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- John
Brogden & Sons of Manchester
- Brogdens
in Oxfordshire
- Brogdens
in Yorkshire
- Brogdens
in Lancashire
-
Brogdens in London
- Brogdens
in New Zealand
- Brogdens
in the USA
- Australian
Brogdens
- Brogdens
in Canada
- Norfolk
Brogdens
-
Lincolnshire Brogdens
- Warwickshire
Brogdens
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John
Brogden & Sons of Manchester
The story
of John Brogden (1798 – 1869) is of an energetic entrepreneur
who progressed from being the son of a Lancashire farmer (who himself
progressed from tenant farming to owner-occupancy) via horse breeding,
street cleaning contracts in Manchester and London (using a patent machine),
constructing and promoting railways, mining and iron production in Staffordshire,
Bristol and South Wales, other civil engineering projects at home and
abroad (including Holland, Australia, South America and New Zealand)
and forming in 1846 a trading partnership with several of his sons that
was very successful for several years. All this was achieved without
formal training as an engineer although he did receive grammar schooling
in Clitheroe. He seems to have had the knack of choosing his workers
well and of being well trusted by his backers. Smiles (1872) writes
of his energy, drive and daring. Even allowing for Smiles’ Victorian
hyperbole, John Brogden’s funding and construction of the Ulverston
to Lancaster railway with its difficult route around Morecambe Bay (a
project which even the great George Stephenson contemplated but did
not proceed with) marks a high point in his career. It enabled his own
iron ore to be transported more easily from Barrow and paved the way
for Barrow’s prosperity. John Brogden’s is not quite a rags
to riches story but it is a remarkable one, never-the-less.
John’s
death in 1869 preceded the company’s decline in fortunes but the
high levels of borrowing to finance expansion began to be problematic
when the expected profits from the New Zealand enterprises, the depression
in the iron and coal industries and expensive litigation, some within
the family itself, took their toll. In fact, cash flow may already have
become a problem before John’s death as his will provided for
delays in the payments of his daughters’ inheritances for five
years. In the event, the younger daughter had to sue the brothers to
gain her dues.
John’s
second son, Alexander (JP; MP) had become company chairman. By 1878
the South Wales interests were in receivership; the company was dissolved
in 1880 and two of the sons filed for bankruptcy in 1884. Fourth son
James rescued the Brogden’s reputation in South Wales after the
bankruptcy by continuing to work with his wife Mary on the development
of Porthcawl as a port and town. The Brogdens are remembered fondly
in the area, including in street names and the Brogden Hotel. There
are also commemorative street names in the Manchester area, such as
Brogden Grove in Sale.
The fifth
son, George, being too young to join the partnership when it was established,
later made his own way as a successful civil engineer and colliery owner
and was thus not drawn into his brothers’ downfall.
John Brogden
had seven grandchildren and four of these were males to carry the surname
forward. It has not yet proved possible to find any male great-grandchildren.
Grandson *Arthur John seems to have had no children;
James had a daughter, Edith; Duncan Dunbar, who spent a few years in
the army in India and died relatively young, appears not to have married;
George Alexander who became a family doctor in Southampton married Grace
Elizabeth but it is not known if they had any children. For the moment,
it would appear that the branch of the Brogdens that produced John Brogden
and his enterprising sons, had run out of male heirs by the end of the
1930s.
Of the
female lines, little is currently known, other than through the descendants
of Samuel Budgett who married John Brogden’s elder daughter, Sarah
Hannah. His agreement to act as a trustee to John Brogden’s will
brought him financial disaster. His descendant, David A Budgett and
David’s cousin, Robin E Brogden Budgett, have maintained a strong
interest in the John Brogden history.
- Currently
under preparation and awaiting archeological exploration (and thus
only open at present to pre-arraged visitors) is PARC TONDU,
where John Brogden's ironworks near Porthcawl in South Wales can
be seen. The lift, engine houses, coke ovens, kilns, blast stoves
and furnaces, rolling mills and offices are available to view as
part of a guided tour. Before long the site will be fully open to
visitors. Parc Tondu as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Speak to Laura Hilton on 01656 727810 or email tonduironworks@groundworkbnpt.com
to arrange a visit.
