John Broadbent

Research by Liz Bickerstaffe

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, the youngest. (4)

John Broadbent remained a single gentleman, 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, in Prestbury, leaving the substantial sum of nearly £146,000. (5)

Although it was never recorded, it is plausible that the paintings were donated in memory of a friend or a possible relative, Leonard Broadbent of Mill Holme, 13 Central Beach, Lytham, who died in April 1931, shortly before the paintings were offered to the corporation in May.  He was a retired lawyer, whose father, Robert, established the Phoenix Ironworks in Stalybridge, which supplied the cotton industry with machinery. Robert and James Lees Broadbent would have been contemporaries with businesses operating in the same region, whilst Leonard Broadbent was widely known himself in East Lancashire for his work in the legal profession.

Perhaps John Broadbent chose to donate Landing the Catch to represent the idea of cockling on Lytham shores, a scene which Leonard might have observed from his home, and which depicts the harvest of labour at the end of a day. The second painting, Winter in Holland, also appears to have connections with the coast, given the tall masts of the ships that can be seen moored in the distance alongside the right hand bank with a windmill on the left, reminiscent perhaps of Lytham Windmill, a well-known local landmark. However, the focus of the painting is on an idyllic wintry setting with people taking advantage of the icy conditions to enjoy skating and sledging on the frozen water.
 

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