Respected members of Edinburgh society, the Brodie family traced their distinguished lineage to the Brodies of Brodie Castle in Moray. Francis Brodie, the eldest son of the barrister Ludovick Brodie of Whytfield, embarked on a traditional and rigorous training, serving a decade-long apprenticeship before establishing himself as a master cabinetmaker.
By the mid-eighteenth century he had founded an extremely successful workshop in the city, which not only secured his own reputation but also positioned him as a prominent figure within Edinburgh’s civic and professional life. His craftsmanship and entrepreneurial acumen earned him both commercial success and social esteem, allowing him to take his place among the respected artisans and merchants who shaped the cultural and economic fabric of Enlightenment Edinburgh.
Yet Francis’s considerable achievements have long been overshadowed by the notoriety of his eldest son, William Brodie, better known to history as Deacon Brodie. Trained in his father’s workshop and inheriting the practice on Francis’s death, William established himself as an accomplished cabinetmaker and joiner. His position in the city was further elevated in 1781 when he was elected Deacon of Wrights and Masons, a role that conferred civic responsibility and public standing. However, William’s professional accomplishments concealed a darker reality. Leading a notorious ‘double life’, he indulged in gambling and financed his excesses through burglary and theft, exploits that culminated in his arrest and execution in 1788.
