the Lake District. In 1840, he married a 25-year-old woman named Martha in Kirkstall,...
, the Duke of Sutherland
George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland
George Granville William Sutherland Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland , styled Viscount Trentham until 1833, Earl Gower in 1833 and Marquess of Stafford between 1833 and 1861, was a British politician.-Background:Sutherland was the son of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland...
, Lord Abinger
William Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger
Lieutenant-General William Frederick Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger CB , was a British peer.Scarlett succeeded his father Robert Scarlett, 2nd Baron Abinger, in 1861. Educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, the 3rd Baron became an officer of the Scots Fusilier Guards regiment of the...
and others. This temporary "Fell Railway" operated from 1868 to 1871, and was replaced by the railway through the Mont Cenis Tunnel.
Richardson (1881) page 46 also refers to an ironworks in Finland and copper mines in Russia. An obituary of Henry Brogden refers to work in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Brogden Grove and Brogden Terrace come off Marsland Road close to the junction with Washway Road in Sale
Sale, Greater Manchester
Sale is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, the town lies on flat ground on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of the city of Manchester...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
. They are occupied by Victorian terrace houses with good front gardens. This is about 500 metres from Brooklands station on what was the Brogden-built section of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway and 400 metres from Raglan House, Raglan Road, which is where John Brogden, Sr. died. It seems likely that Brogden Grove and Brogden Terrace and their houses were a John Brogden and Sons project.
The End of the Company
The partnership of Alexander, Henry and James Brogden, trading as Brogdens from 52 Queen Victoria StreetQueen Victoria Street, London
Queen Victoria Street, named after the British monarch from 1837 to 1901 is a long street in the City of London which runs east by north from its junction with New Bridge Street in Castle Baynard Ward, along a section that divides those of Queenhithe and Bread Street , then lastly through the...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, was dissolved on 31 July 1880 by order of the Chancery Division of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice with effect from 26 July. On 11 January 1884 the liquidations of Alexander and Henry were announced in the London Gazette. They had presented petitions for liquidation estimating their liabilities upwards of £500,000 with assets of £3,830.
The properties associated with the Brogdens in 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...
and Maesteg were purchased by North's Navigation Collieries Ltd in 1889. The new company, initially led by Colonel John T. North, the 'Nitrate King', produced iron at the Tondu site until 1896 before concentrating on the booming coal trade in the Llynfi and Ogmore valleys.
Sources
- Manchester and Birmingham Railway Directors' Minutes: Public Record OfficePublic Record OfficeThe Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
RAIL 454
- Manchester and Leeds Railway Directors' Minutes: Public Record OfficePublic Record OfficeThe Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
RAIL 343
- Note: These two J D Marshalls are different people.