Abraham Broadbent
Born 1868
Died 3 September 1919
Active: 1899 - 1919
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, stonemason, stone carver, architectural sculptor
Born Shipley, Yorkshire. He was the son of William P. Broadbent (born c. 1835 in Shipley, Yorkshire), stonemason and brother to Samuel, who was also a stonemason c.1881. Broadbent studied at the South London Technical School of Art in the mid-1890s and was awarded the Sculpture Studentship in 1895 (£50 per annum for two years). He may have worked on a project in Morecombe, Lancashire in 1896, because his son Eric Raymond was christened there in August of that year and he gave his occupation as 'Sculptor's Assistant'.
In 1912 William Silver Frith stated Broadbent 'has arrived at the acknowledged position of being one of our first architectural sculptors.' [William Silver Frith's report on the modelling class (December 1912) for the annual report of the 'City and Guilds South London Technical School of Art, session 1911-12', p. 6] Broadbent was also considered one of the best of his generation by Kineton Parkes in 1921 and, according to Ward-Jackson (2003), he was renowned for his carving in the English baroque manner. He created portraits of Huntington Shaw and Thomas Tompion for the Aston Webb facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum (1905), an extensive programme of carving for the School Hall at Eton (1904-8), and a work entitled 'The White Man's Burden' for the Union Government Building, Pretoria, South Africa (1913),
This record includes information submitted by Angela Dodd-Crompton.
Wealth at death: £4,087 0s. 5d.
Probate date: 23 October 1919
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Address Hirst Mills Shipley England | View on map
1871 (Circa)
Address 1 Myrtle Place Shipley England | View on map
1881 (Circa)
Address 43 Pembridge Road Notting Hill London England | View on map
1895 (Circa)
Address 68 Ormeley Road Balham London England | View on map
1896 (Circa) - 1898 (Circa)
Residential address given whilst lodging or visiting Morecombe.
Address 5 Fulham Studios Walham Green London England | View on map
1899 (Circa) - 1918 (Circa)
Address 192 Hydethorpe Road Clapham London England | View on map
1901 (Circa) - 1904 (Circa)
Residential address
Address 8 University Mansions Putney London England | View on map
1906 (Circa) - 1907 (Circa)
Address Stamford Villa 446 Fulham Road London SW England | View on map
1910 - 1915 (Circa)
Address 436 Fulham Road London SW England | View on map
1918 - 1919
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Sixth Exhibition, 1899
'Plaster model for a carved overdoor'
Exhibited at Art Workers Guild, Third Exhibition, 1905
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1901 - 1919
Exhibited 12 times, eighteen works in all (ideal works, statuettes, reliefs, garden statuary, portraits and a number of designs for architectural and decorative schemes, given media includes bronze, silver and marble)
Institutional and Business Connections
Invited to join Royal Society of British Sculptors
2 March 1905 - 3 April 1905
Amongst the suggested second wave of those invited to join 'without further nomination' [2 March 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I]: but name removed from list following further discussion at next meeting [3 April 1905, Royal Society of British Sculptors, Minutes of Council Meetings, Vol.I].
Member of Art Workers Guild
May 1901 - 1919
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1906 - 1919
Died in 1919.
Studied at South London Technical School of Art (also Lambeth School of Art and City and Guilds of London Art School)
1895 (Circa)
Awarded the Sculpture Studentship in 1895 (£50 per annum for two years), duration of study unknown. [William Silver Frith's report on the modelling class (December 1912) for the annual report of the 'City and Guilds South London Technical School of Art, session 1911-12', p. 6]
Personal and Professional Connections
Mother/father/parent of Eric Raymond Broadbent
Nominated by William Silver Frith
15 January 1906
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Seconded by Thomas Stirling Lee
15 January 1906
For membership of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin, Gem, and Seal-Engravers, Mint Masters, &c., Ancient and Modern with References to their Works, B.C. 500 - A.D. 1900, Volume VII, 1923 Biographical Dictionary of Medallists
Listed as a contemporary sculptor who was living in London. Exhibited two reliefs in bronze and silver at the Royal Academy, London, in 1906. See Forrer, vol. 7, (1923), p. 123.
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Stone Carver (Mason)' working on own account
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor' and 'Modeller in Clay' working on own account at home
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
'Worsted Bobbin Pegger' (five other siblings involved in the cotton trade although father was a stonemason)
Occupation given in Lancashire, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1911
'Sculptor's Assistant'
Occupation given in West Yorkshire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921
1895
'Stone Carver'
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1901-1912
1902, p.10; 1905, p.10.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Sixth Exhibition.
1899
p.71, p.129.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 4475 folio 45 page 37
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
Class: RG13; Piece: 468; Folio: 30; Page: 1.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN336 RG78PN10 RD3 SD4 ED33 SN46
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Abraham Broadbent
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1868
Registration District: Bradford
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume: 9b
Page: 198
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Abraham Broadbent
Probate Date: 23 Oct 1919
Death Date: 3 Sep 1919
Death Place: Middlesex, England
Registry: London
Lancashire, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1911
2012
Name: Eric Raymond Broadbent
Baptism Date: 8 Aug 1896
Parish: Morecambe, St Barnabas
Father: Abraham Broadbent
Mother: Sarah Ellen Broadbent
Reference Number: Pr 3270/1/1
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Public Sculpture of the City of London Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Five
2003
p. 452
Report of the South London Technical School of Art (City and Guilds of London Institute), 1897
July 1897
p. 8
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
2 March 1905; 3 April 1905; 15 January 1906.
Sculpture of To-day: America, Great Britain and Japan, vol. 1
1921
pp. 122, 127, 233
West Yorkshire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921
2011
Name: Abraham Broadbent
Birth Year: abt 1869
Age: 26
Marriage or Bann Date: 21 Jan 1895
Parish: Bradford, St Peter (Bradford Cathedral)
Father's Name: William Pitts Broadbent
Spouse's Name: Sarah Helen Mitchell
Spouse's Father's Name: Jonathan Mitchell
Citing this record
'Abraham Broadbent', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1206488617, accessed 29 Sep 2023]
