Francis Broderip

Francis Broderip (1788 - 17 July 1871) was a solicitor of Lincoln's Inn, art collector, and philanthropist. In 1866 he gave £20,000 of Brazilian bonds to the Middlesex Hospital, London, on condition that the gift was kept secret during his lifetime. He also endowed the Law Society's Broderip Prize of a gold medal to a promising young lawyer. In 1987 the Broderip Ward was opened at the Middlesex Hospital, the first ward dedicated to the care and treatment of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom.

Francis Broderip
Born1788
Middlesex, England
Died17 July 1871
2 Gower Street, London, England
OccupationSolicitor
Known for
  • Art collecting
  • Philanthropy

Early life

Francis Broderip was born in Middlesex, England, in 1788 to Francis and Ann Broderip.[1] He was christened at St Andrew's Church, Holborn, in March 1788.[2]

Personal life
Broderip's home at 2 Gower Street, Bloomsbury. Later the home of women's suffrage pioneer Millicent Fawcett.

Broderip lived at 2 Gower Street in London's Bloomsbury district, in a house that was later occupied by women's suffrage pioneer Millicent Fawcett (1847-1929) and is now a grade II listed building.[3]

Career
One version of The House of Cards by Jean Chardin. The version that Broderip owned has not been identified.

Broderip practiced as a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn. He endowed the Law Society's Broderip Prize of a gold medal to a promising young lawyer.[4]

In 1866 he gave a gift of £20,000 4% Brazilian bonds (equivalent to £1,971,156 in 2021) to the Middlesex Hospital on condition that the gift was kept secret during his lifetime. His name was released as the donor immediately after his death.[5]

He had a large art collection that was sold by Christie, Manson & Woods after his death in a sale of more than 1,500 lots that lasted nine days and included works in oil, watercolour, drawings, bronzes, ivories, porcelain, miniatures, and furniture. There were five works by J. M. W. Turner, The Little Scribe by William Etty, landscapes by Thomas Creswick, Boy with a House of Cards by Jean Chardin, and a Scene from Le Diable Boiteux by Augustus Egg.[6][7] The image of a boy building a house of cards has traditionally been interpreted as a metaphor for the fragility of life and the temptations facing the young.

Death and legacy

He died at his home of 2 Gower Street, London, on 17 July 1871, leaving an estate of under £160,000 which was later resworn as under £180,000.[8] (equivalent to £17,830,588 in 2021) The sale of his pictures in February 1872 raised £20,000 which was donated to the Middlesex Hospital.[9] The same year, the governors of the hospital created two Broderip scholarships in his memory[10][11] and the Clayton Ward was renamed the Broderip Ward.[9]

In 1987 the Broderip Ward was opened at the Middlesex Hospital, the first ward dedicated to the care and treatment of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom.[12]

References
  1. Francis Broderip England and Wales Census, 1861. Family Search. Retrieved 5 March 2021. (subscription required)
  2. Francis Broderip England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Family Search. Retrieved 6 March 2021. (subscription required)
  3. "NUMBERS 2 TO 20 AND ATTACHED RAILINGS, non Civil Parish - 1322173 | Historic England".
  4. "The Law Society's Prizes", The Law Journal, 20 January 1894, Vol. 29, p. 49.
  5. "The Middlesex Hospital". British Medical Journal. 2 (553): 156. 5 August 1871. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2261591.
  6. "The Valuable and Extensive Collection of Works of Art of the late Francis Broderip, Esq.", Advertisement, The Athenaeum, No. 2309 (27 January 1872), p. 99.
  7. "Sales", The Athenaeum, No. 2313 (24 February 1872), p. 248.
  8. 1871 Probate Calendar, p. 168.
  9. Shaw, C. D.; Winterton, W. R. (1983). The Middlesex Hospital: The names of the wards and the stories they tell (PDF). Hertford: Stephen Austin and Sons Ltd. p. 14.
  10. "New Scholarships at the Middlesex Hospital". British Medical Journal. 1 (592): 483. 4 May 1872. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2297439.
  11. Campbell Thomson, H. (1935) The Story of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School: Written at the request of the council of the medical School on the occasion of the centenary. London: John Murray. p. 165.
  12. "‘Gay men were dying of Aids at a terrifying rate’: visiting my friend on the HIV ward", Hannah Booth, The Guardian, 24 November 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
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