The amazing story of the nefarious Deacon Brodie of Edinburgh

Deacon William Brodie was one of the most notorious figures in 18th-century Edinburgh, a man who embodied both respectability and criminality in a single, extraordinary life. 

Born in 1741 to a prosperous family, Brodie inherited his father’s cabinet-making business and eventually became a respected member of Edinburgh society. 

He served as a Deacon of the Incorporation of Wrights, a position of authority in the city’s trades, and a member of the Town Council. However, beneath this veneer of respectability lay a dark and dangerous secret.

By day, Brodie was a highly skilled craftsman, creating fine furniture for the city's wealthiest citizens. He was also entrusted with the keys to many homes and businesses, which he would copy and use for more nefarious purposes. The respectable councilman had a taste for gambling, luxury, and an extravagant lifestyle he could not afford. To fund his vices, Brodie turned to crime.

He formed and led a gang of burglars, using his insider knowledge of Edinburgh’s wealthiest households to plan and execute robberies. His detailed understanding of locks and his access to the homes of the rich made him an ideal criminal. With his gang, he embarked on a series of daring heists, robbing cashboxes, shops, and houses across the city, all while maintaining his facade as a respectable citizen.

For years, Brodie managed to juggle both his lives with remarkable success. He lived in two separate homes to keep his affairs secret, maintaining a mistress and children in one, while continuing his official life in the other. His duplicity was so well managed that many who knew him had no inkling of his criminal activities.

The turning point came in 1788, when Brodie and his gang attempted an audacious robbery at the Excise Office, hoping to secure a large sum of money. The plan went disastrously wrong, and Brodie’s criminal associates were caught. Fearing betrayal, Brodie fled to the Netherlands, leaving his gang to face justice. But his luck ran out. He was eventually captured, extradited to Scotland, and put on trial.

At his trial, Brodie’s dual life was laid bare for all to see. The citizens of Edinburgh, who had once respected him as a pillar of society, were shocked by the depth of his deception. Despite his attempts to argue his innocence, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

On 1 October 1788, William Brodie was hanged at the Tolbooth, ironically on a gallows he is said to have helped design. His life became the stuff of legend, inspiring stories, songs, and plays for centuries to come. Perhaps most famously, Brodie’s double life provided the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, capturing the duality of good and evil that can exist within a single person.

To this day, Deacon Brodie remains a symbol of Edinburgh’s dark history, a man who lived two lives—one as a respectable tradesman and the other as a master of crime.