{{Short description|English businessman; founder of Trafalgar House}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Nigel Broackes | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Nigel Broackes | birth_date = 21 July 1934 | birth_place = Wakefield, Yorkshire, England | death_date = 29 September 1999 (aged 65) | death_place = Chelsea, London, England | death_cause = | education = Brambletye School<br /> Stowe School | alma_mater = | occupation = Businessman | known_for = Founder of Trafalgar House | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | boards = | spouse = Joyce Edith Horne (née Skidmore) | children = 3 | parents = | relatives = Grace Beverley (granddaughter) | website = }}
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, 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.<ref name=odnb>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-72953|title=Broackes, Sir Nigel (1934–1999), financier and industrialist|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/72953 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |last1=Moss |first1=Michael S. }}</ref> Broackes was educated at Brambletye School in Sussex and Stowe School, and joined ''Stewart & Hughman'', a firm of Lloyd's underwriters, on leaving school.<ref name=odnb/> He then did national service from 1951 to 1953 with the 3rd Hussars,<ref>Debrett's People of Today, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1995, p. 249</ref><ref name=odnb/> and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps in 1953,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39877|supp=y|page=3099|date=2 June 1953}}</ref> leaving in 1954<ref>Who was Who, vol. X, 1996-2000, St Martin's Press, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001, p. 67</ref>
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.<ref name=odnb/> Using his last remaining asset, a small apartment block,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/10/11/sir-nigel-broackes-british-magnate-dies/05fae38d-a2e1-4eb8-b86a-408bbc817890/|title=Sir Nigel Broackes, British Magnate, Dies|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref> and with the support of ''Eastern International'', a small finance house, he started buying up bomb sites in London.<ref name=odnb/> Eastern International became Trafalgar House and Broackes took a 21% stake in the business when it was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1963.<ref name=odnb/> In 1964 the Company took a 49% stake in ''Bridge Walker'', a construction company owned by Victor Matthews.<ref name=odnb/> After that Broackes and Matthews worked together to build Trafalgar House into one of the United Kingdom's largest contracting businesses.<ref name=odnb/> Trafalgar House owned the Cunard Line from 1971 to 1998. Broackes resigned in 1992 following heavy losses associated with a diversification into offshore activities.<ref name=odnb/>
In 1979 Broackes became chairman of the London Docklands Development Corporation, from which post he resigned in 1984.<ref name=odnb/> He was knighted for his role at that organisation in 1984.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=49966|page=17387|date=27 December 1984}}</ref>
He died in 1999 in Chelsea. His estate was valued at over £16 million; his wife, who died in 1993, left an estate of over £5 million.<ref name=odnb/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/wills-1405462.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/wills-1405462.html |archive-date=20 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Wills|date=September 18, 2011|website=The Independent}}</ref>
==Family== He was married (as her second husband) to Joyce Edith Horne, née Skidmore; they had two sons Justin and Simon, and a daughter Victoria who is the mother of Grace Beverley.<ref name=odnb/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sorkin |first=Andrew Ross |date=1999-10-10 |title=Sir Nigel Broackes, 65, British Entrepreneur |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/10/business/sir-nigel-broackes-65-british-entrepreneur.html |access-date=2025-05-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon = Vair three castles triple-towered in pale Gules. |crest = A demi-dragon rampant wings elevated Gules armed and langued Azure holding in the dexter claw a goblet Or. |motto = Ausculta Discesque <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/12652055445/in/album-72157641255806714/ |title= Goldsmiths Hall, 85 Broackes N |date= 13 July 2009 |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=22 November 2020}}</ref>}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|first=Nigel|last= Broackes|title=A Growing Concern|year=1979|publisher=Littlehampton Book Services|isbn=978-0297776543}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broackes, Nigel}} Category:1934 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:British chairpersons of corporations Category:English business executives Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at Brambletye School Category:People educated at Stowe School Category:Royal Armoured Corps officers Category:Military personnel from Wakefield Category:Businesspeople from West Yorkshire