William Brodie

William Brodie (28 September 1741 – 1 October 1788), more commonly known by his prestigious title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar, partly for the thrill, and partly to fund his gambling.

Career

By day, Brodie was a respectable tradesman and Deacon (president) of the Incorporation of Wrights, the head of the Craft of Cabinetmaking, which made him a member of the Town Council. Part of his job in building cabinets was to install and repair their locks and other security mechanisms and repair door locks. He socialised with the gentry of Edinburgh, and met the poet Robert Burns and the painter Sir Henry Raeburn. He was a member of the Edinburgh Cape Club and was also known as "Sir Llyud".

At night, however, Brodie became a burglar and thief. He used his daytime job as a way to gain knowledge about the security mechanisms of his clients and to copy their keys using wax impressions. As the foremost lockwright of the city, Brodie was asked to work in the houses of many of the richest members of Edinburgh society. He used the money he made dishonestly to maintain his second life, which included a gambling habit and two children to five mistresses (who did not know of each other, and were unknown in the city). He reputedly began his criminal career around 1768, when he copied keys to a bank door and stole £800, then enough to maintain a household for several years. In 1786 he recruited a gang of three thieves, John Brown (a thief escaping a seven-year sentence of transportation), George Smith (a locksmith who ran a grocer's shop in the Cowgate) and Andrew Ainslie (a shoemaker).

William Brodie (sculptor)

William Brodie (January 22, 1815 – October 30, 1881) was a Scottish sculptor, operational in Edinburgh in the 19th century.

Life

He was the son of John Brodie, a Banff shipmaster, and elder brother of Alexander Brodie (1830–1867), another sculptor.

He was elected Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in 1857, and Royal Scottish Academician in 1859 . In 1876 he was appointed Secretary of the RSA, a post he held until his death.

When he was about six years old, his family moved to Aberdeen. William Brodie was later apprenticed to a plumber, but studied in his spare time at the Mechanic's Institute, where he amused himself by casting lead figures of well-known people. He soon began to model small medallion portraits which attracted the attention of John Hill Burton. It was Burton who encouraged him to go to Edinburgh in 1847. Here Brodie studied for four years at the Trustees' School of Design, learning to model on a larger scale, and also executing a bust of one of his earliest patrons, Lord Jeffrey.

William Brodie (disambiguation)

William Brodie (1741–1788) was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon and councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar.

William Brodie may also refer to:

See also