Sir Nigel Broackes (21 July 1934 – 29 September 1999) was an English businessman and the founder of Trafalgar House, one of the United Kingdom's largest contracting businesses.

Career

Born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, Broackes was the son of solicitor Donald Broackes and artist Nancy Rowland (née Tansley) Broackes. His father died in 1943 whilst serving in the Army, leaving only a small estate. With his mother denied a war pension as her husband had died of natural causes, Broackes was raised in straitened circumstances. His paternal grandfather, despite having been on bad terms with his son, left money for his grandson's education. Broackes was educated at Brambletye School in Sussex and Stowe School, and joined ''Stewart & Hughman'', a firm of

Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...

s, on leaving school. He then did

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

from 1951 to 1953 with the

3rd Hussars The 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and the Second World Wars, before being amalgamated with the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, ...

, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the ...

in 1953, leaving in 1954 After completing his national service, Broackes returned to Stewart & Hughman for a short time before deciding to go into business himself; three "unsuccessful and diverse ventures" in house conversion, hire purchase, and tool-making used up most of the inheritance he received from his grandfather, but he came to realize the development potential of London bomb-sites. He worked for a West End estate agent for a short time to learn the property business, and a stockbroker friend of his mother helped him come into contact with potential financial backers. Using his last remaining asset, a small apartment block, and with the support of ''Eastern International'', a small finance house, he started buying up bomb sites in London. Eastern International became Trafalgar House and Broackes took a 21% stake in the business when it was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

in 1963. In 1964 the Company took a 49% stake in ''Bridge Walker'', a construction company owned by Victor Matthews. After that Broackes and Matthews worked together to build Trafalgar House into one of the United Kingdom's largest contracting businesses. Trafalgar House owned the Cunard Line from 1971 to 1998. Broackes resigned in 1992 following heavy losses associated with a diversification into offshore activities. In 1979 Broackes became chairman of the

London Docklands Development Corporation The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its seventeen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an a ...

, from which post he resigned in 1984. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed for his role at that organisation in 1984. He died in 1999 in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and is buried in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon. His estate was valued at over £16 million; his wife, who died in 1993, left an estate of over £5 million.

Family

He was married (as her second husband) to Joyce Edith Horne, née Skidmore; they had two sons and a daughter.

Career

Family

Arms

References

Further reading