*
The 1881 Census lists Arthur John as a landowner, living at 13
Hereford Square, London with his wife and three staff. Tom Metcalfe's
memoire says that “After the “great loss of money,
Arthur took to the church.” Alumni Cantabrigienses notes
that he was ordained Deacon in 1883 and Priest in 1884 at the
church of St Barnabas, Cambridge. He died a year later, aged only
31. The Furness Masons website (www.FurnessMasons.org) describes
Arthur John as a founder member of the Grange-over-Sands Lodge
which is named after him and where hangs a portrait donated by
a fellow mason in 1916. He had been a mason whilst at Cambridge.
Arthur John nominated his uncle, Alexander, to be a member in
1877. Alexander resigned in 1879 and Arthur John in 1882. It is
not known if Arthur John had any children. Click
here to see the photo.
Many
thanks to John Martin for calling attention to the link with the
Masons and for supplying the photograph and to the Lodge Committee
for their permission to add the photo to this website.
Updated
09/04/2007
Further
articles on John Brogden and his family to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article
*Adobe
Acrobat Reader required for his article. To download a free copy,
go to:
www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
This
will take a few minutes to load but the Reader will enable you to
view other documents on this website that use the format.
See also the
article on John Brogden & Sons in www.wikipedia.org (compiled
and contributed by his descendant, David Budgett)
Updated 08/11/2007
Brogdens
in Oxfordshire
Our study
of the Brogdens began with the Oxfordshire Brogdens and their descendents.
The big, unanswered question is whether they were direct migrants from
Yorkshire where the name originated or whether the Oxfordshire Brogdens
have a different ancestry. Much further work needs to be done to trace
the name before it appears in the Bampton, Oxfordshire, church records
in 1709 and the Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, church records in 1710.
The Stanton Harcourt registers refer to a George Brog(den)'s death in
1740. Perhaps it was the same George who married Elizabeth Brown in
Bampton on 1 October 1709. This George is the first recorded Brogden
to be found in Oxfordshire (so far) - assuming George Brog was a Brogden.
Did his parents live in the area or did he move here, perhaps at the
time of his marriage?
The Stanton
Harcourt church records go back to 1566 but the first mention of George
is the birth of a daughter, Mary, in 1710. It is not clear whether the
George who died in 1740 was the father or the son who was born in 1719.
The records do not tell us. Another question is raised by the record
that Elizabeth Brogden ("wife of George") died in 1718. Elizabeth
Brown married George the elder in 1709 so this is most likely the Elizabeth
who died in 1718 - but, if this is the case, who was the mother of George
the younger (1719), Richard (born 1721 and from whom all subsequent
Oxfordshire Brogdens seem to descend, Hannah (1723) and Benjamin (1726)?
We do know that George was a blacksmith, a trade that would have been
much in demand on the Stanton Harcourt estate, but where was he emplyed?
Several
hundred Brogden descendents of George have been found, not only in records
in Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties in England but also in New
Zealand, Australia and the USA.
One theory
is that George came from neighbouring Warwickshire where Brogdens are
found in various records that pre-date the Oxfordshire Brogden records
- see, for example, the information on Edward
Brogden in this website, who was a Member of Parliament in the 1550s.
A discovery
in the Warwickshire County Record Office database (see www.a2a.pro.gov.uk)
is that a John Brogden of Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, received a quitclaim
(renunciation of any claim against a right to land) from Thomas Denton
of Besselsleigh on 28 March 1547. Besselsleigh was then in Berkshire
but now in Oxfordshire and is close to the area in which the Oxfordshire
Brogdens flourished. This may be a simple co-incidence but Warwickshire
borders Oxfordshire and there are other intriguing references in the
database to Brogdens in the Warwickshire area: Thomas Brogden, a draper,
in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1574; Sir John Brogden, minister, who won
a dispute with King Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries
and had property reinstated; Edward Brogden, "gent" (of Worcester,
who may be related to the MP mentioned above) in 1547. A visit to the
Warwickshire record Office is called for.
