Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/357

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Broadhead
295
Broome

wounded with an air-gun by Samuel Crookes at Broadhead's instigation, and in January 1859 a can of gunpowder was exploded in the house where Linley lodged. Finally, Broadhead hired Crookes and James Hallam to shoot Linley. On 1 Aug. 1859 he was shot in the head in a public-house in Portland Street, and died from the effect of the wound in the following February. Broadhead afterwards stated that he had given express injunctions that Linley should not be injured in a vital part. On 24 May 1859 he employed two men to explode a can of gunpowder in the chimney of Samuel Baxter of Loxley, a saw-grinder who refused to join the union. In October James Helliwell, another non-unionist, was injured by the explosion of half a can of gunpowder in his trough, and Joseph Wilson, Helliwell's employer, had a can of gunpowder exploded in his cellar by Crockes on 24 Nov. After an unsuccessful attempt by Crookes to blow down a chimney at Messrs. Forth's works, considerable damage was done by Crookes and Hallam, at Broadhead's suggestion, to the works of Messrs. Wheatman & Smith, who had introduced machinery for grinding straight saws. These outrages continued, though with less frequency, until 1866. Broadhead constantly protested his entire innocence, styling the attempt on Messrs. Wheatman & Smith 'a hellish deed,' and on another occasion offering a reward for the detection of the offender. When Linley was shot he wrote letters expressing his abhorrence. He even imputed attacks on manufactories to the jealousy of rival employers. Notwithstanding these protestations it was suspected that the union was cognisant of many of the crimes committed. The editor of the 'Sheffield Daily Telegraph' was especially active in attacking Broadhead, and in seeking evidence against him. Every effort at detection, however, failed in spite of the offer of large rewards. Under these circumstances it was felt that unusual concessions must be made to arrive at the truth. An attempt to blow up a house in New Hereford Street on 8 Oct. 1866 finally induced government to take action. On 5 April 1867 an act was passed directing examiners to collect evidence at Sheffield regarding the organisation and rules of the union, and empowering them to give a certificate to any witness who gave satisfactory evidence protecting him from the effect of his disclosures. The examiners under the act sat at Sheffield from 3 June to 8 July. Broadhead was among the numerous witnesses examined. His air at first was confident: he flourished his gold eye-glass and patronised the court. The testimony of Hallam and Crookes, however, established his complicity in a number of misdeeds, and he was driven in self-protection to make a full avowal of his practices. He admitted having instigated one murder, that of Linley, and twelve other outrages, besides many smaller offences.

At the conclusion of the proceedings Broadhead received a certificate under the act, and on 13 Aug. the saw-grinders' union refused to expel him on the ground that his deeds were the result of the want of properly regulated tribunals to bind workmen to what was 'honourable, just, and good.' He found himself, however, unable to endure the general contumely. His health failed. The magistrates revoked the licence of the Royal George on 22 Aug. 1867, and refused to grant him a licence for a beershop. A subscription was made for him among the trade workmen, and he emigrated to America in November 1869; but, failing to find employment, eventually returned to Sheffield, where he kept a grocer's shop in Meadow Street until his death. In 1876 he had an attack of paralysis, and for the last twelve months of his life he was almost helpless. He died in Meadow Street on 13 March 1879. He married Miss Wildgoose of Loxley, by whom he had nine children. His wife survived him.

Broadhead was introduced by Charles Reade into his novel 'Put Yourself in his Place,' under the designation of Grotait.

[There is an excellent memoir of Broadhead in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 17 March 1879; Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 17 March 1879; Trades Unions Commission, Sheffield Outrages Enquiry, vol. ii., Minutes of Evidence (1867), pp. 222-51; Ann. Eeg. 1867, Chron. 73-9, 245-8; Hunter's Hallamshire, ed. Gatty, 1869, pp. 217-22; Gatty's Sheffield, Past and Present, 1873, pp. 292-9.]

E. I. C.

BROOME, Sir FREDERICK NAPIER (1842–1896), colonial governor, born in Canada on 18 Nov. 1842, was the eldest son of Frederick Broome, a missionary in Canada, and afterwards rector of Kenley in Shropshire, by his wife, Catherine Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Napier. He was educated at Whitchurch grammar school in Shropshire, and in 1857 emigrated to Canterbury in New Zealand, where he engaged in sheep farming. In 1868 he published 'Poems from New Zealand' (London, 8vo), and in 1869 'The Stranger from Seriphos,' London, 8vo. In 1869 he returned to England, and was almost immediately employed by the 'Times' as a general contributor, reviewer, and art critic. He also Wrote prose and verse for the' Cornhill,' 'Macmillan's,' and