The real story behind Edinburgh's most enduring legend

The Trial of Deacon Brodie

William Roughead

1906, William Hodge and Co., Glasgow and Edinburgh

The Trial of Deacon Brodie by William Roughead has been a staple for Brodie researchers since its publication in 1906. Included with Roughead’s narrative of William Brodie’s life, is a trove of primary source material that would otherwise be unavailable to researchers unable to visit the Scottish National Archives in Edinburgh. Included in this text are Brodie’s trial transcripts, letters written by Brodie while in Amsterdam and in Edinburgh's Tolbooth, excerpts from the Brodie family Bible, and Brodie game member George Smith’s confession. As many strengths as Roughead’s work has, some foibles have wormed their way into other author’s works. For example, Roughead lists a robbery at Johnson and Smith, bankers in the Exchange, as happening in 1768 and 1786. This is obviously a typo and secondary sources published in 1768 confirm this robbery happened in that year. Roughead also lists Brodie trial juror number seven as John Kinnear. The original court transcripts give the name George Kinnear as this juror’s name. These few details do not taint the entire work as any secondary source is vulnerable to errors.

It is also worth noting that of the Brodie sources presented on this site, Roughead’s work is the easiest to read. Being published in 1906, The Trial of Deacon Brodie is infinitely closer to modern English than the Creech or Morison texts. Also, if Scottish crimes and jurisprudence of bygone days interests you, The Trial of Deacon Brodie is part of a larger series published by William Hodge and Company entitled Notable Scottish Trials. Roughead contributed a few books to this series including” The Trial of Captain Porteous and The Trial of John Watson Laurie (The Arran Murder).

Roughead’s text is in the public domain and a PDF or eBook version can be downloaded at Google Books. The text, via Google Books, has been presented for your perusal.