Further
articles on the Oxfordshire Brogdens to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article:
Updated 11.04.2006
Brogdens
in Yorkshire
Brogden
was (and continues to be) a rural place name, near Barnoldswick, in
the old West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is now in the county of
Lancashire. The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names (Ekwall; 1966) lists
Brogden and its first documented mention as Brokden (1307 in the Pudsay
Deeds). Brogden = brook dene = the valley of the brook.
In the
Yorkshire West Riding edition of Phillimore's English Surnames Series
(George Redmonds; 1973) Brogden is identified as a distinctive local
surname, which "flourished in the rural north of the Riding" and can
be found not only in the 1379 poll tax records but in the earlier sources
noted by George Redmonds. (See below)
Queries
frequently arrive from Brogdens worldwide whose ancestors came from
Yorkshire. It is usually the case that links between these Brogdens
cannot yet be made.
Articles
on the Yorkshire Brogdens to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article
Brogdens
in Lancashire
Over the
years, many Brogdens migrated from Yorkshire to neighbouring Lancashire
and census and other records show large numbers right up to the present
day. As with Yorkshire, queries frequently arrive from Brogdens worldwide
whose ancestors came from Lancashire and it is usually the case that
links between these Brogdens cannot yet be made. Much
work needs to be done on these researches.
Lincolnshire
Recently
Tony Brogden retired from an Estate Agency which carries his name in
Lincoln. His relative, Anne Brogden, who lives in Liverpool has researched
her branch of the Lincolnshire Brogdens and concludes that they came
from London in the early 1800s. One, Thomas John Nathaniel Brogden was
twice mayor of Lincoln. Anne's grandfather, John Ellet Brogden (1837
- 1875) produced a fanciful family history by combining various unrelated
Brogdens from several sources, including James Brogden the MP (see elsewhere
in this website) and another James, the infamous vicar of Deddington,
Oxfordshire (to be found in the Oxfordshire section).
Articles
on the Lincolnshire Brogdens to be found on this website:
Click the
title to view the article
Brogdens
in New Zealand
Many of
the New Zealand Brogdens are related to emigrants from Oxfordshire but
others came from various places in the UK. See the Oxfordshire Brogdens
Family Tree for NZ connections. The railway contractor, John Brogden
& Sons, built some railways in New Zealand but lost money in the
process. His efforts to ship railway labourers to NZ are described in
"The Brogden Navvies" in the links below.
Articles
on the New Zealand Brogdens to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article
Link to "The Farthest Promised Land:"
For
a website transcript of Rollo Arnold's book, "The Farthest Promised
Land - English villagers, New Zealand Immigrants of the 1870s"
published in 1981 and now out of print, click on the link below. This
book has the chapter on the Brogden Navvies which is summarised in the
article above (see John Brogden and Sons of Manchester). Rollo Arnold
also includes a reference to John Bragden, an immigrant
to NZ from Oxfordshire. This is in fact John Brogden,
a member of the Oxfordshire branch and not directly related to John
Brogden of Manchester.
www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-ArnFart.html
Brogdens
in the USA
There were
no Brogdens on the Mayflower but plenty of Brogdens from various parts
of England found their way to America on other ships. Most of the Brogden
contacts in the USA have been unable to trace records of the arrival
of their ancestors but some are able to pinpoint their roots in England.
Some spell the name with DEN and about as many use DON.
One group
of contacts has been pooling their researches, although the various
branches of Brogdens/dons do not always fit together. They have produced
a large collection of information and memories. The first reference
in the list below holds examples from some of their researches, reproduced
with their kind permission. To make contact with the research, email
Bill Brogdon in
the USA. Their website is at www.genealogy.com/users/b/r/o/Khatrain-Brogdon
Articles
on the Brogdens in the USA to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article
Australian
Brogdens
- The Oxfordshire
Brogdens' family tree shows several links with Australia, both because
of direct migration and of migration from New Zealand.
- Neil
Brogden of Ballarat has traced his ancestors back to John who was born
in Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire, in 1792. His son, John Thomas, born
in 1830, went to Australia in 1848.
Articles
on the Brogdens in Australia to be found in this website:
Click on
the title to view the article
Brogdens
in Canada
- Recent
contacts in Canada reveal a branch of the Brogdens who went to Canada
from Sabden in Lancashire. It has not yet been possible to identify
them positively but it seems likely that they descend from James Brogden
who was recorded as a householder of Brogden Farm, Sabden in 1828. A
photograph of Brogden Farm from the early 1900s appears in this website.
(See Places and Maps) For the moment, it is assumed that Brogden Farm
got its name from the Brogdens who lived there. The Canadian descendant
hopes to collect more information.
-
Two
or three other Canadian Brogdens made contact in 2003/4 but so far,
there are no documented links between them. Stephanie Brogden traces
her ancestors to Eward from Yorkshire. Christine Cross has Brogden
ancestors. Geoff Brogden's father went to Canada in 1906.
Carolyn Preston writes (08/07/2004):
Once upon
a time, long long ago, in a land far far away (from me, but not from
you) a boy was born. (I think it was 1826 - this is based on him being
55 in the 1881 census) in Sabden, Lancashire. I have another date
of birth for him as being November 5, 1835. Sometime before 1870,
he immigrated to Canada (Ontario) where he worked as a brewer and
was a member of the Masons. This is in Galt, Ontario. He then married
(again before 1870) a Jean Duncan, somewhere in Ontario. He is listed
as living in Brantford, Ontario in a director for 1865/66. On October
18, 1870, they had a son, Samuel Stirling Brogden (family story is
that the middle name was Stirling because that's where Mum's family
was from). The 1881 census tells us that the James (who was a brewer
in Galt) had a son
Samuel, aged 12, so this all makes sense so far. Other children of
this marriage included Eva (born 1872 - who married a Mr. Norman Burnett
of Red Deer, Alberta), Mabel (born 1878 - who married a Mr. D.P. McColl
(or McCall) of Red Deer and who was a teacher in 1902 in Calgary,
Alberta), Dora (born after May 1891 who married a Mr. Alex Hume),
Lydia (a.k.a. Lil - born after 1891) who married a Mr. Bangs and lived
in California, John (born after 1891), and Harry (born after 1891).
At
some point, the Brogden family or portions of it, came out and homesteaded
in the Calgary area. The nearest town is Midnapore, which is now part
of Calgary. James was a member of the Masons here as well. Samuel
married a Maud Dames, a nurse, on November 6, 1901. Maud's birthday
was August 17, 1870 and she was born in Ontario. There were four children
of this marriage. Jean Stirling Brogden (Born August 27, 1903 - my
paternal grandmother), John Brogden, Jeffrey Stirling Brogden (who
died when very young) and Harry Bertram Brogden. James eventually
moved to California to live with his daugher (Mrs Bangs) and died
there on June 5, 1930.
Many
thanks to Carolyn.
Other
branches needing research:
Norfolk
There are
Brogdens recorded in the area from as early as 1687 when Richard Brogden
was an Alderman of Norwich.
Brogdens in
London
There are a lot of
Brogdens to research in the London area. Of those on whom we have some
information, some went to London to be servants; some ran businesses
(see Brogden
Artists, Performers, Businesses & Products);
a couple lived there as Members of Parliament; one family moved from
London to Lincolnshire (see above); one inherited all of a famous Bishop's
tenancies.
Warwickshire
Brogdens
are recorded as landowners as early as 1546 and in trades such as drapery
(1574), weaving (1809), baking (1881 but this one is known to come from
the Oxfordshire branch) and butchery (1611).
Updated:03/05/2006
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