Cecil Broad 1905 - 1978
by Dave Palmer.
Cecil Broad served his apprenticeship as a fitter at Devonport Dockyard. During this time he drew football cartoons for The Western Evening Herald. In 1936 he moved to Barrow-in-Furness as an Admiralty Overseer at Vickers Shipbuilding. His stamp can still be found on some of the systems on HMS Alliance.
During the Second World War shipbuilding was outstripping the capability of Chatham Dockyard to produce badges for the ships, this was further exacerbated when Churchill decreed that Submarines should have names and badges. Cecil's drawing skills soon became known and he started producing designs for vessels built at Barrow, mostly but not exclusively Submarines. These badges were carved in the shipyard and then the badges were cast. Where appropriate the designs were submitted to the Ships Badge committee as can be seen by comparing Cecil's designs with the sealed patterns, most of the designs were used as a basis for the sealed patterns with slight alterations, possibly to justify the Heralds fees. A copy of his design for Tenacious was framed and presented to Winston Churchill, and a copy of one of the Polish designs was sent to General Sikorski.
Apparently when approached by Lt. Ian Fraser to produce a design for Sigyn he pleaded pressure of work and the need to dig his two allotments, whereupon Lt. Fraser offered the services of a group of matelots to complete the latter task. Some of the original drawings are autographed on the reverse by the crews in the case of X-Craft and by just the officers of other submarines.
In 1961 he left Vickers and moved to Birmingham where he became a quality control officer checking on firms producing items for the MoD. He finally retired to Southampton in 1966.
Following is a list of badge designs he is known to have produced:
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