S9.com / Biographies /
1741 - William Brodie was born.
- Brodie was a respectable businessman, member of the burgh council and deacon (or president) of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons.
- 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.
1768 - He reputedly began his criminal career, when he copied keys to a bank door and stole £800.
1786 - He recruited a gang of three thieves, Brown, Smith and Ainslie.
- He organised an armed raid on an Excise office in Chessel's Court on the Canongate. Brodie's plan failed and Ainslie was captured.
- The trial started on the 27th of August. At first there was no hard evidence against Brodie before the tools of his criminal trade were found in his house; copied keys, a disguise and pistols. The jury found Brodie and his henchman George Smith, a grocer, guilty. Smith was an English locksmith, he was responsible for a number of thefts, even stealing the silver mace from the University of Edinburgh.
1788 - Brodie and Smith were hanged at the Tolbooth on the 1st of October, using a gallows Brodie had designed and funded the year before.
- Deacon Brodie is commemorated by a pub of that name on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, on the corner between the Lawnmarket and Bank Street which leads down to The Mound, and a close (or alleyway) off the Royal Mile has been named after him, there is also a pub in Ward Road, Dundee named after him.
- William Brodie died.
- Brodie was a respectable businessman, member of the burgh council and deacon (or president) of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons.
- 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.
1768 - He reputedly began his criminal career, when he copied keys to a bank door and stole £800.
1786 - He recruited a gang of three thieves, Brown, Smith and Ainslie.
- He organised an armed raid on an Excise office in Chessel's Court on the Canongate. Brodie's plan failed and Ainslie was captured.
- The trial started on the 27th of August. At first there was no hard evidence against Brodie before the tools of his criminal trade were found in his house; copied keys, a disguise and pistols. The jury found Brodie and his henchman George Smith, a grocer, guilty. Smith was an English locksmith, he was responsible for a number of thefts, even stealing the silver mace from the University of Edinburgh.
1788 - Brodie and Smith were hanged at the Tolbooth on the 1st of October, using a gallows Brodie had designed and funded the year before.
- Deacon Brodie is commemorated by a pub of that name on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, on the corner between the Lawnmarket and Bank Street which leads down to The Mound, and a close (or alleyway) off the Royal Mile has been named after him, there is also a pub in Ward Road, Dundee named after him.
- William Brodie died.
  | Page last updated: 8:03pm, 28th Aug '07 |
Related Books
  |
The Shack by William P. Young (Paperback - May 1, 2007) Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon...  Usually ships in 24 hours |
 |
  |
The Lace Reader: A Novel by Brunonia Barry (Hardcover - Aug 1, 2008) Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Brunonia Barry dreamt she saw a prophecy in a piece of lace, a vision so potent she spun it into a novel. The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid... Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
  |
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution by T. J. English (Hardcover - Jun 1, 2008) In modern-day Havana, the remnants of the glamorous past are everywhere—the old hotel-casinos, vintage American cars, and flickering neon signs speak of a bygone era that is widely familiar and...  Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
  |
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max (Paperback - Jan 1, 2006) My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers,... Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
  |
Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Hardcover - Oct 2, 2006) Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or... Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
  |
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Seventh Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) by Kate L. Turabian (Paperback - Apr 15, 2007) Dewey. Bellow. Strauss. Friedman. The University of Chicago has been the home of some of the most important thinkers of the modern age. But perhaps no name has been spoken with more respect than... Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
