John Broadbent
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Research by Liz Bickerstaffe
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John Broadbent was a wealthy third-generation cotton spinner and manufacturer who grew up in Broughton, Salford, where he was a director of the family business, John Broadbent & Sons. (1) The business was established by his grandfather, John Broadbent of Oldham, who became a master cotton spinner employing 80 hands by the age of 42, over 120 men, women and boys by the age of 52, and 170 people a decade later in 1881. (2)
The business, operating 24,000 spindles in 1891, was based at Oakfield Mill in Droylsden. By the same year the company had expanded to include Dawson’s Croft Mill in Greengate, Salford, running 11,000 spindles. (3) They were spinners and doublers at a time when demand was at its peak. John Broadbent Snr and his wife, Sarah Lees, had two sons, Henry, the elder, and James Lees, born in 1849. They took over the running of the business after their father’s death in 1882. James Lees Broadbent raised his family of two sons and two daughters in Broughton, Salford - William Chadwick, Sarah Lilian, Alice Mary and John, born 1888, the youngest. (4) John Broadbent remained single, living at the family home, Ridgemont House on Bury New Road in Kersal. His father died on 30 March 1925 at Elsinore, Fairhaven Road, St Annes on Sea, and his mother, Jane, died in Wilmslow in August 1937. By 7 February 1945, when John Broadbent died, he had moved to Ridge Hill, Castle Hill, Prestbury, Cheshire, leaving the substantial sum of nearly £146,000. (5) He donated 2 paintings each with a frame label stating '... title ... presented to the Borough of Lytham St Annes March 1931 by John Broadbent Esquire of Manchester. Landing the Catch by Alfred John Bennett,1861-c1923, acc no 35 Winter in Holland by Julius Bayer,1840-1883, acc no 3 |
REFERENCES
(1) Skinners Cotton Trade Directory 1923 (2) Ancestry, Census Returns 1861, 1871 & 1881 (3) Worrall’s Cotton Spinners Directory 1891 (4) Ancestry, Census Returns 1871, 1881 & 1901 (5) Ancestry, Wills and Probate Index |
