With the sudden death of his elder brother John in 1855[3] and the increasing age of his father, it can be assumed that he gradually took control of the business in the late 1850s[1] and assumed full control on his father's death in 1869. During the 1860s he and his wife resided at Holme Island, Grange-over-Sands, This is now in Cumbria but was then in North Lancashire.[4]
The Brogden family had a majority holding in the Ulverston Mining Co. in 1857. Alexander became the sole lessee in 1872.[5]
Brogden unsuccessfully contested Great Yarmouth as a Liberal in July 1865, but was elected as the first member for Wednesbury in December 1868 and represented that constituency for 18 years.[6]
In 1881 it was claimed that, when Parliament was not in session, he might be found in the space of 10 days in: Ulverston, Westminster, Cardiff, Paris, Holland and St Petersburg.[1]
Alexander Brogden died at 88 Lansdown Road, Croydon on 26 November 1892 at the age of 67. The Times records that he had been ailing. He was sitting by the fire and accidentally fell against the grate while attempting to stir the fire, receiving severe burns. He left a widow and a married daughter. Alexander Brogden and his wife also had a son, James Garstang Brogden, who died before his father. He was born in 1850 and died in 1885.[4][6]
.[8]
^ abcdRichardson, Joseph (1881), Barrow in Furness, Its History, Development, Commerce, Industries and Institutions, p. 43
^Stuart, Edgar; Sinton, John M. (1990). The Solway Junction Railway. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN0-8536-1395-8. OCLC25654930.
, page 9 is a photograph of an invitation to the cutting of the first sod on 28 March 1865, in which the chairman's name is given as "Alex. Brogden". James Brunlees is named on page 5.
^"Obituary: John Brogden", Proc. Inst. Civil Engrs, 15: 95–96, 1855
^ abHiggins, L.S. (Summer 1978), "The Brogden Pioneers of the early industrial development in Mid-Glamorgan", National Library of Wales Journal, XX (3): 240–252 [1]Archived 15 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine