William Brodie was born in Banff in Scotland in 1815, the year of the battle of Waterloo. His father John was the master of a merchant ship. When William was six the family moved to Aberdeen and later he was apprenticed to a plumber. He also studied at the Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute set up to provide adult education and books for poorer people, where he enjoyed casting figures in lead
Edinburgh
Impressed by his work, Mr John Hill Burton, a local advocate and historian encouraged Brodie to move to Edinburgh which he did in 1847. Here he became a student at the Trustees' School of Design and in 1853 he went to Rome to further his training.
In 1857 he became an associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy and two years later he was appointed as a Royal Academician. He gained commissions mainly in his chosen mediums of bronze and marble.
Early Works by William Brodie
Brodie's first work of importance was a marble statue of the 5th century Greek poet and song writer, Corinna the Lyric Muse that he created while in Rome. He worked under the tutilage of Laurence Macdonald, a fellow Scot who was instrumental in founding the British Academy of Arts.
Returning to Britain, in 1855 Brodie travelled to the Isle of Wight to Farringford, the home of Lord Tennyson where he created a marble bust of the poet laureate. He exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1857.
In 1863 Brodie produced a dramatic bronze entitled Hercules, representing the eleventh labour when Hercules was tasked with killing a dragon and bringing back the golden apples of the Hesperedes. A hundred years later, the creator of the flamboyant village of Port Merion in Wales saw the statue featured in County Life magazine and purchased it to enhance his village. It stands in front of the Hercules Hall.
Alexander Brodie
William's brother Alexander was fifteen years his junior and also became a sculptor. In 1865/6 he reached the pinnacle of his career when he was commissioned to produce a statue and bust of Queen Victoria for her home at Balmoral. The Queen decreed that the statue should be "Scottish" and to please her, Alexander added a thistle at the neckline along with an English rose and an Irish shamrock. Tragically, the enormity of his task seems to have overwhelmed him and in 1867, aged only 37, Alexander took his own life. His statue of Queen Victoria is now in the Aberdeen City Chambers. It fell to William to complete the bust of the Queen.
Greyfriar's Bobby
In 1873 William was called upon to cast the most enigmatic of his works, a bronze representing a small Skye terrier dog that had won the hearts of Edinburgh people by its unswerving loyalty. Bobby's story states that he belonged to John Gray who worked as a policeman. He and the dog were close and when Gray died from TB in 1858 he was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Thereafter Bobby kept a vigil over the grave, leaving only reluctantly to eat. Attempts were made to re-home him but he would not leave the cemetery and so the caretaker, James Brown, rigged him up a shelter of sorts. The introduction of a law stating that all dogs must be licensed posed dangers for Bobby until it came to the ears of the Lord Provost. Fortunately Sir William Chambers, of dictionary fame, was an animal lover and he undertook to pay for a license and supplied Bobby with a collar. He eventually died in January 1872, fourteen years after his master.
A philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Couts, heiress to the wealthy banking family, paid for a much photographed statue to be placed near the churchyard. William Brodie was commissioned to cast a bronze of the dog. It surmounted a red marble drinking basin.
In 1874 the prestigious Scott Memorial in Edinburgh was unveiled. Brodie was one of the sculpors, his work on the Earl of Leicester and his secret wife Amy Robsart representing Scott's novel Kenilworth.
In 1875 Brodie produced: A Peer and his Lady Doing Homage for the Prince Consort Memorial in Edinburgh.
In the same year he cast The Moffat Ram - a Cheviot Sheep commisioned by an industrialist William Colvin of Craigielands to surmount a drinking fountain The intention was to bring clean drinking water to the town but unfortunately the pipes were made of lead, adding to the risk of illness. Brodie was criticised for failing to give the ram ears but they would have been masked by his thick fleece.
Brodie's Personal Life
William's wife Helen Brodie was an artist and their daughter Mary married Sir James Gowans, an architect from Falkirk. Having managed several quarries he had a love affair with stone, creating buildings and promoting decent housing for workers. He brought about the Edinburgh Exhibition of 1886
William Brodie died in 1881 at his house in Cambridge Street and is buried in Deans Cemetery, Edinburgh.
Sources:
Animal Graves and Memorials by Jan Toms. Shire Publications 2006
