Welsh Journals

In 1832 John Brogden, having lived in Manchester for some years and having engaged in many business transactions with the authority, successfully tendered for a contract in which he undertook to carry out the cleansing and watering of the town. Not long afterwards he was again engaged in carrying out contracts for municipal authorities. In 1843, as a partner of Joseph (later Sir Joseph) Whitworth, he contracted to sweep the streets of Manchester with Whitworth's patent machines. In the next year he and Whitworth entered into a similar contract with the Westminster authority. Brogden then established an office in London in order to supervise the working of this contract and also to control more effectively the railway contracts he had undertaken. In 1838, with the financial backing of a banker who appreciated his qualities, Brogden successfully tendered for the construction of the first section of the Manchester and Leeds (later the Lancashire and Yorkshire) Railway. The contract, which involved much heavy work and included the construction of a long viaduct with high arches, was so successfully carried out that Brogden was invited to tender for certain sections of the Manchester and Birmingham part of the London and North Western Railway, then being constructed, and his tenders were accepted. The result was that from about 1845 Brogden, with the assistance of his eldest sons, very largely devoted himself to the numerous activities connected with his many railway contracts. Among the lines he constructed were the Ashton-under-Lyne branch of the London and North Western Railway, the Manchester, Altrincham and Bowdon Railway, and the East Lancashire section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire system. The Brogdens had also become interested in the exploitation of the very high quality haematite deposits in Furness and in the export of the ore to South Staffordshire and South Wales. They had taken leases of ore-bearing territory, and by the end of 1850 they were developing mines and installing winding machines and pumps. Mineral statistics reveal that in 1855 'Brogden & Co' was one of the eight main haematite companies then operating in Furness and that in the following year 200,000 tons (43%) of the ore shipped from Barrow came to South Wales. In March 1857 the Brogdens and a friend leased several hundred additional acres of ore-bearing territory. During the 1850s their interest in the haematite mines involved the Brogdens in railway promotion as well as construction. Nine-tenths of the ore mined in Furness was carried by the Furness Railway to Barrow to be shipped. The resulting prosperity of the railway company led to increased interest in railway promotion in the area and to rival schemes being proposed. In the absence of a railway the Brogdens sent their ore by road to South Staffordshire and, because the indentations of the rivers Kent and Leven involved a long detour, they proposed the construction of a railway from Ulverston across the estuaries to join the Lancaster and Carlisle Railways at Carnforth. Since this anticipated moves by others and involved major engineering problems, it became necessary for the Brogdens to take full responsibility for the line.