Benjamin Broadbent.

About Benjamin Broadbent

Benjamin Broadbent Sr. (1813–1862) was a prominent English master builder, stonemason, architect, businessman and civic benefactor. In 1840 in Leicester, he established his firm that would later become a renowned family enterprise, Broadbents Ltd. The firm was first established in partnership as Broadbents & Hawley, a Leicestershire building and masonry firm which specialised in stone and marble masonry, gravestone cutting, ecclesiastical restoration, Gothic Revival design, monumental masonry and architectural carving. The partnership was dissolved in 1854, after which Broadbent carried the business forward independently and later as Broadbent & Son, which serviced builders' merchants and roofing contractors and secured major commissions including Overstone Hall. By 1861 Broadbents' company was regarded "as one of the acknowledged best and most liberal provincial firms."