John Brogden Junior was the eldest son of John Brogden (1798–1869)

John Brogden (industrialist)

John Brogden was a cleansing, building and railway contractor, railway promoter, a miner of coal and iron and an iron smelter. He was brought up on a farm near Clitheroe, Lancashire. As a young man he migrated to a rapidly growing Manchester and applied his farmer's knowledge of horses as a...

. He was born in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in 1823. He was educated at the academy in Blackburn and then studied chemistry in Manchester. He joined his father’s business (John Brogden and Sons

John Brogden and Sons

John Brogden and Sons was a firm of Railway Contractors, Iron and Coal Miners and Iron Smelters operating from roughly 1837 to the bankruptcy in 1883. However the business essentially started when John Brogden moved from his father's farm near Clitheroe to set up in business in the rapidly...

) in 1846 and was closely involved with all the work. He appears to have taken a particular interest in the coal and iron mining and in the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway

Ulverston and Lancaster Railway

The “Ulverstone” and Lancaster Railway Company was short-lived as a business but the line that it built is still in daily use. The line runs from Lindal-in-Furness to Carnforth where it joins what was then the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway...

. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

 as an Associate in 1852 and was also a fellow of the Geological Society

Geological Society of London

The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...

 and a Member of the British Association

British Association for the Advancement of Science

frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...

.

Brogden died on 6 November 1855 suddenly of apoplexy

Apoplexy

Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...

 at his residence, Lightburn House, Ulverston

Ulverston

Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria in north-west England. Historically part of Lancashire, the town is located in the Furness area, close to the Lake District, and just north of Morecambe Bay....

 at the age of 32. He was preparing to chair a Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

meeting at the end of his day’s work. His early death was a serious blow to his father’s firm as well as to the family.