Henry Broadwood

Henry Broadwood (8 August 1795 or 1793 – 1878)[1][2] was a British Conservative politician.[3]

Henry Broadwood
Member of Parliament for Bridgwater
In office 16 May 1837 – 7 July 1852 Serving with Charles Kemeys-Tynte II (1847–1852) Thomas Seaton Forman (1841–1847) Philip Courtenay (Aug. 1837–1841) Charles Kemeys-Tynte I (May. 1837–Aug. 1837)
Preceded by	John Temple Leader Charles Kemeys-Tynte I
Succeeded by	Charles Kemeys-Tynte II Brent Follett
Personal details
Born	8 August 1795
Died	1878 (aged 82–83)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative

He was a younger son of John Broadwood (by his second wife) and came from the famous piano-making family who owned John Broadwood & Sons, and supplied Beethoven with his favourite piano. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1813.[4] He became a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King George IV in 1826, continuing under William IV after 1830.[5]

After unsuccessfully contesting the 1835 general election for Bridgwater, Broadwood became Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the same seat at a by-election in 1837—caused by the resignation of John Temple Leader. He then held the seat until 1852 when he did not seek re-election.[3][6]

On 19 May 1840 he married Fanny Lowther (1818-1890) at Saint Martin in the Fields, a few hundred yards from the homes of both. She was the "natural" (illegitimate) daughter of the unmarried Viscount Lowther, the future William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, also a Tory MP, who had been a friend of George IV. By a later liaison of her mother with Dr Charles Lewis Meryon, Fanny Lowther was the half-sister of the French artist Charles Meryon who she helped support to the end of his life. She was living with her father at 15 Carlton House Terrace at her marriage, and received a dowry of £10,000.[7] After Lowther's death in 1872 Fanny was left £125,000.[8]

They had two sons and a daughter, Mary, who died young (1851-66). The elder son was Arthur Broadwood (1849-1927), who retired from the army as a colonel in 1906, a year after being made Companion of the Royal Victorian Order. He had five children. His brother was Alfred Broadwood (1856-1909), who also had children.[9]

Broadwood had been left £20,000 and a country house in Essex at his father's death in 1812. Most of this was invested by his trustees in a partnership in a Lion Brewery in London (apparently not the Lion Brewery Co in Lambeth). But the business, perhaps neglected by Broadwood, was not a success,[10] and in 1848 his "fortune collapsed", and for the rest of his life he lived in Tunbridge Wells, though remaining an MP until 1852.[11]

Notes

1. Collins, 92 has 1793; Rayment 1795
2. Rayment, Leigh (30 August 2018). "The House of Commons: Constituencies beginning with "B"". Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
3. Stooks Smith, Henry (1845). The Parliaments of England, from 1st George I., to the Present Time. Vol II: Oxfordshire to Wales Inclusive. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. p. 30. Retrieved 28 October 2018 – via Google Books.
4. Collins, 92
5. Collins, 92
6. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
7. Collins, 92
8. Collins, 268
9. Collins, 270
10. Collins, 92
11. Collins, 269

References

• Collins, Roger, Charles Meryon: A Life, 1999, Garton & Company, ISBN 0906030358, 9780906030356

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Mr Henry Broadwood