Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/395

 'Deacon Brodie, or the Double Life.' Two etchings of him by Kay will be found in the first volume of 'Original Etchings,' Nos. 105 and 106.

 BRODIE, WILLIAM (1815–1881), sculptor, eldest son of John Brodie, a shipmaster of Banff, was born at that place on 22 Jan. 1815. About 1821 the Brodie family removed to Aberdeen, where William was apprenticed to a plumber. He devoted his evenings, however, to scientific studies at the Mechanics' Institution, and developed a singular dexterity in making instruments for his own experiments. He amused himself in casting leaden figures of notable personages. He also seems to have painted in oil, and after his marriage in 1841 is said to have produced a considerable number of portraits. His peculiar talent for modelling medallion likenesses on a small scale attracted much attention, and especially that of Sheriff Watson and Mr. John Hill Burton, by the latter of whom he was encouraged to migrate to Edinburgh in 1847. There he studied for four years in the Trustees' School of Design; essayed modelling on a larger scale, and executed a bust of Lord Jeffrey, one of his earliest patrons. About this time Brodie spent some months at Rome, where he modelled a figure of Corinna, the lyric muse, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1857, a full member in 1859, and secretary in 1876. He is believed to have executed more portrait busts than any other artist. His ideal works included the 'Blind Girl,' 'Hecamede,' 'Rebecca,' 'Ruth,' 'The Maid of Lorn,' 'Amy Robsart,' 'Sunshine,' 'Storm,' and 'Memory.' Brodie executed four busts of the queen, one of which is in Balmoral Castle, the colossal statue of the prince consort at Perth, and one of the representative groups in bronze for the Scottish memorial to the prince in Edinburgh. Amongst other works are the bronze statue of Dr. Graham, master of the mint at Glasgow, and of Sir James Young Simpson at Edinburgh, and the marble statue of Sir David Brewster in the quadrangle of the university building, Edinburgh, and of Lord Cockburn in the Parliament House of the same city. He executed portrait busts of most of the celebrities of his day. Not long before his death Brodie received a commission for a statue of the Hon. George Brown, a prominent Canadian politician, for the city of Toronto. After two years of decline Brodie died on 30 Oct. 1881 at Douglas Lodge in Edinburgh.

 BRODRICK, ALAN, (1660?–1728), Irish statesman and lord chancellor of Ireland, came of a family which for several generations had been settled in Surrey. He was the second son of St. John Brodrick by Alice, daughter of Sir Randal Clayton of Thelwall, Cheshire, and was born about 1660. The family of Brodrick had greatly profited by the forfeitures in Ireland. Alan, eldest brother of St. John, was on 19 March 1660 appointed one of the commissioners for settling the affairs of Ireland, and shortly afterwards received a grant of 10,759 acres. St. John, who had taken an active part in the civil wars beginning in 1641, received in 1653 a large grant of lands in the barony of Barrymore, Cork, which was supplemented, under the Act of Settlement in 1670, by an additional grant of lands in the baronies of Barrymore, Fermoy, and Orrery, the whole being erected into the manor of Midleton. The wealth, ability, and political activity of the Brodricks gave them an influence in Ireland almost equal to that of the Boyles. Brodrick adopted the profession of law. Having taken an active part in behalf of William of Orange, he was, along with his brother, attainted by the Irish parliament of James II, a circumstance which probably assisted his early promotion under William. On 19 Feb. 1690-1 he was made king's serjeant, and on 6 June 1695 he was appointed solicitor-general for Ireland, an office in which he was continued after the accession of Queen Anne. He entered the Irish House of Commons in 1692 as member for the city of Cork, and on 24 Sept. 1703 he was chosen speaker. On account of his liberal views in regard to 'Toleration,' and of his opposition to the Sacramental Test Act, he lost the favour of the government, and when the house refused to pass some bills promoted by the lord-lieutenant he was removed from the office of solicitor-general. When, however, the appointment of Earl Pembroke to the viceroyalty was determined on, he was, 12 June 1707, appointed attorney-general for Ireland. As Lord Pembroke deemed it impossible to obtain the repeal of the Test Act in the Irish parliament, Brodrick went to England to persuade the government to propose its repeal in the English parliament, but without success. In May