Alexander Brodie, 19th of that Ilk (17 August 1697 – 9 March 1754)
was a Scottish clan chief and politician from
Moray
Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.
Between 1975 ...
. He sat in the
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of th ...
for 34 years from 1720 to 1754, as a government supporter. For 27 years he was
Lord Lyon King of Arms
The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grant ...
, the most junior of the Scottish
Great Officers of State
Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the Royal Household, from which the officers of state arose, initially having household and government duties. Later some of these officers became ...
, responsible for regulating the
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
of Scotland.
Early life
Brodie was the second son of
George Brodie of Brodie and Aslick in Moray.
His mother Emilia was the 5th daughter and co-heir of
James Brodie of that Ilk.
He was educated at
Marischal College
Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...
in Aberdeen, and possibly also at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
in the Netherlands.
In 1724 he married Mary Sleigh (1704–1760), daughter of Major Samuel Sleigh of the
16th Foot. They had two children: a daughter Emilia (born 1730) who married John Macleod, and a son, Alexander (1741–1759).
Career
Brodie's older brother
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
had inherited their father's estates, and was elected in 1720 as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Elginshire
Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It ...
.
However, James died later that year aged 25,
and Alexander succeeded to his estates as
laird
Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
of
Brodie
Brodie can be a given name or a surname of Scottish origin, and a location in Moray, Scotland, its meaning is uncertain; it is not clear if Brodie, as a word, has its origins in the Gaelic or Pictish languages. In 2012 this name was the 53rd ...
. At the resulting by-election on 29 December 1720, Alexander was elected unopposed in James's place, in the interest of
Sir James Grant.
The Grants of that Ilk had become the dominant interest in the county since the
7th Earl of Moray, the hereditary sheriff of Elginshire, had been implicated in the
1715 Jacobite rising
The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ;
or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts.
At Braemar, Aberdeenshire, lo ...
. After the death of
Alexander Grant in 1719, Sir James supported first James Brodie and then Alexander Brodie in the Elginshire seat. This arrangement continued until 1735, when Sir James passed his estates on to his son
Ludovick Grant, who took the seat at the
1741 election.
Brodie was instead returned for
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
by the county's hereditary sheriff
George Sinclair of Ulbster, who was Brodie's nephew.
As an
alternating constituency
As a result of the 1707 union of the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England (including Wales) to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, within the newly formed Parliament of Great Britain, Scotland had 48 constituencies representing seats f ...
, Caithness was not represented in the 1747–54 Parliament, and at the
1747 general election arrangements were made for Brodie to be returned for the
Inverness Burghs, as part of a plan by
Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as 3rd Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who ...
to avoid electoral contests between Scottish supporters of the government.
Lord Lyon
Brodie's loyalty to the government was rewarded in July 1727, when he was appointed as
Lord Lyon King of Arms
The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grant ...
, with a salary of £300 per year ().
His predecessor
Sir Alexander Erskine of Cambo had been a Jacobite, and the Lyon's office was known to include other Jacobites, so the office was viewed with suspicion.
The appointment of the staunchly Hanoverian Brodie was intended to remove those Jacobite connections, and to make the office less Scottish. Brodie was the first ever Lyon not to be crowned, and the first since the early 16th century not be
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
when appointed.
Brodie fulfilled the office with diligence. He was reputed to have enforced the laws of arms without fear or favour, and removed bogus arms even from senior peers.
Brodie attached himself to
Lord Ilay, Walpole's manager of elections in Scotland, and was accused of "airs of being my Lord Ilay’s minister in the north".
In 1733 he fell out with
Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat, Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, altho ...
, and at the
1734 election this spread to a series of intrigues which escalated into a serious disturbance at a by-election in 1735 in
Nairnshire
The County of Nairn (also called Nairnshire) ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Narann) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was used for local administration until the county council, based at the county t ...
,
where he put up a candidate unsuccessfully at a by-election in which both sides used force.
After the
1745 Jacobite rising, Brodie became an informer.
He told the
Duke of Newcastle
Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle u ...
that the
Earl of Sutherland
Earl of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created circa 1230 for William de Moravia and is the premier earldom in the Peerage of Scotland. The earl or countess of Sutherland is also the chief of Clan Sutherland.
The origin ...
had sheltered a rebel, and is reported to have helped gather evidence against
Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord Lovat, Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, altho ...
. In 1746, he supported the
Highland Dress Bill, insisting that it should apply even to those
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
s who had taken the government's side during the rising.
However, he was magnanimous to staff in the Lyon office who had supported the Jacobites. He intervened to protect them from punishment, ensured that their salaries were reinstated, and won a pardon from a death sentence one of his clerks.
Death
Brodie died in London on 9 March 1754, of heart failure. His body was brought back to Moray and buried at
Dyke, close to Brodie Castle.
Family
His daughter, Emilia Brodie, married
Major General Norman MacLeod
Major-General Norman MacLeod of MacLeod Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (4 March 1754 – 16 April 1801) was a Scottish soldier and politician, who served as MP for Inverness-shire (UK Parliament constituency), Inverness-shire 1790 to 1796, ...
of MacLeod (1754-1801).
Arms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodie, Alexander
1697 births
1754 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies
British MPs 1715–1722
British MPs 1722–1727
British MPs 1727–1734
British MPs 1734–1741
British MPs 1741–1747
People from Moray
Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Leiden University alumni
Lord Lyon Kings of Arms
Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England