John Brogden

John Brogden (2 February 1798 – 9 December 1869) was a railway industrialist. He formed the company John Brogden and Sons with four of his five sons.

Early life Brogden was born on 2 February 1798 on his father's farm at Worston, near Clitheroe in Lancashire. He was raised in Worston and at another farm near Clitheroe. He was educated at Clitheroe Grammar School.

He formed the company John Brogden and Sons, after the eldest four of his five sons came of age and joined him in business. He took iron-mining leases in Furness. They quickly saw that a rail link from Furness to the rest of England and Wales was critical to the industrial development of Furness so they promoted the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway to run across Morecambe Bay from Carnforth to Ulverston, with the Ulverstone and Lancaster Railway Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. cii) receiving royal assent in 1851. This was an innovative, challenging and risky project but it was eventually completed in 1857 and soon purchased by the Furness Railway.

Beginning in 1853 the family expanded into South Wales buying mining leases and an Iron Works in the Llynfi and Ogmore Valleys. They developed these vigorously, also building a railway in the Ogmore Valley and a new harbour at Porthcawl.

Personal life In 1822 he married Sarah Hannah McWilliams, only daughter of Alexander McWilliams of Hazelhurst near Ashton-under-Lyne. She had been educated at the Moravian School in Dukinfield . From an early age Brogden was a Methodist and in later life he contributed generously in time and money to Methodist and other good causes.

Alexander Brogden, born Manchester 3 November 1825, married Ann Garstang 6 September 1848 at Manchester Cathedral.,

Henry Brogden, born Manchester 1828, married Sarah Ann Marshall on 11 September 1862 in Stockport, died at Hale Lodge, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire in 1913. She died in 1905.

Mary Jane, referred to as Jenny, married William Billing in Manchester Cathedral on 18 December 1867 and at one time they lived at Dunham Grange, Bowdon, Cheshire.

Legacy

In his will he left his business to his sons Alexander, Henry and James but he also set up a trust for Mrs Billing of £7,250 and previously a marriage settlement of £10,000. The trustees were: Alexander and James Brogden, and Samuel Budgett. For five years from his death the partners were empowered to use the trust money in the business but after that they had to provide evidence of good assets that were independent of it. They failed to do this so that, from December 1874, all the trustees were in breach of trust and therefore all individually liable to replace all the assets of the trust. No doubt they hoped that the firm would pull through. In fact, Brogdens failed in 1880 and Mary Billing sued the trustees for the money. The action "Billing vs. Brogden" was tried in 1887 and appealed in 1888 with the result that Samuel Budgett, the only solvent trustee, had to replace all the trust's missing money himself. The partnership of James, William and Samuel Budgett, trading as H.H. & S. Budgett, broke up. James and William each ended up successfully running his own part of the old firm as a separate enterprise. Samuel and two of his sons also got a small piece but rapidly went bankrupt.