Broster

Life
The BROSTER family, were printers of Chester and Bangor. PETER BROSTER printed an edition of Y Llyfr Plygain at Chester in 1783. In 1807 JOHN BROSTER started in business at Bangor; he was probably the John Broster who had been apprenticed to W. C. Jones, printer, Chester. John Broster's son, CHARLES BROSTER, was owner, publisher, and printer in 1817 of The North Wales Gazette, a newspaper of which the first number had been produced at Bangor on 5 Jan. 1808; on 4 Oct. 1827 it became The North Wales Chronicle, its owner and printer then being JOHN BROWN (d. 1847), who had also served his apprenticeship in the Chester office of W. C. Jones. In the meantime John Broster and his son had continued to print and publish at Chester. They issued Tour from Chester through North Wales in 1802, whilst at least two Welsh books were issued by them in 1807.

Brosters's were based at The Exchange, Chester.


 * BROSTER, PETER, stationer, bookseller, printer and antiquary, of Chester (The Exchange) ; son of THOMAS BROSTER, alderman, and father of JOHN BROSTFR (q.v.) ; freeman 6 June, 1766 (C.F.R.); publisher of The Chester Guide and Directory, 178o, and later editions; printer of a Sermon preached at Mold 13 Jan. 1793, by Rev. ED. PARRY; Tlte Poetic Works of the Rev. WILLIAM SMITH, D.D., late Dean of Chester . . . by [Rev.] THOMAS CRANE. Chester: Printed for T. CRANE by P. BROSTER, 1788, price 1s. 6d., 27 + 24pp. ; The Explosion, a Poem, by a Chester Citizen. Chester: Printed for the Author 1773. Sold by T. LONGMAN, and P. BROSTER in Chester. Sheriff 1776 and mayor of Chester 179I ; died 2 Feb. 1816, aged 75 (M.I. Chester Cath.). " At a very advanced age, Mr. JOHN [sic, for PETER] BROSTER, Esq., many years a respectable bookseller and one of the aldermen of that city " (Gent. Mag., March, 1816). Will proved Chester, 30 July, 1816. The local historical collections of PETER BROSTER were given by the first Duke of Westminster to the Chester Archeological Society, and many of his notes and communications offered to the Gent. Mag. have been printed in the Cheshire Sheaf.

Works

 * The Chester Guide Or, an Account of the Antient and Present State of that City. ... To which is Added, a Directory: Containing an Alphabetical List of the Clergy, Merchants, Tradesmen, &c. in the City and Market Towns in the County (1781)


 * History of the siege of Chester during the civil wars in the time of king Charles I (1800)


 * The Chester Guide or, an Account of the antient and present state of that city ... To which is added a directory: containing an alphabetical list of the clergy, merchants, tradesmen, &c. in the city and market towns in the county. The second edition, with additions and corrections. Embellished with a perspective view, and a ground plan of the city. By Peter Broster (1810)

Sources and Links

 * Ifano Jones, History of Printing and Printers in Wales.