Deacon Brodie
R L Stevenson’s book The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. is based upon Deacon Brodie (1741-88)  who was a highly respected eminent member of Edinburgh’s town council by day but a burglar at night. William Brodie worked as a cabinet maker leading him to install and repair door locks and in the process he copied keys.  This enabled him to steal £800 from a bank and enter houses at night and steal things of value. Despite being well off after inheriting several houses and £10,000 which was a huge sum in the eighteenth century, he often ran out of money due to his gambling and having to support his two secret mistresses and five children.  Eventually his luck ran out after a failed robbery and one of his accomplices revealed his name as being the leader. He fled to Holland but subsequently was caught and arrested then hung in 1788 in front of a crowd of 40,000, ironically on the gallows that he had recently redesigned saying that it was the most efficient of its kind.
The model of Deacon Brodie stands in the Lawnmarket at the entry to Brodie’s Close where the family residence and workshops used to be before redevelopments   Now there is a very good café situated in his old workshop with painted murals on the walls explaining his story.