John Brogden

John Brogden was and English jeweller who worked in London in the mid-nineteenth century.  He first apprenticed for a London watch and clockmaker with a workshop at Bridgewater Square, where he became a partner with James William Garland in 1831.  He was then a partner at the firm of Watherston and Brogden, a goldsmithing firm located at 16 Henrietta Street in Convent Garden, and fully taking control of the business in 1864.  From 1881 to 1885 he worked as an ‘art goldsmith’ in the Grand Hotel Buildings in Charing Cross.

Brogden created jewels in various revivalist styles, most notably the Renaissance and Archaeological revival mode, the later much inspired by the work of the famed Italian jeweller Castellani.  Brogden exhibited in the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, the 1855 Paris Exposition, and won a gold medal for his jewellery at the 1867 Paris Exposition.  His success at these fairs not only won him royal patronage, at the 1878 Paris Exposition he was praised by the Castellani for his submissions.