council, and on 28 Oct. of the same year he married the relict of John Urquhart of Craigston, by whom he had a son and daughter. He was a strong presbyterian, and, in December 1640, headed a party which demolished two oil paintings of the Crucifixion and the Day of Judgment in the cathedral of Elgin and also mutilated the finely carved interior of the building as unsuitable for a place of worship (Spalding, Memorials of the Troubles in Scotland). This extreme puritanical zeal exposed him to the revenge of Montrose, who, in February 1645, burned and devastated his property, and, according to Shaw (History of the Province of Moray), carried off the family papers of the house of Brodie. Brodie in 1643 was chosen to represent the county of Elgin in parliament, and frequently served on parliamentary committees. He was also elected a representative to the general assembly of the church of Scotland. On 6 March 1649 he was appointed a commissioner to meet Charles II at the Hague, and after his return he was on 22 June nominated a lord of session. He took the oaths in presence of the parliament on 23 July, and took his seat on the bench on 1 Nov. In February 1650 he was sent as commissioner of the general assembly to Breda, to induce the king to sign the national covenant. He was also a member of the various committees of estates during the attempt of Charles to wrest from Cromwell his dominion. In June 1653 he was cited by Cromwell to London to arrange for a union between the two kingdoms, but did not obey the summons, and 'resolved,' as he expressed it, 'in the strength of the Lord to eschew and avoid employment under Cromwell.' He retired to his estate until Cromwell's death, when, on 3 Dec. 1658, he again look his seat on the bench. At the Restoration he was superseded, and was also subjected to a fine of 4,000l. Scots. In 1661 he paid a lengthened visit to London. He died on 17 April 1680.
[The Diary of Alex. Brodie, from 25 April 1652 to 1 Feb. 1654, was published in 1740 by an unknown editor. The complete Diary, from 1650 to 17 April I680. with a continuation by his son, James Brodie (1637-1708), to February 1685, was published by the Spalding Club in 1863, with an introduction by David Laing. The part published in 1740 is chiefly concerned with his religious experiences, and is not an adequate sample of the Diary as a whole, which conveys much important information regarding political events, and a specially interesting account of his visit to London, and of the persons with whom he there came into contact. See also Shaw's History of the Province of Moray; Genealogy of the Brodie family, by William Brodie (1862).]
BRODIE, ALEXANDER (1830–1867), sculptor, younger son of John Brodie, mariner, was born in 1830 at Aberdeen, where he served his apprenticeship as a brass-finisher in the foundry of Messrs. Blaikie Brothers. Like his elder brother, William Brodie [q. v.], he early manifested a taste for modelling figures. About 1856 he attended the school of the Royal Scottish Academy. He visited England, and after about a year's absence resumed his residence at Aberdeen, where he received many commissions. His talents were shown by his 'Motherless Lassie,' his 'Highland Mary,' his 'Cupid and Mask,' and a small statue of 'Grief strewing Flowers' upon a grave in front of the West Church in the city burying-ground. Encouraged by Sheriff Watson, Brodie undertook bust-portraiture and medallions, in both of which he was eminently successful. Embarrassed by the amount of work entrusted to him, his mind lost its balance, and he died 30 May 1867 by his own hand.
Brodie's best known productions are his large statue of the late Duke of Richmond, erected in the public square of Huntly, and the statue of the queen in marble which stands at the corner of Nicholas Street, Aberdeen.
[Aberdeen Free Press, Dundee Advertiser, and Scotsman, 31 May 1867; Art Journal and Gent. Mag. July 1867.]
BRODIE, Sir BENJAMIN COLLINS, the elder (1783–1862), sergeant-surgeon to the queen, was born at Winterslow in Wiltshire, in 1783. He was fourth child of Peter Bellinger Brodie, rector of the parish, who had been educated at Charterhouse and Worcester College, Oxford. His mother was daughter of Mr. Benjamin Collins, a banker at Salisbury. From his father, who was well versed in general literature, and a good Greek and Latin scholar, Brodie received his early education. In 1797, when the country was alarmed by the prospect of a French invasion, Brodie and two brothers raised a company of volunteers. At the age of eighteen he went up to London, to enter upon the medical profession. There he devoted himself at once to the study of anatomy, attending first the lectures of Abernethy, and in 1801 and 1802 those of Wilson at the Hunterian school in Great Windmill Street, working hard in the dissecting-room. He learned pharmacy in the shop of Mr. Clifton of Leicester Square, one of the licentiates of the Apothecaries' Company. At this time Brodie formed a friendship with William Lawrence, the celebrated surgeon, which was continued through life, and he was joint secretary with Sir Henry Ellis of an
