Francis Alfred Broad

Francis Alfred Broad JP (1874 – 3 January 1956) was a Labour politician in the United Kingdom who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Municipal Borough of Edmonton during the years 1922–1931 and 1935–1945.

One of the founder members of the Amalgamated Instrument Makers Trade Society, Broad was president when, in 1920, the union joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). He remained a member of the AEU until his death, He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1893. In May 1924, Broad led a delegation of the birth control movement to the then health minister, Clydesdale MP John Wheatley. The delegates included H. G. Wells, the Hon. Mrs Bertrand (Dora) Russell, Dr Frances Huxley, and others. Wheatley dodged the issue with the pronouncement "A clear distinction must be drawn between allowing access to knowledge, and actually distributing knowledge". and The organised worker: problems of Trade union structure and policy; a report by the Industrial Policy Committee published by the Independent Labour Party (Great Britain). Broad was part of the Empire Parliamentary Association 1926 delegation to Australia chaired by the Marquis of Salisbury. At the civic reception in the Sydney Millions Club on the day of arrival, 17 September 1926, Broad said "A country like Australia is capable of absorbing a great number of people and the problem must be precipitated in a proper spirit of understanding".

He was made a justice of the peace in 1933. Broad announced in 1944 that he did not intend to stand as a parliamentary candidate again, saying, "The world is rather cluttered up with older men". He was awarded the freedom of Edmonton in September 1946. Eliza Broad née Macer and three sons.