Locksmith by Day, Bank Robber by Night | The Life of Deacon Brodie

What's up guys, it's Oli from History Profiles and today's video will be about the notorious robber, William Brodie. William Brodie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1741. Not much is known about Brodie's early life except that he came from humble origins and his father was a cabinet maker. Brodie then began an apprenticeship and slowly but surely became a master of his craft. His work was so good that eventually he was regarded as the best locksmith and cabinet maker in Edinburgh. This led him to supply furniture to the richest people in Edinburgh. Brodie worked his way up the social ladder, becoming a deacon of the incorporation of rights, which locally controlled the craft of cabinet making. This gave him the name he was known as, Deacon Brodie. He even became a member of the town council which made him a trusted and influential man. He even mixed with the social elite such as the poet Robert Burns and the painter Henry Rayburn and he was also a member of the Edinburgh Cape Club. William Brodie was now mixing with very influential people in Edinburgh. Also his work was so good that his customers even let him have access to their homes to install furniture and fit locks. However, while Brodie was a hard-working respectable family man during the day, by night he was a robber and a thief. Known to frequent underground gambling pits in the city and he mixed with the most dangerous people you could think of. He robbed, gambled and also had two mistresses who between them he had five illegitimate children with. Brodie was a clever man, using his daytime trade to gain information about the security mechanisms of his customers and used wax impressions to get a copy of their keys so he could later break into their homes or businesses whenever he thought it was safe. Brodie's gambling problem was out of control and a lot of the wealth he obtained was gambled away in the backwater of the city. Who would have thought that a man could lead such a double life? Brodie began his life of crime in 1768 where he took the leap to forge a copied bank door key and stole 800 pounds which in today's worth would be roughly 136,000 pounds. Brodie showed signs of an addictive personality, he was addicted to gambling, women and now with this huge successful heist he couldn't get enough of the rush that he got when robbing huge amounts of money. In 1786 he took his activities to the next level as he recruited a gang of three thieves, John Brown who was a wanted thief on the run for a seven-year sentence, George Smith who was another locksmith and also ran a grocery shop in Cowgate and Andrew Ainslie a shoemaker. Between them they launched many successful heists and robberies across the city even stealing Edinburgh University's silver mace. The gang were becoming more brazen planning an armed raid on his majesty's excise office in Chesil's court. Brodie was meant to act as the lookout but he fell asleep while the robbery was taking place, as a result the authorities were alerted to the robbery and no one was there to let the gang know so they had little time to get away. The whole gang were nearly caught red-handed but they managed to escape, however Andrew Ainslie was captured and arrested by the authorities. Ainslie was then questioned and when the authorities told him he would be facing death due to his crimes unless he gave up his accomplices, he quickly gave them the information they needed. John Brown and George Smith were then quickly arrested after remaining in the city due to the fact that they thought Ainslie wouldn't give them up. But you know the old saying, there's no honour amongst thieves. The only free man amongst the gang was now Deacon Brodie. Realising that his capture was now inevitable he fled to London and then made his way to Amsterdam where he would attempt to lay low, hoping the whole situation would blow over. His plan was to make his way to the United States where he would be out of reach from the law and could live there a wealthy man with a fresh start. However he was arrested while boarding the ship bound for North America and was shipped back to Edinburgh for trial. The trial of Deacon Brodie began on the 27th of August 1788. The evidenced against him were the copied keys, disguises and pistols which were all found in his house and workshops. In addition to these facts, there were testimonials from other members of the gang who had been persuaded by authorities to cooperate. These members were Brown and Ainslie. Based on this evidence, the judge found Deacon Brodie guilty and he was sentenced to death by George Smith, the only member of the gang apart from Brodie, was also sentenced to death due to him not cooperating. Brodie's story doesn't finish there. Although now known as a criminal, Brodie still had influence in Edinburgh and had forged many friendships with both high and low classes of society. His time as a Deacon and his time in the underground gambling pits seemed to have paid off. Before he was hanged, he bribed the man escorting him out of his cell to fit him with a steel collar and a silver tube to prevent his hanging from being fatal. He'd also bribed the executioner to ignore it and for him to be cut down quickly so that he could be revived. Deacon Brodie and his friend George Smith were hanged at the old tow booth building in Edinburgh on the High Street on October 1788 in front of a crowd of 40,000 people. Not long after the execution, it is said that Deacon Brodie was spotted in Paris by multiple people. Whether he died or not that day, we'll never know for sure due to him attempting to cheat death and with the sightings after his alleged death. Deacon Brodie is now commemorated by a pub in Edinburgh that is named after him. He was also the inspiration behind the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde novel and the author Robert Louis Stevenson was fascinated with the story of Deacon Brodie as Deacon Brodie himself had supplied his father with furniture. Thanks for watching guys. If you enjoyed the video be sure to hit that like and subscribe button. I've got more content coming every week so I hope to see you guys there. Every Thursday at 12 UK time the content's going to be there. Let me know what you guys want to watch, what kind of content you want to see and hopefully I'll see you guys next week. Bye.