Broadbent, Sir William Henry
1835-1907

Physician to Queen Victoria and other members of the Royal Family. He was born at Lindley, Huddersfield on 23 January 1835. His father John Broadbent (1796-1880), a mill owner, had been educated at the Moravians' Fulneck School and joined the Wesleyans. In 1837 he laid the foundation stone of the new WM chapel at Longwood, where he became one of its main supporters. William, as well as his brother Butterworth (d. 1873), attended Huddersfield College. At 17 he was apprenticed to a Manchester doctor and was later appointed clinical clerk at Manchester Royal Infirmary. From 1857 he studied inParis. In December 1858 he was appointed Obstetric Officer at St. Mary's Hospital, London, where he remained as a physician until 1896. In 1860 he gained the University of London MD. and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1893 he was made a baronet, was appointed Physician Extraordinary to Queen Victoria in 1898 and in the same year received an honorary LLD from Edinburgh University. On first coming to London he continued to worship with the Wesleyans, but later became an Anglican. He died at Wendover on 10 July 1907.

Sources
  • M.E. Broadbent, Life of Sir William Broadbent Brt., KCVO (London, 1909)
  • WM Magazine, 1910, pp.113-115

Occupations

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Person
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